You cannot go through the line at the grocery store or CVS
without being bombarded with tabloid magazines about Hollywood celebrities. There are a hand full of magazines such as Us
Weekly, People, and Life and Style. Even the nightly news has a slot dedicated
to the latest Hollywood news and often times our breaking new, or headlined
news has something to do with the stars. My question is, why do we care so
much?
I will be first to admit that I read all the tabloids, and
watch entertainment shows like E! News and Extra. Sometimes while I am watching
I think, why do I care what Jennifer Aniston did today, or that Brad
Pitt and Angelina Jolie are engaged? The February death of Whitney Houston
was the headline story on most new stations for a few days. Although Houston
was a major figure in the music world, and had local ties to Boston I do not
think that her death needed to be the main news story.
I feel that us as Americans need to take a step back from
the celebrity scene and really pay attention to the events taking place
nationally and internationally. There is a war still going on in Afghanistan
where troops are dying every day and not getting any attention. We need to get
out of “dream land” and realize that there are more issues out there than celebrities.
They are people too and I think enjoy getting the spotlight off them for once.
So.... Why *do* you care what Jennifer Aston or any other celebrity did? And likewise, why do some people spend so much of their time obsessing over their favorite sports teams?
ReplyDeleteEven though we probably involve ourselves into the lives of celebrities more than we should, I don't really see it as a problem. For us that realize there are bigger issues going on in the world, like the economic recession or the war in Afghanistan, gaining a little entertainment knowledge here and there isn't going to do any harm. Personally, I see it as a way to balance out some aspects of our lives. After all, current events are pretty depressing and I get lots of enjoyment from reading about celebrities to get my mind off the real-life stuff sometimes. I also don't really think that the spotlight is always on celebrities. Although there are certain segments of news channels dedicated to entertainment, and channels like E! are just for entertainment purposes, there are just as many (if not more) that focus on today's real issues. The majority of air time on channels like ABC, CBS, Fox, and CNN is about news, and not celebrities. I think we can be comfortable in caring about both real, affecting-our-lives kind of news, and entertainment news.
ReplyDeleteYour opinion about the seemingly "pointlessness" of most celebrity news is understandable. Most of the news is about small life events in the lives of humans. Celebrities are just as much human as any of us posting here. The media tends to blow things out of proportion in order to gain viewership or readership. It is sad that much of today's world has come down to the birth of a celebrity baby or the break-up of a celebrity couple. Thousands of people give birth everyday; thousands of couples break-up everyday.
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