Yesterday, as I stood in line waiting to check out at WalMart I amused myself by reading the headlines of the so-called “celebrity news” magazines displayed on either side of me. These glossy tattle mags are devoted to giving us the latest dirt on the activities of our favorite stars of entertainment and fashion. Most of the captivating headlines concerned who is dating who, and what all the stars look like without makeup and fancy clothes, and who is having the next baby. Then there are the really juicy stories about arrests, divorces, adultery, and drugs. To tell you the truth I don’t even recognize the names of half the people they are talking about. And even if the story is about someone I watch on television or at the moves… I don’t care. At least not enough to buy a magazine whose single purpose is tantalize people with useless gossip.
I don’t care what Meg Ryan looks like without makeup. The chances of me running into her at the supermarket are pretty slim, so I can almost guarantee that the next time I see her it will be on screen, with all of her makeup intact.
I don’t care if Angie has twenty kids, adopted or otherwise. Don’t like her, try not to watch her.
I don’t know who that woman is or why she is desperate and I don’t care.
They can have sex in the city or anywhere else they want to and I still won’t watch their dumb show.
Of course he is on drugs. Do we really think that someone who lives in the world of make-believe, earns millions of dollars, and has a parade of people at his “beck and call” is going to exhibit self-control? Do you honestly think I need a magazine to tell me that the nice guy he plays on the screen isn’t real?
Who cares what her politics are or who she thinks I should vote for? Why should anyone else’s opinion or vote influence mine simply because they look cute and know how to act? I don’t care if she plans to move to Canada. Have a safe trip!
It goes on and on and on. I suppose when I was a teenager I devoured every news bit about my favorite stars and tried to imagine what it would be like to live their lives. I probably envied what they ate and wore and did and who they knew. I vividly remember trying to copy hairstyles of the stars. I was rarely successful! But these days we have access to too much information. And too many “stars” are simply overnight sensations- the curiosity of the moment. It hardly seems worth our time to get to know them when they will more than likely be forgotten next season.
So, I didn’t buy any magazines yesterday. The only ones on my coffee table are there because they help me improve my life in some way. And I spend so much time trying to do that, I don’t have much time left to worry about how my favorite stars are living theirs.
Rocking that soap box again! Couldn't agree more. I'm way too busy to follow that stuff. Don't know, don't want to know. My own personal soap opera of a life keeps me looking in these four walls trying to better all of our lives.
And really, my plants need so much more attention than they're getting from me.
Posted by: Megan | May 16, 2011 at 03:23 PM