17 July, 2007

Hey, maybe if people know this exists, it will be read... perhaps then I can actually get around to posting more than once every two months.

Today's point of anger: Paris Hilton
Not that point of anger is going under-reported, but I recently caught the end of an NPR story regarding not this "celebrity", but the fact that hundreds of millions of people are obsessed with the lives of the famous in a time of war, disease, terrorism, and panic. One could suppose that this is an anathema to the dark actual news of our times, and evidently there are enough people who see this as an escapism. I can certainly sympathize with escapism (admittedly a video game addict), but I feel that this (well-founded) worry that celebrity is over-reported is a concern about the symptom, and not the disease itself.

A great metaphor of this American addiction is that is an indulgence, as a dessert. It is certainly true that there are many people who follow the latest adventures of heiresses, as well as be aware of the tragedies in Darfur, and Iraq. A nice, balanced diet will allow anyone to have a horribly unhealthy cake to treat themselves every now and again. As I regard FFXII, others will regard their own outlet of stress, this does not control us. Yet in a nation who loves its dessert, but just does not want to eat its vegetables (as well seen by the American obesity problems), are both of these two faces of the same root cause? America's consumer culture, which with problems of its own, has become a something-for-nothing culture. This is created news-- celebrities are celebrated because they are famous and they are famous because they are celebrities. Again, something for nothing. We are at war, but few civilians have sacrificed for a war which they support. We want to watch the news, but hear of movie stars we create rather than the climate changed we have caused. We want to go to school, but not learn anything.

Yes, yes, there are exceptions; and it is likely that many of those who ever read this will be of such an accepted class. Personally, I have no illusions that I am a part of the America with an ever-growing waistline. What does these symptoms tell us? Do we just not care anymore? Are we rich enough to be so crass as to care of nothing other than frivolous "news"?

Well, it seems that I'm out of vitriol for now. Tomorrow I'll be on pain killers, so let's see if I have anything interesting to say then

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:30 AM

    okay, so i fully accept your rant, but what's this about pain killers? WHY DO YOU NOT TELL YOUR BROTHER THESE THINGS?

    kay, that's about it. i did not know that you have a blog up and running, cool

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  2. Welcome back to the Internet!

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