I’ve been half listening to all the hoopla concerning Britney Spears’ latest appearance in the media. I say “half” because I’ve quickly grown fed up with the ridiculous way in which we are bombarded with celebrity “news”. It’s truly disgusting to see how the masses circle over the news like vultures waiting for a starving man to die. I’ll be the first to admit that when I first started this blog that I too visited some of the usual suspects like TMZ, and some other blogs that cater to gossip and such. At first there was the tingle of being one of the first to read a new snippet of info, or see a video, or read someone’s snarky commentary on the celebutard of the week’s behavior. Now, it makes me sick to see a celebrity hounded like a murder suspect.
I have come to a realization.
We have turned into Ancient Rome…at least partially.
We have become spectators at the Coliseum, packing the benches and baying for blood as the gladiators (celebrities) are paraded out one after another in order to distract us, the public, from our own lives. They hack and slash, fighting for their very lives as we secretly pray for their death. The reward for survival? Maybe a bigger opening weekend for their new movie, higher sales for their new album, or an interview with Larry King, and then they are thrown back into the ring the very next week. We shower the winner with praise until they make the fatal mistake of displeasing us (by being human) in the slightest. All the while Caesar (Harvy Levin) presides over it all, deciding who is newsworthy (lives), and who is not (dies). When the public becomes bored, he will send out his mindless entertainer (Perez Hilton) to renew their bloodlust.
We have become bloated on the carcasses of our famous, yet we still reach out our hands when a new dish is brought out to us. We’ve exchanged decency and the right to privacy for soundbites and voyeurism.
Does anyone remember what happened to Rome?
