Celebrity Fixation

Just a short six months and I'm back! I'm really getting the hang of this blog thing, eh? Posting a couple times a year is normal, right?

Obviously, I haven't found any more free time, personal motivation or a topic that sends me running to my computer to blog on. But since my blog is still miraculously online, and since I have something on my mind and can't sleep, I figure I'll throw a new post up and see if I can manage to update this thing a few more times before the new year rolls around!

So, when I have insomnia I tend to get on the computer and do mindless stuff to try and get myself tired (like right now). One of my guilty pleasures is reading various celebrity websites. No matter how old I get, I still haven't shed my fascination with celebrities, although it's finally starting to wear thin.

I admit to caring just a tiny bit about who's looking good these days and who's looking like they've been partying too much...who's dating who and who's just out of the closet. Sometimes I'm even fascinated by the train wreck that is Britney. But who's even more fascinating, in a sad and scary way, are the people who post comments on these celebrity sites.

I could suggest that these people need to get a life, but right now I'm the one talking about them, so that would be hypocritical, now wouldn't it? What I'll say instead is that many of these posters have some issues. Some of it may just be a matter of being young and silly and confident that there are no repercussions to snarking on celebrities on the Internet. A lot of it involves being jealous of the fame and fortune that some celebrities seem to possess despite a lack of talent or hard work. I admit, the luck of these celebrities who have fallen into their positions is envious indeed. So, it seems their karmic punishment for such great luck is to have a bunch of us nobodies criticize every last thing about their appearance, fashion sense, taste in significant others, tendency for substance abuse and any other vices such as smoking, tanning and starving.

Which reminds me -- a recent photo of Nicole Ritchie running on the beach is what inspired my current tirade. Yes, she looks horrific. She is literally wasting away. And it is infuriating that her Hollywood family, friends and business associates appear to be letting it happen. Not only that, but this woman is in deep denial as evidenced by the outfits she is photographed parading around in -- does she not see how bad she looks? Probably not.

And that's just it. In all likelihood, Nicole has anorexia. But, does that stop the posters on the blogs from saying awful things about her? Hell, no. Comments abound about what it must be like to have sex with her and her protruding bones. A number of posters ask why she can't just die already. And if a poster comes on and suggests that the others might want to try a little sensitivity, they are drummed out by the proud snarkers.

I know Nicole is not known for her own gentle personality, class or intelligence. Neither is her ex-pal Paris, who is also routinely dragged across the pavement of the comments sections of these blogs. (Not to mention the blogs themselves, although the comments are where the real dirty work takes place.) I'm not suggesting that we all need to care about Lindsay Lohan's feelings or something ridiculous like that. But I do want to ask what makes someone so angry or venomous that they enjoy talking about how disease-ridden a celebrity must be and what must be going on in her private parts. The hostility and misogyny really do frighten me. And the eagerness with which women are defined by their appeal as sexual conquests, well it demonstrates why we women still such have a hard time in general in this society.

One can only hope that some of these folks are only going through a phase or acting out online in a way they never would in real life. But the fact that these thoughts still exist somewhere in the recesses of their minds is sad. That's why I'll be frequenting these celebrities sites less and less in the future. Why subject myself to the circus of celebrity build-em-up and tear-em-down that makes up such a large part of this country's so-called culture? I'll do myself a favor and try to find a better way to spend my time.

That said, I will not be cutting down on my TV consumption. Heavens, no, not with the new fall season coming! I will continue to enjoy the drama, conflict, character development and storytelling that I appreciate in many TV programs. But I will try valiantly to pull myself out of the swamp of caring about the personal lives and appearances of the actors who appear on TV and in the movies. Now, does that mean I have to give up reality TV or not? Is watching The Girls Next Door as bad as visiting these sites, because if it's wrong I don't wanna be right!