As the people of Ukraine are fighting for their lives with violent protests on the rise, mainstream news outlets are centered on a more pressing story. With the chaos of the closest thing to civil war the country has ever been faced with erupting it seems that there are more important issues dealt with in the world because all U.S media can focus on is the arrest of 19-year-old YouTuber-turned-pop sensation Justin Bieber.
For as long as I can remember, the turbulent ups and downs of Hollywood royalty has made our nation go into a frenzy. Why people are more concerned about a teenage pop star than what is happening in the world around them is ludicrous. Why teenage girls idolize the Miley Cyruses and Kim Kardashians of the world when they should be idolizing women such as Sheryl Sandberg is beyond my scope of reason.
Given the reality in which we live in with the discontinuation of almost all Seattle-based newspapers more people are getting their information from online sources. With celebrity gossip so easily accessible it has quickly become a guilty pleasure of ours. I, too, am guilty of exchanging the quality news stories of the New York Times to those of TMZ’s covers on celebrity nude photos (Dylan Sprouse).
Hollywood culture has taken over the world and it does so firstly by taking over the world of news. I realize that writing about the culture itself is no different but for the life of me I cannot pinpoint the time where society stopped caring about the reality of the world and strictly immersed itself in pop culture and the lives of Hollywood’s latest trainwrecks.
It does not help that celebrities make their everyday lives and thoughts more accessible by posting what they do, where they are, and who they’re with on Twitter and then turn around and complain about their lack of privacy.
When Miley Cyrus performed on the MTV Music Video Awards this past summer it was a national headline. Not only did bloggers, YouTubers and my mother comment on the terrifying and obscene presentation of American pop stars but so did CNN. They even went as far as taking the cameras to the streets and asking middle-aged men and women their opinions. All of this overshadowed the pertinent information CNN could have been discussing about the Syrian civil war. But I guess getting the opinions of a man who thumbs up Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance is crucial information.
With close to half of our country legalizing same-sex marriage we must give credit where credit is due. It is the forward thinking of many young Americans that has projected us to the state of equality in which we live. We no longer live in the dark ages; women do not have to wear dresses to their ankles and can look a man in the eye as their equal. However such a movement should not be taken advantage of.
Practically masturbating, hanging naked from a ball or “twerking” (which has yet to be put into a dictionary, thank god) in a music video is not artistic expression, it is inappropriate and crude. When did society begin to condone this behavior? Deeming pornography an expression of one’s body does not make it art.
Let’s not forget the actual pornographic sex tape that launched the career of one of the biggest empires in the world. Yes, I am talking about the Kardashians, and yes, if you include Bruce Jenner in the mix the family is worth 207 million dollars. Isn’t that just a kick in the gut? The dramatic world of reality television has risen under our hand.
I have come to the conclusion that we are the enablers in this industry of fame. We are infatuated by Hollywood’s elite. The lifestyle and the money is a thing we envy and we cannot help but gloat or sympathize when the world comes crashing in around our idolized public figures.