[RANT] Celebrities: Why Do We Care?

[ToddG]

Anna Nicole Smith died six weeks ago ... yet her love life, drug use, family, and death are still leading news stories.

Britney Spears shaves her head and enters rehab, and it's on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News every 30 minutes.

Why should I care?

People go into rehab every day. People die every day. So the fact that some famous busty blonde dies or needs rehab is not news ... it's to be expected. But celebrity seems to feed upon itself nowadays. So when even the most mundane and/or personal events happen to these celebrities we have to hear about. Over and over and over again.

I don't care what Tom Cruise's little daughter wore on St. Patrick's Day. How in God's name does that reach the same newsworthiness as the ongoing war in Iraq, Iran's nuclear ambitions, or the global warming debate?

When this kind of stuff was limited to dedicated shows like Entertainment Tonight it wasn't so bad ... people whose lives are so small that they need to live vicariously through famous movie stars and singers are welcome to it. But we're not talking about some Hollywood faux news program. This is network news.

Let me say it for the record: I do not care who fathered Anna Nicole's baby. I know it wasn't me.

I've never gone drinking with Britney Spears.

And to be honest, I don't even care if Tom Cruise believes we're all possessed by billion-year-old alien spirits.

It's not a matter of privacy. These people live and die (pardon the pun) off their celebrity and their ability to get on television. They throw themselves into the spotlight and get what they deserve. I have no sympathy for them. I just don't care about their personal lives!

Oh, Angelina Jolie is adopting her thirty-eighth kid? I don't care!

 

[surfwax95]

I agree with you 100%.

However, I don't have the same level of disdain because I simply choose not to watch the news.

DrudgeReport.com if you need an up and up on the current events.

 

[WasabiTaylor]

I totally agree with you. This is something I'm known for preaching about often among my peers.

Frankly, I'm disgusted that I know some of the stuff that you listed above, such as the Britney Spears shaving her head. I honestly think it is a huge problem that people know stuff like that. You know why? Because it doesn't matter at all.

Firstly, I think celebrities deserve far more privacy than they get. They have jobs just like everyone else. My dad never gets on then news when he gets a new haircut and these people shouldn't either. They should only be given publicity for things that relate to their jobs. If celebrities get in trouble for doing something illegal, then I guess all of the kids I knew in high school who got caught drinking should also get on the news.

Secondly, our country needs to stop being so obsessed with the lives of celebrities. I remember the very moment that I truly realized this. I was working parent teacher conferences for NHS (I was in charge of timing the conference and knocking on the teacher's door when it was time to wrap up for their next appointment). I remember sitting there in that desk with 3 or 4 couples waiting to get into the room discussing the morality of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. These women went on and on and on; it was sickening. I wanted to say, "You know what ladies; their lives aren't any of your business." But they probably would've said, "Sure they are."

I've been wanting to go on a rant like this for a while myself.

 

[caribiner23]

I'm not the sort of person who believes in conspiracy theories, but the term panem et circenses comes to mind.

Keep us all entertained and occupied with worthless information about un-noteworthy people and things, and we won't pay attention to what's really happening in the world.

 

[Audio.Trench]

I also agree 100%... Like when I see that some celebrity is pregnant, it's on the cover of a magazine.. if I got my gf pregnant, it sure as h@ll would not be. What makes them more deserving to be on the cover of a mag than me? I'm 50 million times smarter than any celebrity.

 

[NanoBite]

I don't watch the news, nor do I read the newspapers ... that doesn't mean that I'm not still bombarded with what's hot in the world of sensationalism. It's not the real world ... that's what I tell myself anyway.

 

[fleurya]

I'm not the sort of person who believes in conspiracy theories, but the term panem et circenses comes to mind.

Exactly what I was thinking when I read the OP. It's all more or less a big smokescreen to cover up the true problems. When I first watched "Gladiator" and the evil son-emperor decideds to make Rome love him by putting on gladiator game in coliseum, I thought it was stupid and people wouldn't be so easily swayed. Then I realized this sort of thing is happening around us every day.

Speaking of politics and movies, does anyone else think the movie "300" has some big political undertones? It was pretty blatant to me throughout the movie. Just another use of entertainment to manipulate peoples' simple minds and political feelings.

Thank goodness for the internet and having the ability to choose which stories I watch/listen to.

 

[mathogre]

Sensationalism sells. People buy it. They'll buy anything, especially the lurid. Look at what they buy - Vista!

I heard about ANS (and I don't care enough to scroll the page to ensure I've spelled her name correctly). I didn't hear about Brittany's head. I couldn't care less about Angelina's latest adoption; she's fun to watch on the screen, but beyond that, I don't care. They're irrelevant. These things generally don't get through my personal filters.

We dropped cable almost 14 years ago. On the rare occasion I am on travel, I surf the hotel room tv and realize I'm not missing anything. I don't watch tv, mostly because I don't have time.

News comes from one of the local papers (The Washington Times as opposed to Pravda On the Potomac (aka The Washington Post)), Google personalized homepage, broadcast and satellite radio, and occasional magazines. I get the international, national, and local headlines this way. Weather is either through the Google page or my little wx widget. Details on anything I care to review are easy to gather: Google news links to thousands of sources, National Weather Service site, et al. And when all of that fails, there's The Onion. -_^

It's funny. In our last election (Nov. '06), I guess the ads were particularly low. All I saw were the hundreds of little signs along the roads for the various candidates. It's easy to find out about them, especially today; trashy little quips don't inform me of anything.

I never deliberately set out to filter information this way, but I just don't have time anymore for the things I need to do, let alone ANS et al. It's just sort of happened naturally.

 

[Audio.Trench]

Speaking of politics and movies, does anyone else think the movie "300" has some big political undertones? It was pretty blatant to me throughout the movie. Just another use of entertainment to manipulate peoples' simple minds and political feelings.

Thank goodness for the internet and having the ability to choose which stories I watch/listen to.

I agree, even though I saw 300 mainly for the sick animation during the fighting. It's too early for me to get into this right now lol

 

[Stretch]

Couldn't agree more Todd. I hate hearing about celebrates on the news, and what they have/havent done today. Anna Nicole Smith has had more news coverage on just her death, than my grandfather did his whole life, he died a few years ago, and he did more for our country than he did.

American model, actress and celebrity is more important than war veteran? Give me a break.

 

[WasabiTaylor]

Speaking of politics and movies, does anyone else think the movie "300" has some big political undertones? It was pretty blatant to me throughout the movie. Just another use of entertainment to manipulate peoples' simple minds and political feelings.

I couldn't disagree more. 300 was nothing but a cool story told from the Spartan point of view. It isn't meant to offend the Persians of today or any of that nonsense. I can't believe how much press this is getting, but I'm sure the producers are happy. I'm sure they're really raking it in what with all the people going to see the movie purely to see what the commotion is all about. People need to take their heads out of their behinds and realize that not everything has some sort of a political agenda.

 

[PapaNoHair]

Amen. I guess that is why they are (or were) called "teen idols."

 

[caribiner23]

...
American model, actress and celebrity is more important than war veteran? Give me a break.

Stretch, that's "American model, actress and celebrity who liked taking her clothes off and may or may not have been a golddigger 'cause she married an old guy who then died thus causing lots of work for lawyers and TV reporters and then lived a fairly trashy life until she died is more important than war veteran."

The fact that I know even these facts makes me ill.

We need to honor more people like Stretch's grandfather and spend less time paying attention to so-called celebrities.

 

[TheCustomer99]

The South Park episode "Quest for Ratings" comes to mind as I read this thread. The media specializes in pointless news stories. I don't care who Anna Nicole's baby's dad is, I don't care why Britney Spears is so messed up, I don't care about celebrites. I want to hear about the war, the economy, the weather, and other stuff that REALLY matters. But for some reason they keep going on with these pointless stories that have no effect on my life. Perhaps, as South Park suggested, the audience the media is targeting is "high on cough syrup."

 

[Dillinger-63]

Ditto on the, ahem "Hollywood elite" I don't give a rats hairy buttocks. Another thing that toasts my buns is these so called celebs, make a move or 10 get rich and then become an expert on global warming, etc..... There, my rant is over. Now excuse me, I have to get back to reading this weeks issue of The National Enquirer.

 

[The Turtle!]

The main problem with all of this is simple really...

Unfortunately the old days of when "News" was real news are over, the lines between entertainment and News are entirely too blurred now.

 

[fluffer]

Exactly what I was thinking when I read the OP. It's all more or less a big smokescreen to cover up the true problems. When I first watched "Gladiator" and the evil son-emperor decideds to make Rome love him by putting on gladiator game in coliseum, I thought it was stupid and people wouldn't be so easily swayed. Then I realized this sort of thing is happening around us every day.

The truth is stranger than fiction. The whole popularity of the Emperors mainly depended on the actual 'shows' they put on getting to ridiculous ends such as flamingo's or giraffes expected to fight jaguars. Upping the ante all the time (Paris Hilton I am thinking of YOU in this, yes YOU, put some knickers on) and trying to shock more and more. Basic human nature.

When us Brits had Jerry Springer landed onto our telly boxes 99% of the population said '***'???!!! But looking at it logically it was like a Roman arena or a last century freak show where we could laugh at the bearded lady from the comfort of our own homes as we nervously knew, deep down, that we were better than them. And that in itself gave us some comfort.

I'm sure America is the same as us but it's now a case of these reality show contestants turning into minor clebs, so how can 'real' minor clebs compete? By whoring themselves on magazine stands. The governments controls our media, the cleb magazines tell us who we should like. We no longer have neighbours that we know or can have a gossip over the garden fence with, so we have to gossip about something.

[/rant]

 

[Carol247]

I'm another in 100% agreement to above posts! I think this is where a very affluent society finds itself. Self absorbed in people and situations that are not relevant to life itself.
Why do so many people want to hear about the celeb's messed up, sordid lives? Every time we see a movie or a book about them, it's all about how many sexual excursions they had, how many drugs they took and how they hurt other people.

It always seems to be the same from Johnny Cash to Ray Charles. Becoming a celebrity is like a death sentence to young people. Why don't we see movies about those who weren't soiled by Hollywood? Such as Paul Newman (are there any others?).

I think our society is bored and they actually "like" to hear this kind of stuff. That's why the tabloids sell so easily even though most people know a lot of it is embellished. It's gossip and for some reason people thrive on it.

Well, this is a good rant! Thanks Todd for the thread. :radioacti

 

[plusfortyfour]

I couldn't care less. It is shoved down our throat with the preempting of real news, the magazines, so many entertainment shows...you can't help but at least notice.

 

[cath462]

I think our society is bored and they actually "like" to hear this kind of stuff. That's why the tabloids sell so easily even though most people know a lot of it is embellished. It's gossip and for some reason people thrive on it.

You're right, Carol. We can all sit here and talk about how we find celebrity worship distasteful, yet *someone* is buying the magazines and putting those reality shows tops in the ratings...

I'm going back to listening to Leonard Cohen now. Ahhhhhhh...