Mashiach Agent must have a great fantasy life, or lives an unusually spiritual life. Gedolim pictures are not a bad thing. Certainly beats photos of sports and Hollywood celebrities. But let’s get real, and let’s address the average person. The pictures of gedolim are simply objects of interest, and are entertaining. They are rarely statements about Yiras Shomayim, and they do not result in people sharing with each other about the great midos and dveikus to emulate.
The problem is that we have deteriorated to a fixation with photographs of virtually any event. The pages of YWN, as well as other sites and most print media, are full of galleries and albums of every event, every simcha, and person of “interest”. The oilem is obsessed with these, and constantly seek more. The picture magazines sell well, and testify to nothing except what color bekeshes are worn by the rebbes, who visited whom, and who danced together at a simcha. These publications serve as great babysitters for children, but provide the adults with little to anything beyond a moment of entertainment. That’s being honest. Again, unquestionably better than goyishe celebrities, but still nothing beyond entertainment.