My RSS feed of entertainment news is full of variations on the same headline: “John Travolta is heartbroken over son’s death, sources say”.
As opposed to…? “John Travolta dancing the fucking tarantella over son’s death”? “John Travolta staging massive party to celebrate death of child, hires Katy Perry and Perez Hilton to MC”? “Travolta’s son dies; Travolta shrugs, goes to Starbucks and orders vanilla latte”?
I don’t know John Travolta, I’ve never met John Travolta or his wife Kelly Preston or any member of his family. I don’t much care for his religious preferences, but they are no more my business than mine are his. Of course I feel very sorry for the man and his people. Losing a teenage child must be unimaginably painful. My sympathies extend, as they would to anyone I vaguely knew about whose child died.
And unlike the apparent majority of my countrymen, I’m willing to leave it at that. Because none of it is my business in any way.
Celebrity, in this country, has become a monstrous thing and our central currency. We have no more musicians or singers, we have rock stars and divas; we have no actors, we have action heroes; and many of the people who are famous now are famous for no reason at all. The fact that I know who Kim Kardashian is — despite my best attempts to keep myself out of such things — is terrible. I still don’t know why I know who she is, though I’ve seen her have sex on camera with that awful singer that Burial sampled. But she’s a bad amateur porn actress at best. (And she is bad. Trust me.)
And poor John Travolta, who’s probably out of his mind with grief right now, has to deal with the most contemptible excesses of celebrity media. I feel even worse for the guy because of it.
Please, America, go back to living your own hopeless, soulless lives, and quit sticking your nose into the soulless, hopeless lives of people you see on TV.
According to Wikipedia, Kim Kardashian is a “celebutante”.
Didn’t even know such a thing existed!
i think you meant ‘celebutard’
I don’t know who those people are (aside from Travolta), but about half an hour ago Dave Chappelle walked by and nodded at me as I peered up from my laptop and made eye contact with him. I don’t know Dave, but I’ve seen him up close hundreds of times, here in his hometown of “Ye11ow Spreengs.” Dave once spoke to me and probably knows who I am, but I have never bothered him because I can understand what it must have been like for him to venture out into public a few years ago when he was the most famous comedian on the planet, before he decided to attempt the impossible task of becoming unfamous. Kinda like what Travolta must be going through right now, I guess, yet totally different.
I respect the hell out of Dave Chappelle, and yeah, I get a kick out of seeing him walk around his hometown. But I also respect his right to privacy and I’m glad he has a place where he can be Dave instead of Dave Chappelle.
Celebrity worship and the idea of what constitutes ‘entertainment’ in this society has become extremely retarded. Idiocracy has become us… 500 years ahead of schedule!
What’s worse is now there are stories about how Cruise is all broken up over it– what crap! Those emotionally stunted celeb scientologists don’t dare even take a crap without their handlers’ permission.