So often do I open up a newspaper and find a decent-sized picture of some celebrity in an unflattering situation that it has become tiresome. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard and seen the downfall of Britney Spears before and after drug rehab visits, pushing paparazzi away, being irresponsible with her child or just looking like a bad role model for the young girls who look up to her.
American culture has seemingly become more obsessed with the lives of complete strangers — people we watch on television every night or who make the music we listen to. We think we really know who they are, but we only have a pseudo relationship with them. It’s a mystery as to why sometimes we invest more of our time in knowing about their lives than we dedicate to the people who actually should matter to us.
Britney Spears, for all intents and purposes, is a failure. She has become a sad excuse of a celebrity, so far gone from the “innocent” pop star she once emerged as. This is not to say that she has been given unfair media attention and should be granted some freedom to live as normal a life as possible, but anyone heading into stardom should know that celebrity status comes with the pitfalls of the business too.
I can’t count how many times a week I watch MTV or a show like Entertainment Tonight and get lost in the drama that consumes the lives of celebrities on a daily basis. I believe a lot of people, much like me, somehow use the actions of these individuals to put into perspective how stable their individual lives are in comparison to that of the celebrities. It’s reassuring to us “normal” people that we still have some control in our lives.
If Americans were less concerned with the screwed-up lives of other people and more concerned with a life they can actually change — their own — then perhaps as a whole the people of our country would have less broken marriages, babies born out of wedlock and crimes committed. Reality shows give drama a better image than it should have, so if the media sent stronger negative messages to the public regarding the actions of celebrities, then our society might see those consequences and take them more seriously.
Change is always inevitable in life. With such a short amount of time we have on this Earth, we should take the amount of time that we do have and focus inward on our own actions. We cannot change anyone but ourselves and no one should worry about changing that person down the street that he or she hardly knows. You can’t go into a relationship thinking you can change a person and make them better suited for you, and consuming yourself with the problems of those you don’t know is emotionally draining and a waste of time.
The next time you watch a show that is focusing on a celebrity and their mistakes, stop and think: what benefit are you getting from this? People will continue living as they wish and our time would be better spent if we self-reflect on our own problems and fix what we can fix. After all, we might as well make the best of the time we have.
Tell Rebecca how you feel about celebrity media coverage. E-mail her at technicianonline.com
