The Gossip Boycott
Last week, Twilight star Kirsten Stewart, made the mistake of comparing the treatment of celebrities to rape. It was a comment which spread like wildfire over the Internet and sent her publicity people into instant damage control. Within a few hours she was widely condemned, by women's groups, law enforcement and the media in general. Even the rape prevention organization that Kirsten Stewart does PSAs for came out against the actress.
Within 24 hours, Miss Stewart issued a statement of apology. She had spoken foolishly and deeply regrets her words which were both disrespectful and insensitive.
It is one more case of a celebrity getting out of hand and society, justifiably, slapping them down.
Right?
The other big celebrity story last week was that actor, Gary Coleman died. Coleman was probably the least troubled child actor of the very troubled cast of Different Strokes. The lives of these young stars read like something out of noir thriller, albeit a very dark one, with drug addiction, prostitution, armed robbery, murder and suicide all happening under the watchful eye of an insatiable media.
And, of course, the cast from Different Strokes is far from alone. The child stars who manage to escape the trauma of their celebrity and live relatively healthy lives are definitely in the minority.
Usually, our response to these stories, when we think about them at all, is that those child actors sure are crazy. However, when you hear the same story over and over again, particularly, when we are talking about children, the only rational conclusion is that the system itself is not only crazy, but incredibly cruel.
We take these kids into hearts, Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap, Cory Haim in The Lost Boys, Danny Bonaducci in The Partidge Family, and then, when things start falling apart, we just keep on watching as if it is still part of the show.
Watching Arnold on Different Strokes was fun but it's even more fun to watch him sue his parents, lose his fortune become addicted to drugs and end up working in mall. It's just another piece of entertainment for our consumption.
Personally, I think any parent who is even considering getting their kid into the entertainment industry, should be forced to sit down and watch a marathon of Behind the Music and E True Hollywood Stories. Picture your kid in 20 years because if they are lucky enough to find real "success" the odds are, this is what they are in for.
Of course, shows like that are not just the documentation of the disease. They are also a symptom. After all, not nearly as many people tune in to see the biography of Ron Howard, one of the few child stars who seems to have escaped his celebrity adolescence unscathed, as watch the inside scoop on Michael Jackson.
The truth is, it's the dirt we can't get enough of. The more they fail, the better we like it.
During one celebrity feeding frenzy (I can't remember which one) George Clooney was asked why we love celebrities so much and his response (I'm paraphrasing here) was that this is not how you treat someone you love. This is how you treat someone you hate.
After all, nobody did a piece on CNN about how Kirsten Stewart was doing PSA's for a rape prevention organization. That wasn't news. She only became news when she said something stupid.
And it was stupid. There is no doubt about that, but we all say and do stupid things all the time. The only difference is that we don't have 50 members of the press following us around 24/7 waiting for us to slip up.
And, it's not just limited to child stars. We love all the dirt.
Movie star picked up a prostitute? Tell me more.
Rock star got arrested? Let me see the mug shot.
Professional athlete slept around? Let’s hope there’re pictures. Or eve better. Video!
President got a blow job in the oval office? Well, I can spend at least a year on that.
Of course, most people would say that they asked for this. They wanted to be celebrities and now that they have fame, fortune and success, now that they are living the glamours lifestyle we all wish we had, all they can do is whine about it.
But Britney Spears didn't lay in bed dreaming of being chased by photographers for the rest of her life. She wanted to be a singer. Tiger Woods, didn't practice putting for hours every day in order to have his personal life exposed to the world. Ben Aflek and Jennifer Lopez didn't start dating so that they could become the center of the gossip universe.
But let's say, they did ask for it. They wanted to be big stars, drive fancy cars, and hobnob with the elite, and this is just the price of fame.
Fine.
Because the truth is, I'm not just worried about them. I'm worried about us.
There are serious things going on in the world, real problems, that require our attention but like rubberneckers on the freeway, we just can't stop ourselves from looking at the wreck on the side of the road, and the news media (for lack of a better term) is in the business of giving us what we want.
So, when they are trying to decide whether or not to spend an hour on an in depth analyses of the situation in Gaza which will bring in a few thousand viewers or an expose of the latest celebrity debacle which will bring in millions, they will chose the debacle every time.
We are the ones who have to stop it.
It's time to boycott the gossip.
So, next time you hear, "Teen star caught drinking at..."
Change the channel.
A link pops up on your twitter feed about the latest sex scandal?
Don't click on it.
Your favorite talk show can't stop gossiping about some celebrity's bad hair day?
Stop listening to them.
We've become a nation of addicts and it's time for us to go cold turkey.
Don't get me wrong. I'm an addict too. I read those stories, click on those links and even get sucked into the despicable TMZ, but I'm tired of supporting an industry which destroys people's lives and distracts all of us from the really important stuff. I'm admitting I have a problem.
It's time to stop.
It's time for us to demand that the media show us the news that matters and if they don't, we're simply going to change the channel.
The only exception to the gossip boycott is when the scandal represents a particularly vile form hypocrisy. If the story is about a politician who is caught with a gay prostitute after campaigning against gay rights, or a pundit who wants the border closed but doesn't want to lose his housekeeper who is in the country illegally. Those scandals represent substantive, issues that need to be discussed and their hypocrisy should be exposed.
So I say let them have it.
As for the rest; the child stars going nuts, the rock idol struggling with drug addiction, the athlete who's marriage is falling apart, let's give them a break. Please.
Afraid, you're going to miss out on all the juicy bits? Well, here's a cheat sheet for you.
1.People from all walks of lives, not just celebrities, use drugs and alcohol. Some of those people will become addicts. The process of addiction is never a pretty one and it's not made any easier by having a camera in your face.
2. People with the talent and dedication to do something really, really well, are probably a little bit crazy and that crazy will often manifest itself in destructive ways.
3.Power and fame corrupt. Telling someone they are great, isolating them from criticism and reinforcing these believes for years will warp even the most stable of personalities.
4.The corrupting influences of power and fame are magnified a thousand fold when applied to the fragile psyche of a child or an adolescent.
In other words musicians, actors, athletes, politicians and, most tragically, child stars, are going to sleep around, do drugs, go into rehab, get arrested, get divorced and generally fuck up their lives.
It's going to happen.
Now stop watching!
Labels: Brittney Spears, celebrity, child star, cory haim, entertainment, Gary Coleman, Gossip, Lindsay Lohan, media, Michael Jackson, TMZ
posted by Steve at 11:32 AM
7 Comments:
Nicely articulated, as always.
I simply do not have the belief that "the people" can change this situation. It's like telling a drug addict that if they simply stop using, demand for the drug will dry up and the suppliers will go away. Or like telling a severely depressed person to "cheer up". That's just not how things work.
The genesis and growth of the culture that has resulted in the environment which you describe has occurred over a long period of time and has been meticulously nurtured by the very powerful entities that most benefit from it, and I have come to believe, pessimistically, that the trend is irreversible.
Just last night I caught a snippet of Lewis Black on Countdown and he was describing the environment when Russia launched Sputnik when the whole country came to believe that its future depended on our ability as a nation to pull together and devote the resources necessary to change our national focus to science and the space program. He seemed to be calling for a similar national behavior to immediately begin working for and achieving a new energy policy. The recent HBO mini-series, The Pacific, along with its predecessor Band of Brothers, showed a United States that made a universal, national sacrifice for what it believed was an essential national purpose.
I just don't believe we have that capacity any longer. The most powerful, influential entities at work in our society don't share that desire to effect the change that you and Lewis Black are looking for, and have carefully worked to ensure that the American people are no longer equipped to unite in the manner required to achieve that. They have made us ignorant, distracted, selfish, greedy, and without the ability and capacity to even recognize that by doing so have made us impotent. They have fomented division between social economic classes, political philosophies, races, religions, etc. to the point where consensus is impossible. Remember when there was cheering when Chicago was not awarded the Olympics, only because it was something the President tried to make happen? What?
There seems to no issue whatsoever that can be shown to be supported by any majority of Americans at all. This did not occur by accident. The large corporate entities are not pro-American, they are multi-national and will adapt and adjust to whichever country succeeds in the future. They have crafted an environment where their interests trump ours. It may seem like a small thing, but when several national holidays, like Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays (originally reverently created to honor those in our history who have made us what we were, on particular dates- actual birthdays-linking us to real history)were turned into holiday weekends, to avoid disruption in business, and to create big sale days, the message was clear....business trumps history. But it is the history and those shared days that were uniting elements, not the white sales which only serve to unite us as consumers, not fellow countrymen.
I could go on and on, but this is your forum, not mine.
I always appreciate your thoughts and opinions and they never fail to achieve the effect of provoking other thoughts.
Wow! great comment. (as always)
I agree with everything you've said but I still believe it is possible for us to make a change.
It isn't easy, and there is tremendous inertia to overcome but I do believe that we can change, if only by a few degrees, the course our nation is on.
Things have already changed. Look at the perception of climate change since An inconvenient Truth or the election of Barack Obama.
In many ways we see these as disappointments because the movements haven't gone nearly far enough but we fail to recognize how far we have come in a relatively short time.
Are we still struggling to give marriage rights to a large portion of the population?
Yes
But a few years ago the issue was political poison and today it is hotly contested with most of the younger generation in support of gay marriage. It's going to happen. Maybe not soon enough, but it will happen.
The scary thing is that we usually need big inciting issues to make big changes. The dust bowl, pearl harbor, etc.
We blew the last big one, September 11th. Our whole country, and even the whole world was unified in that moment. We could have done amazing things, new energy and environmental policy. A rethinking of our relationship with the middle east. A real bilateral plan for third world development and an end to arms sales and nuclear proliferation, but we didn't do that.
But, there's no need to worry (or really there is) because bigger incidents, economic, environmental and political are on their way.
We will have to change, one way or another.
I just hope the incidents aren't so big that they cause a complete collapse.
Thanks again for the great comments
Great dialog.
I already rejected the addiction to celebrity gossip a long time ago. But I will admit that I do not always want to face some of the difficult issues with an open mind. Maybe we can all try to do just a little bit better.
You are correct about 9/11...there was an opportunity..how did Bush respond? He told the nation to go shopping, again reinforcing the notion that business trumps everything else. and what did we do? we went shopping.
The thing about gay marriage is that it's only a battle to recognize what's right in the first place..it's not progress, it's eliminating regress..It reminds me of the great Chris Rock routine about Niggers (oooh, I said it)...he was commenting how some would say "I take care of my kids", as if that's a big thing..Chris Rock said "You're SUPPOSED to take care of your kids"..it's not something over and beyond expectation and worthy of praise.
We have come to have such low expectations of ourselves that we take credit for finally doing what should have been done from the start..
And climate change? what are we doing? Nowhere near enough to make the slightest difference..
Oh well..you get the idea..
Parvenue,
Your first comment was that you no longer had faith in the possibility of progress. In your second comment you dismiss the progress I pointed out by explaining that it's really just an elimination of regress.
Regress from where? From what Eden have we fallen?
You might know what is right (and I would probably agree with you) but the transformation of human society never moves as quickly as we want it to. In fact, sometimes it grinds to a halt and even turns back but the great motion of history has generally been forward. (with our treatment of the environment being one notable exception)
The journey from the slave trade, through the civil war, through civil rights, to the day we elected a Black President might have taken hundreds of years and million of tragedies but it is progress.
The founders of our country might have held certain truths to be self evident but the reality is they're not. They never are.
And changing the world for the better is rarely a journey of days or weeks or even years.
Most of the time it feels as if every day we are losing which is why it is so important to celebrate the victories, even the small ones.
Ask a gay man who grew up in the fifties who was certain his sexuality was something he would have to hide for the rest of his life if we've made progress.
I don't disagree that things aren't better for the gay and black person in America today; clearly they are. But there are many places around the world, the "civilized" world where these issues were resolved many years ago..why is it so hard to get our countrymen to accept these self-evident truths? What is it about our value system that perpetuates the fights over issues that should be non-issues?
What forces are at work that keep us at odds with each other about virtually everything? What forces make us vote against our very own self interest, simply because such a vote is labeled Socialist? What forces cause us to desire more and more material goods and to borrow huge sums of money to acquire those goods, knowing full well that the planet cannot sustain the level of consumption?
How does this path to destruction get turned around? Does it?
My feeling is that if it does, it will not be led by the existing generation of adult Americans. We have been damaged beyond repair. We can't "stop watching", because it's now the only thing we know how to do.
smart. funny (and sad). clever. true. i will try to do my part.
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