By TJ Edouard, a creative writing student
When I was growing up, I always wanted to be famous. Now I view this past wish as a reflection of the naïve ideologies of a young boy with an overused television set. It seems these days, fame and notoriety are hardly anything worth celebrating anymore. Every time I turn on the "news," I am bombarded with gossip about the Gosselins, who I have never heard of until their very public divorce, or gossip exploiting Michael Jackson, who just cannot get any rest in his very public life, or in his very public death. Even United States senators caught this bug. It seems every senator is saying the most ridiculous thing they possibly can fathom. But that way, the American senate has always been – standing in the shadow of Parliament's antics. This is not "news," it's boring.
You'd think that would be of some concern to Americans, but more people find Spencer and Heidi Pratt's sex life (or lack of) more interesting. I know no one really views Iran as too much of a threat, but the "Speidi" article is on the front page of CNN for what reason? Honestly, who cares how much sex these pseudo-celebrities are not having? I think such a person would have to reexamine their priorities. The only interesting thing about this "news" is that Spencer is not having sex with Heidi because he is afraid that she will stop taking birth control and get pregnant. A stupid person making stupid decisions with half-witted logic is fairly interesting. But it's not news. Discussion like this should be confined to gossip blogs and trash magazines.
Speaking of trash, the Roman Polanksi statutory rape case has also been projected in the media; the catch is, it happened three decades ago. I'm not saying that this isn't a crime because of the amount of time passed, but Polanski deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Either way, it's hardly "news" anymore; at least, not current news. I don't recall anyone referencing this event when The Pianist was sweeping the Academy Awards. It just feeds the vapid American groupthink stereotype. Everyone decides to become active in the witch-hunt just to be diligent in something. Whatever happened to individual responsibility and theory?
I wonder if the whole TMZ reverberation of the early 2000s had something to do with this type of reporting. It seems everyone has tried to be the new subjective gossip blogger. It has worked for Perez Hilton, who in my opinion is the prick of the millennium. He's been showing up in music videos, movies, and TV shows. Frankly, he's old news, as well. This type of reporting should be confined to magazines at the Stop N Stop check out line.