working on my contracts outline at the tea spot tonight, i could distinctly hear a conversation from across the shop. it wasn't a conversation that sat well with me. on some level, it was probably because the "conversation" was dominated by an individual with an extremely loud and irritating voice (at one point, i had to walk across the room and ask her to lower her voice out of consideration for everyone else).
but more than that, it was the subject that was being discussed. for several minutes, i heard emphatic, judgmental comments about david duchovny, jessica simpson, and other celebrities and their personal lives. it just seemed so harsh and unpleasant. i felt violated by being forced to hear it.
hearing that conversation, i was reminded of a magazine i saw in the drugstore earlier today. the cover had a picture of angelina jolie and a picture of jennifer aniston next to each other, and the headline read "who's hotter right now?" seeing it made me cringe.
i've long wondered why america is so celebrity-obsessed. i don't know that i'll ever understand the insatiable curiosity about random people we don't know. but it's more than curiosity that bothers me -- it's the shameless intrusion, judgmentalism, gossip, backbiting, and general sense of entitlement when it comes to other people's lives.
really, i feel so sorry for celebrities. though some of them may perhaps seek attention, it seems that most of them are just trying to live their lives, and they can't help the incessant stalking that they're subjected to on a daily basis. we as humans all make mistakes. but these people's mistakes (everything from unsuccessful marriages to unfortunate fashion choices) are aired out in public -- proliferated, reproduced, magnified, reverberated... i can't imagine how awful that would be. i would never want to be the target of that kind of merciless voyeurism, to have my every word, my every move, and every aspect of physcial apperance dissected and preyed upon. i seriously wonder what that does to an individual's self-esteem and self-image... it can't be good.
some people say celebrities deserve it. that that's the price they pay for being rich. that's what they get for being famous. i disagree. no one should be forcefully subjected to that. they're humans too. even if they want to be in the public eye, they still have souls. speaking ill of them hurts them and it hurts those who do it to them. it's not healthy, and it's a waste of everyone's time, energy, and social interaction.
there are so many urgent, important things in the world to talk about. and besides those things, there are many things to talk about that aren't urgent or important, but that also aren't petty, harmful, and disunifying. why can't people talk about things in these 2 categories? why must they always talk about celebrities? why must they tirelessly invade the privacy and peace of people they don't even know? why haven't we as a society evolved past this?
Posted by naseem at December 1, 2005 11:03 PMI dont know Nas, perhaps we as a society whole are not mature enough to realize the importance of oh, everything else but everybody else.
On the parallel - on the DAILY - I wonder to myself why everyone doesnt actually live by the Golden Rule. It applies to Everything! Everything! I always feel like the more we do that the more we think - whoa would I want that done to me? Would I want to walk in and hear this conversation about me? The more we will gear our thoughts and conversations into the positive...
Perhaps it is easier to read the gossip and shallowness than confront the real issues in world...
*sigh* I hear ya.
Posted by: Sholeh at December 2, 2005 06:35 PMWe haven't evolved past this...we've actually evolved to it. It's an escape for people who are unhappy and unfulfilled. A shallow, negative, soul-sucking escape.
Posted by: george at December 3, 2005 12:09 PM