Yeah I click on the Britney, Paris, Peterson threads--and guess what? I still know what's up in Iraq

I get the biggest kick when a thread about old Britney or Paris, or other celeb types pop up in GD and some DUers enter that thread to say "who gives a shit" or--- "why are you posting this shit when they're more important things in the world to be concerned about".

It's as if those posting these comments have to prove to the rest of us that they've never have bought a People Magazine, or watched Entertainment Tonight, or looked at any other type of Gossipy type news---because well----- they're are people dying in Iraq, or--- Bush is destroying CIA tapes--- or--the Polar Ice Cap is melting. How dull.

I think it's a pretty damn snobby attitude by these uh DU elites to think that watching a celeb train wreck or two means that we're not paying attention the real world.

Let me assure you that we have the capability to do both.

The human mind is capable of thinking of only one thing at a time. As soon as something else emerges, all memory of other matters is lost. That's why people are incapapble of finding their way home after work.

from the ugly reality that is the Bush administration. Good point. If you don't want to read it- don't click on it.

But some of us have a deeper problem with such threads - they reinforce the whole celebrity culture and its nasty effect on our society's values. Sure, this objection is a bit philosophical and might be an eye-roller for some, but it's something I happen to be concerned about. Britney, Paris, and the others promote some very nasty values and ideas. The amount of attention they get worries me, because some people are susceptible to being influenced by that sort of thing. Maybe not you, but it does happen - a lot.

Gossip, especially celebrity gossip, is simply human nature...

I believe in gradual progress, and in order to make gradual progress, somebody has to be advocating for it.

Poisonous and soul-killing.

Maybe Britney's paying now for the shallowness her whole life has been aimed at.

It's too bad they do get so much attention, but it's not like it's something that can be easily undone. The most anyone can do is take an individual stand not to add to it.

for Paris Hilton?

How did her hair grow back so fast?

She uses wigs :)

My tentative theory is that celebrity train wrecks make us feel better about not being rich and famous.

Stuff like this happens all the time to ordinary people, though. It just doesn't make the news. The price of fame is that your every little mistake or mishap can be on the news.

24 hour news channels need something to do. That could be why we have this type of coverage now whereas in the old days when there was only a half hour for the news, it didn't make it.

Mine is, too. The local news does a bang up job with that, too. It's from Philadelphia. Our family joke is where was the fire in Philadelphia today? The Philly local news so often starts out with a fire somewhere in the Greater Philly area.

I live in Delaware, and the DuPont family is either 1 -well behaved, 2-not living in Delaware any more or 3 - owns enough of the local paper that its heiresses doings stay out of it!

I suppose i'm supposed to be all serious business here on the 1nt3rw3bz. With all the death, destruction, and other assorted nerve wracking, blood pressure boiling events in the media, it's nice to step back and relax a bit, and laugh at someone else.

:hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot: :hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot: :hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot: :hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot: :hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot: :hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot: :hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot: :hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot: :hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot: :hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot: :hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot: :hi: :rofl: :woohoo: :patriot:

for all those smilies?

I go to LBN and GD because I want to engage in discussions that have some sort of significance. I don't consider Brittany leaving the house without her underwear on as having any social significance. I've noticed that GDP was starting to infiltrate GD for awhile and now it's the Lounge Lizards seem to have escaped from their play pens. There is a reason the Lounge was created -- some people love making fun of "fat chicks," "retards" and how they "smell old people." Great! More power to them, but the grown ups would like to discuss grown up topics.

trailer trash feel superior and normal. If it weren't for the media coverage of such trollops and vapid snipes the folks who have nothing better going for them would have to look inward and contemplate self improvement. Now with this putrid feces of humanity out in front, no one will notice the dull green ball of mucous behind it.

looking down on others because they spend time with stupid, petty.....
seriously, many people here confuse being HUMOURLESS with being a responsible adult. it's a sad mistake they are making. literally.

myself I feel a part of my soul has been sucked out by a vampire, a vulnerability that I need to protect. I had to shut off the cable TV because I was getting too addicted to it, my fault entirely. I am lacking the skill necessary to process this sh*t.

I do sometimes listen to the celebrity gossip bit on the local afternoon radio show while I'm driving around for work.

On one hand, I do think it's stupid and idiotic and silly. On the other hand, I'm always confused by the posts by people who apparently are only capable of thinking about one thing at a time and project that to the rest of us and berate us for thinking about things other than the one thing that they're capable of thinking about.

Also, just because someone else isn't interested in celebrities doesn't mean that they're looking down on people who are. Yeah, like I said, I think celebrity gossip is stupid. Doesn't mean that I automatically think that all people who care about it are stupid. And I do have a sense of humor. I just don't find celebrities funny. Or prejudiced jokes, because I have a feeling that most people who are going to go on about people who don't share their interests being elitist and not having a sense of humor have a lot of overlap with the "I can make prejudiced jokes if I want to, all you uptight politically correct people!" people.

Is it an internal sense of inferiority? The immediate defensiveness and "Anyone who doesn't care about celebrities like I do is elitist!" makes me think so. It's like you expect people to look down on you for it so you look down on them first.

There's so much judging of people based on their hobbies and interests here - imagine if you were a country music or NASCAR fan.

Oh well, at least DU keeps me realistic and makes me remember that even the good guys are prejudiced and full of stereotypes and generalizations and seeing people as cardboard cutouts to be ranked on some scale as of more or less value than as individual living beings who are all of equally priceless worth.

...you've got some extra free time for the news.

:P

Many of us do. I call it multi-tasking.