Friday, January 25, 2008

Holes

Plugging Holes

I can’t take credit for this line of thought. It just struck a chord in me.
This is something that I see being replayed over and over in our culture that is obsessed with the cult of celebrity. We all need to find other ways to fill empty spaces.

Basic equation: you get the money, you get the drugs, and you die

Is it just me? Is being a dinged individual a prerequisite to being a celebrity? God knows we all have our strengths and our challenges. That is what makes us uniquely human. But what does it say about a culture as reflected in its media topic du juer?

Our culture has a voyeuristic compulsion to not only slow the vehicle down but slow down in hopes of another accident occurring to further enhance out titillation.

I’m know I'm no different than others. I freely admit to my own consternation. I’ve made jokes at the expense of none other than our favorite whipping girl, Brittany Spears. Recent events have forced me to look at this behavior in myself and I am less than pleased.

She is a person when the veneer of celeb status is stripped away. Her children take comfort when she holds them near. I’m sure that they just see her as Mom, not an ET special report.

I hope in my heart that she and her children escape the octopus of fame. I think they all deserve better than that. I even have hopes that this society we all inhabit will decide that decency is more substantive than corporate media manipulated force fed crap.

Good Luck Brittany. I’m pulling for you.

2 comments:

Me said...

See..personally, I think Britney's suffering from some type of mental sickness (for lack of using the word disease). Be it PPD or bi-polar disorder, etc. - it's something that people should be trying to HELP her cope with, not trying to make a quick buck off of. But her biggest problem, and this is true of many people - celebrities or not - is that she's surrounded by people who are NOT her friends. They don't have her best interest at heart. She's a meal ticket (an entry to a club, money, presents, photo ops, etc.). These "friends" are more than content to watch her life, health and sanity swirl down the drain. And the sad part is, she may never have known a "real" friend in her lifetime having grown up in Hollywood - so she can't tell that she's surrounded herself with frenemies. And her mom? Well..her mom (like any mom) is supposed to have her best interest at heart. She doesn't. Britney was a big fat dollar sign to her. So as far as Britney goes..she's got multiple strikes against her.

We're a society of drivers. We drive by, slowing down to see the wreckage of an accident. And because it's not taking place is our lane, we're detached..desensitized to the pain and suffering.

Why it fascinates us..well, that's a mystery to me. But it does. It drives the tabloids who drive the paparazzi who drive the stars to do things - good and bad - for the attention.

Kimala said...

You and I have talked about this so much in RL. Bliss' comments ring true. It is so incredibly sad our voyeristic society enjoys watching the demise of a human soul. As a mom, it makes me just want to hug my little ones as tight as possible, and keep them safe from all the things that bring about frenemies and leeches. As a realistic mom, I know I must help arm them with all the skills and self-confidence to keep them resiliant in a world filled with those types.