This morning as I was catching up on what is truly important in life (read: celebrity gossip news) there were pictures pasted EVERYWHERE about the sea-god Michael Phelps caught with a bong. As the Times Online reported:
“A mixture of shock and disbelief swept the United States yesterday as the nation woke up to an abject apology from the man it had hailed as its greatest Olympic athlete. Michael Phelps was a hero and role model for millions but now his career will be stained forever by claims that he smoked drugs.”
- Kevin Eason, The Times
First off: shocking! I’m in disbelief! How could this be HAPPENING?
I didn’t watch the summer Olympics. Sure, he did amazing things but seriously? He kind of seemed like a scumbag from blogs I have read. What I don’t get is that why the media focuses so much on when they’re caught with drugs. I think our society as a whole pretty much assumes that celebrities are doing drugs. Frankly, in their “stupidity” in getting caught they’re getting more publicity. Bad press is press and attention, isn’t it?
I mean, look at Paris Hilton’s career.
I feed into the problem, going to celebrity gossip websites and reading the stories and gossiping with my friends about it. What IS the fascination? Perhaps their “glamourous” lives in which the ridiculous amount of money being given to them and how they choose to spend it? The higher you get it seems, sometimes, the more you’re willing to bring in your “personal life” to get attention, money, and fame.
When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie brought their twins out in public for the first time since they published the photographs. My first thought? What are they trying to advertise or get attention for? What movie is coming out? At least, sometimes, they use their power for good and bringing attention to different situations. The holier-then-thou attitude, though, I could do without.
Perhaps all my celebrity gossip reading has made me cynical about my fellow man. It’s almost, in the world of celebrity, you now-a-days have to do something scandalous, exploiting, and down-right dirty to get attention. Should we be promoting this behavior? And seriously, what is our fascination with it?
Technorati Tags: celebrity gossip, celebrity sub-culture, celebrity fascination, michael phelps, human nature
2 Comments
I blog about this too, I don’t get the point, at all who didn’t smoke dope in college, um, not many people I know.
@Darcy I will definitely have to check out your blog. The celebrity sub-culture amuses me so much, especially our cultures fascination with it and how people feel they “know” celebrities while actually know the public persona.
And yeah, seriously, celebrities are just like us but just getting exposed in a public form/flogging yet, getting away with it with the law unlike the every man.