Wednesday, July 30, 2008

An atmosphere of mean...

I’ve been a “celebrity-watcher” for the greater majority of my life. I don’t know if it’s my natural curiosity about people and their lives, or my interest stems from the fact that I love music, music and television and want to know more about those who create those art forms.

Lately I’ve been watching how the world “relates” to celebrities and it’s really very sick and scary.

First you have the paparazzi, you know the scum who claim to be journalists, but who are really just stalkers who make money off of other people’s lives. Recently one of those scum was arrested on the property of a famous Hollywood couple. The cockroach (which I read is what paparazzi means in another language by the way) and his female partner were dressed in camouflage and were trespassing in the woods around the couple’s estate. The oh-so-smart pap had the nerve to say he was doing nothing wrong by trespassing in the “woods” because “the woods belong to everyone.” HUH? Not if it’s not public land honey. He went on to say he couldn’t understand why he was arrested because it wasn’t like he was “in their garden”. The even-more scary thing is that the police supported the scum. ??? What??? So now celebrities have even less recourse when someone invades their private lives and land and homes so they can sell pictures.

Next we have the public who demands pictures and video and dirt on anyone who is on a stage or a screen or even just dates someone who is on a stage or a screen. On one hand the public devours every bit of information, no matter how untrue and ridiculous it is and laps up ever word and image. On the other hand that same public says they “love” the artist and supports their work. They revel in the tragedies (real or imagines) of those in the public eye, while at the same time saying they love their work. HUH? How can you truly care about an artist yet tear him or her down at every turn? How can you believe that YOU have the right to privacy, but because someone is an actor or musician, they don’t have that right? I just don’t get it.

There are tons of blogs, and websites, TV shows and magazines whose creators print, broadcast or write whatever they want and no one seems to care whether any of it is true, or really has any real meaning in the scheme of things in this world. People, there are wars, and death and famine and joy and love and GOOD in this world, why focus so much on the lives of other people? Why not try to focus on the good and the happy and the ways we can make this world better????

I recently read some of a blog by people who seem to actually truly detest an actress simply because ….(and this is the only reason I can truly glean from their mean, tasteless and hate-filled writings) ….because she married one of their favorite musicians and they are just plain jealous. On one hand I’m saddened, yet not surprised to see how seemingly intelligent people spend their days. On the other hand I guess I’ll just never understand that type of nastiness and hate.

What makes people think it is okay to spew viciousness and cruelty to someone like that? Is it because they truly don’t know the people involved (and never will)? Is it because of the anonymity of the Internet? Why hate someone YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW so much?

Maybe I’m a Pollyanna, or maybe I was just taught to be so much kinder that those sad bloggers, but I don’t understand why they are so mean and cruel. I guess I never will.

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