Key Question 04/08/10

Why do you think people are so obsessed with celebrities? Do you follow Hollywood gossip? Why/why not?!

There are many theories pertaining to this subject, almost as many as the different stories when (insert scandal of choice here) happened.

Perhaps people are so obsessed with celebrities because they are trying to compensate for feelings of unfulfillment in their own lives; that is why more popular celebrities are those who have never really achieved anything great or did anything useful in their lives except maybe pump out a couple of over-dramatized TV shows or flash a little you-know-what while getting out of a car. Our society has grown so shallow that the latest Hollywood scandal of so-and-so getting a DUI or what's-his-name cheating on his wife is all most people want to hear about.
Forget about the people who really make/made a difference in the world by fighting for rights and liberties of people or cultures that really need it, or standing against animal cruelty, or aiding the wounded, or...you get the idea. Yeah sure, ask anyone and they'll tell you that folks who do those things are great people, but tell them that Miss Lohan is in rehab or Miley Cyrus took naughty photos of herself, and they'll gobble it up like it's their last meal.
Could it be that people are so obsessed with these so called "scandals" because they are things that they, Jane/John Q. Public, have done themselves? About 44% of Americans admit to cheating on their significant other, most people have taken or thought about taking naked pictures, and there's always the friend of a friend who's in rehab. Oh and don't forget all of those sexual fantasies, whether realized or kept secret. When a celebrity gets caught cheating on their partner, do normal people pay so much attention to it because, hey, their wife never found out but Tiger Woods' did!

I don't follow Hollywood gossip if I can help it, but it's nearly impossible to avoid hearing it anyways. Simply because people seem to thrive off of the publicized embarrassment of celebrities, you can't help knowing about the latest. Even opening the Internet or a newspaper, there's a good chance you'll catch the latest on Mr. Big Celebrity. So unless you're pushing up daisies or live in a cave in the mountains with no outside contact whatsoever, somehow celeb. gossip always finds its way to you.