subject: Why Is It That People Care So Much About Hollywood Celebrities And Celebrity Gossip? [print this page] As a journalism graduate I am all for the freedom of the media. I additionally believe that people today ought to know everything they need to know about everything. The key word is need, and I ought to define this a little more by offering examples. Men and women need to know the state of the union, they need to know the background of politicians so they are able to get a better judgment of the persona of individuals who want power, they need to understand about the advantages and drawbacks as well as the positive aspects and flaws of things they may wish to buy, they need to know about crime rates in their region and wherever else they might want to go, etc. What they dont need to know is each and every last detail regardless of how obscure about every Hollywood celebrity that walks the face of the planet. Nonetheless that is what they want to know. I am not saying that the mass media ought to be censored to prevent people from reading about Hollywood celebrities. Rather I am asking why do people care?
Hollywood celebrities are no different than everyone else until the rest of the population places them on pedestals. It is my truthful opinion even though I am confident most people would deny it that a majority of the population cares more about what's happening with Paris Hilton and Justin Bieber than what is happening to our fighting men and women overseas. This can be illustrated with the Houston Chronicle. Living in Houston I read this newspaper each day and it is as first rate a newspaper as I've read and I have read most of them. The Chronicles part A has celebrity news on page 2 and ordinarily you have to flip to the back 2 pages to read the news about Iraq and Afghanistan. You will find exceptions with either the moment something really substantial takes place, but what I have explained is the general norm.
We've got entire magazines about Hollywood celebrities that point out the particulars of the personal lives of actors and actresses, sports stars, and may favourite category of celebrity - reality stars.
Ordinary people do not place full page advertisements when they have a break up and most of the time they almost certainly wouldn't want everyone in the world to learn about their private life. Well maybe they might if Facebook proves anything.
Why is it even news what anyone thinks about their sister-in-law? I've never been able to understand why other people in the U.S. are fascinated with the British royal family. Did we not kick them out of our nation in 1776?
The point of this is that people have grown to be obsessed with the most mundane facts about people who the mass media has displayed in the limelight. Well maybe the crystal meth story isn't so mundane (hopefully producing meth never becomes an ordinary activity)
This is all just a part of the dumbing down of society. People today waste their time concerned with the unimportant rather than educating themselves on the important matters in todays world. China is rapidly catching the U.S. in pretty much everything, but that is OK because we can go to celebrity internet sites and vote on which hairstyle looks best on Charlie Sheens head. I personally voted for flat top cut and clean-shaven!
My determination is that people like gossip about Hollywood celebrities for precisely the same reason's they like soap operas. Seeing someone live out publicly things that regular people do every day. It provides them an outlet to bash actions and choices people make in a justifiable way. Celebrity gossip that's "good" is usually something a celebrity has done that's embarrassing or otherwise not in great taste. Kind of like laughing at a person falling down stairs. If everyone else is laughing with you it's not wrong.
