Celebuturd

One of the worst changes to befall America under the Bush administration was the shift of culture that unearthed our long buried interest of all things rich. We Americans have always been fascinated by those with money; the Kennedy's, the Trumps, the Ewing's , the Gates. Unfortunately, during this new millennium we have done more than show interest in those with upper-middle class money and average marketability. We’ve began to idolize them, to accept them as more than entertainment and allow their primitive, experience-less, vapid personalities to influence our culture and children. It seems as though the marketing people have won. They’ve changed your collective minds about the Paris Hilton-types. It is like Bush, I guess, in how they can make poor choices and spew stupid remarks and we not only forget but we embrace them as new, improved human beings nearly every six months. The status of the “Celeb-utante”, one in which you have no skills other than being marginally attractive, is attainable by having a family rich enough for you to not work so you can just tool around town in the latest fashion and piss daddy’s money away like champagne. I am in no way mad that this nonsense happens. People can live their lives how they want. Hell, I could have my own television show if I made it to the fifth round of reality game show that is a spinoff of a reality dating show that is about someone who didn’t win the “date-a-washed-up-B-lister” reality dating game show. If daddy had been rich I might well be traipsing the SoCal landscape in really tight button-ups and sunglasses bigger than my Miata. What I disagree with is how our country has began to idolize this caste. What kills me is that we used to cheer on the little guy, pushing him to overcome the challenges of being poor and unattractive because he had heart. That is what Americans respect, right? Those who have the courage to pull themselves from the depths and reach their dream? I guess I would just feel short changed if the person I admired, the image I devoted time and money to embrace, only had trite life challenges like a Kardashian family argument or figuring out who in The Hills cast slept with my girlfriend. In an time when families are losing their savings, houses and livelihoods, this type of escapism seems poisonous to our culture. It’s knowledge without responsibility. A young person will have a harder time putting away savings if they are afraid to live without the accessories that their idols have. I just hope there are parents out there reminding their kids that it's alright to be yourself and live within your means. That real life doesn’t have to consist of petty jealousies and deception. I want to believe our society can watch these shows and know that just because they are named “reality” doesn’t mean there is anything realistic about them. Perhaps that is where I am short sited. As life slowly and steadily begins to imitate art, this recession may last even longer than predicted.