CULT OF PERSONALITY

So it hasn't been long since we were brought the antics of Miley Cyrus which garnered her a small amount of condemnation but tons of free publicity which resulted in bigger sales for her music. Since most music is purchased via the internet to say bigger sales of her album of CD makes no sense these days. And then we got word about Justin Bieber and the antics he was involved in culminating with video of his affidavit posted online for all to view. The end result was not the Earth opening and swallowing anyone whole nor the first days of Armageddon. What it ended up being is nothing more than a few pictures and posts in tabloids around the world.

But hang on. These news articles weren't limited to tabloids now were they? Instead these "newsworthy" items made their ways into the mainstream media outlets like ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox. They were joked about on every talk show.  Pundits weighed in on the stories. Everyone seemed to be talking about these stories. I even found myself posting several things about it on Facebook and the like. But later on I thought to myself, why are we giving them any attention at all?

Where are the days when the news reports we watched were actually about news going on around the world? Have we gotten so caught up in celebrities that we now spend every waking minute concerned about them? It's as if we're all those long lost Beatlemaniacs we used to watch swooning at the sight of any one of the fab four. We can't seem to get enough information about something we can not control, would have no interest in being a part of and that in the end just doesn't matter.

Miley Cyrus. Here we have a young girl who's isn't near as attractive as she seems to think, who possesses the body of a 21 year old in healthy condition (for the record all healthy 21 year olds have the same body), who sings well enough (but then there are tons of people who sing well enough and actually my niece has a better voice at a younger age) and who has determined that the only way she can get people to purchase anything she produces is to be as rude and crude as possible. There is the chance that this is her rebelling against the goody two shoes image she had to project while as Hannah Montana on her Disney show. But if you truly have talent, if you can truly write and perform good songs, then why the need for the rest?

Justin Bieber. His bad boy antics have jumped the shark. Here again we have someone who came with a squeaky clean image that now seems to want to be "taken seriously" as a bad boy. The problem is that all of the things he's doing to appear that way have been done before and done better. Not only that but when he makes that tough guy face or tries to act macho he just comes off as a dweeb posing as the school tough. It's perhaps the least convincing performance I've ever seen and having watched several thousand movies that's saying something.

Or how about Kim Kardashian and her clan? Here we have a family whose claim to fame is little more than being famous...for the sake of being famous! Just like Paris Hilton who went this same route we have a young woman who made a sex tape that OOPS! leaked out somehow and was seem by millions online. And did anyone stand up and say how wrong it was? Nope. Instead we made her more money by watching her TV series and buying any product associated with her. We turned her into an instant celebrity.

I remember back when things like this began. It started with ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT focusing on the behind the stage stories involving celebrities. That segued into LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS where we could all start to envy the ways celebrities and wealthy people lived. More shows with these themes surfaced after the powers that be saw how inexpensive the shows were to produce and that people watched them. And watch them we did. I was among those watching and now have buyer's remorse when it comes to those types of shows.

Perhaps it's time we stopped worrying about the rich and famous, the celebrities and began worrying more about ourselves. If we focused as much attention on ourselves and our own day to day lives as we do on celebrities then maybe we'd all accomplish more. I believe that if we did it for only a single day we'd accomplish more than some of these people do in a year.

Imagine how much more relaxing your day would be if every time a news story came on about some stupid thing some stupid celebrity was doing *CLICK* you turned the station. Or if you were looking online and things and ignored the click here to learn more button. I don't need to know about the next time Miley acted outrageous because I already know its coming. She's following the Madonna format of doing something every time her name seems to disappear. I don't want to know about Bieber because here again, I know its coming. He thinks he's a tough guy and one day will try and prove it only to find himself facing a real tough guy who will set him straight in seconds. I don't care any longer about Lindsey going into rehab for her 100th stint. My guess is she'll fall off the wagon with weeks and we'll hear about her going before another judge who will treat her differently because of who she is.

What I would watch is a show where all of these people were treated like real day to day people. Where people look down on Kardashian as an opportunistic tramp. Where someone tosses a blanket over Miley telling her to grow up and act appropriate. Where Bieber acts tough and gets knocked on his ass. Where Madonna is looked at as woman who acts far too young to dress as she does let alone appear more muscular than Arnold does currently. But the chances of a show like that appearing on TV anytime soon isn't likely. So I guess I'll take the easy way out and make sure I constantly hold the remote in my hand.