Author’s note: This piece was written in early November, but due to illness, laziness and China the publishing was postponed. At the time it was written it had been inspired by recent news reports.
Does anyone actually know who Kim Kardashian is?
She's been everywhere in the headlines recently;
'Kim Kardashian files for divorce.'
'Camera falls on Kim Kardashian's head.'
'Kim Kardashian sues over look-alike.'
'Kim Kardashian regrets porn shoort - Kim Kardashian says she only stripped off for Playboy because her mother told her to.'
I had to stop looking them up; they were both fascinating and horrifying.
Ok, one more. 'Kim Kardashian embarassed by breasts - Kim Kardashian says she has prayed to God for smaller breasts.'
That's the last one. I swear.
What will come next? ‘Kim Kardashian wins Nobel Peace Prize’? ‘Kim Kardashian; first woman on Mars’? ‘Gaddafi was killed by Kim Kardashian’?
It wasn’t until I looked her up on Wikipedia that I discovered she was an; ‘American business woman, socialite and TV personality’. In other words, she’s no one in particular. Yet she is apparently a celebrity.
I have made a lot of complaints about the cult of celebrity; about how the media follows their every move and the public raises them to the height of Gods. But at least in a lot of cases these are the common or garden variety of celebrities. They are singers, pop stars, sportsmen and women, actors and actresses. But when it comes to people like Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton who have not appeared to have done anything of note to achieve their fame, it all gets a bit bewildering.
Where do we find these people? Perhaps there is some sort of criteria that media outlets have in order to decide who is worthy of their attention (actually, having studied journalism for three years, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case). Perhaps, if a certain individual is brought to their attention, they have to be ticked off against a stringent checklist. Young. Check. Female. Check. Rich. Check. Has made a sex tape. Check.
What’s more, you would think that once you were in the public eye you would be more careful about what you said to the media. Remember Jessica Simpson and her amazing reality TV show? Wasn’t that fun? I don’t care if TV producers are going to pay you millions – in fact, that should make you more suspicious. If the whole world is watching, for goodness sake don’t make a fool of yourself by asking if tuna is chicken. It’s the modern day equivalent of Marie Antoinette saying ‘Let them eat cake’.
In all honesty I do feel a bit sorry for these pseudo-celebrities sometimes. It can’t be easy being the butt of international jokes. They are, after all, human beings just like the rest of us. The difference however is that every slip up, every mistake, every embarrassment and every personal moment is out there for the world to see. We, on the other hand, can hide behind our anonymity. Can you imagine the headlines if we were all famous?
‘Bryan passes out drunk on his neighbour’s lawn.’
‘Laura drops glasses into toilet.’
‘Jenny goes through messy and heart wrenching divorce.’
‘Adam sends naked picture of himself to girlfriend.’
‘Offelbert in court battle to change his name.’
Everyone should be able to make mistakes and be human without it being plastered all over the global news networks. It’s in the International Charter of Human Rights. I think. It should be.
So in the end who is really to blame? Is it we, the consumers of media; a society who idolises the rich and terminally idiotic? Or perhaps we should blame the media who feeds us this tripe in order the boost circulation instead of reporting on things which really matter? Or when it comes down to it is it the celebrities themselves who eat up the fame and pander to the camera like a panda, pandering to a camera?
Perhaps it’s all three. Perhaps it’s a necessary part of the society, just like birth, death and Texas. Whatever the reason, it appears that the Kardashians of the world are here to stay; rich, stylish and clueless.
May God help us all.
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