The McCartney thing this week was the straw that broke the camel's back. It hit the headlines around the same time we received word that Canada lost its first female soldier in combat in Afghanistan. It just didn't seem right to listen to all this mindless bleating about a celebrity marriage when an accomplished hero had been cut down at the age of 26. Hence my piece in today's paper:
McCartney breakup clouds true heroesYour turn: Tell us what you really feel about entertainment "news".
Published Friday, May 19, 2006
The London Free Press
It’s been an overwhelmingly tragic week. Canada's military death toll in Afghanistan mounts, while four men die in an accident and rescue attempts at a B.C. mine.
Now, into this mix, comes news Sir Paul McCartney and his wife, Heather Mills, have separated.
The story of the ex-Beatle’s marriage breakup is now global. Reporters, observers, unnamed sources and regular folks who happened to be hanging around when the couple breezed into Canada to protest the seal hunt are all fighting for their 15 minutes of fame.
Financial analysts are speculating on the size of a divorce settlement. Television entertainment show hosts breathlessly report the latest so-called news.
I suppose it doesn’t matter to any of us that the couple's breakup will have no effect whatsoever on our everyday lives. Nor will the daily challenges of Jessica and Nick, Britney, or any other disposable celebrities of the moment.
Yet they routinely divert attention away from the true heroes among us. I know that’s the way the news business often works, but it speaks volumes about what we should treasure most.
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24 comments:
I generally ignore the entertainment news, but have to admit that I did read about Paul because, he's was a Beatle! And, unlike most entertainment folks, I've always liked him and am sorry that they couldn't work it out, especially after Linda's death. I find the discussion about how much she'll get down right tacky. And it makes it sound like she was in the relationship for the loot. I hope that wasn't the case.
Michele sent me, Carmi.
I usually ignore the celebrity cycle of news and at times that means that I have to stay totally away from newspapers and CNN--but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to avoid hearing about Britney or Jessica, Carmi.
I was just thinking about this yesterday: What is so interesting about Paris Hitlon, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears? Isn't there anything more important?
Ultimately, I think it's because entertainment gossip, which is really what it is, sells/papers and magazine, and pulls in viewers. It's a financial decision.
There are a lot of Beatles fans out there, so I can understand why news about Paul McCartney would be in a newspaper as opposed to Jessica Simpson. How many teenage girls actually read newspapers?
I confess, I love the celebrity news. I devour trash mags. But that's not to say that I don't enjoy reading about world affairs and/or local news.
It's all a question of balance and priority.
Visiting from Michele's and I must say I totally agree with what you wrote about the true heros. Who cares about Paul and Heather? I certainly don't!
Here from Michele's today.
Excellent article. Makes me wonder what's happened to our priorities in this world. Rather scary, actually. Celebs seem more important than the tragedy of every-day life among the rest of us.
My comment on the McCartney marriage can be seen on my blog. Here from Michele's today.
You are very right Carmi. I guess many people avidly read about "celebrities" to forget about their own problems, it is a way of escape, I don't want to think it is truly important to them. Here via Michele's this afternoon!
If it comes across my attention.. I listen and or watch... but don't really care about the celebrities lives much.. I mean do they really care what I do in my everyday life? haha
Michele sent me.
I try to ignore the celebrities. Most are mindless with too much money to know better but they get out there for their "cause" or to criticize leaders, or to "raise money for poverty." This last item really irks me. Here they are with divorce settlements of 147 MILLION dollars or incomes such that they have 5 mansions all over the world, or that they pay their hairstylists, body guards, trainers, manicurists and a whole slew of people ridiculous sums of money to travel with them. HEY!!!! YOU WHO ARE THE RICHEST OF THE RICH!!! Instead of their concerts for peace or poverty where they ask us who scrape together a living just trying to get our kids through college to give money, why don't they give 140 Million of that settlement or learn to do their own nails like everyone else and give that to help poverty. It would go further than my twenty five dollars, that's for sure. They seem to think they can take it with them. It won't do anything for their kids except turn them into more Paris Hiltons. And that is REALLY (please read a truck load of sarcasm into this sentence) what this world needs, more Paris Hiltons!!!
Well, now you know how I feel about celebrities. Probably more than you wanted to know. But, thanks, I feel better.
We HAVE to remember and honor and praise the true heros who make our world safer to live in. If we make celebrity more important than the true hero, we are fools.
Well done! I totally agree with you Carmi. I have mixed feelings about celebrity, there are a few I find interesting, BUT there are more that I find repulsive, such as TomKat, Brad & (insert name), Hiltons & (insert name). They should all be forced to worry about bills, insurance, and daily trials and tribuations like the rest of us. I will get off the soapbox now.....Here from Michele's!
I'm not a celebrity watcher, but regarding such news: as long as we're buying it, I'm pretty darned sure you're going to sell it.
This is the first I've heard about PM and his wife; probably the last time. My condolences to the family of Nichola Goddard. I can't fathom how terrible it would be to lose a child or a spouse.
In October of 1987, a little girl named Jessica McClure fell into a well in Midland, Texas. For two days, America was glued to their televisions and radios, wondering what was to become of "Baby Jessica".
While I was listening to the radio, I heard the following mixed in with the constant updates on the rescue attempts in Texas:
"In other news, The United States and USSR have just finished signing a disarmament pact that will lead to the dismantling of a thousands of all medium ranged nuclear missiles in Europe.
"And now back to our on-site coverage of the rescue of Baby Jessica."
It was at that moment that I realized that sensationalism rules media.
I don't care about 99% of it, but Paul is different. Too bad she won't love him when he's 64!
I don't mind the occassional fluff piece--we need something to break up the sheer weight of the news onced in a while--but all the celebrity stuff is, well, stupid. Isn't that what shows like ET and Inside Edition are for? Why cloud the Nightly News with tabloid fodder?
I couldn't agree more, Carmi. Enough, already. Concentrate on the important stuff, please--is what I want to say to The Media!!! Everything about these Entertainment Stories is kind of sickening. I love to gossip as much as a lot of people, I guess, but all this stuff about these people...is just ridiculous. And we are such a strange society in a way....wanting to take down our celebrety's all the while revering them. ENOUGH!
I am so very sorry for Canada's losses in this war,,,,and for what? It's all very depressing.
If Paul or Heather were a close personal friend, then yes, the news would matter more to me. But just like all the drama of every single celebrity out there, I really don't give a fiddler's fart about this news.
What goes on in the lives of my family and friends is what matters to me.
I watch entertainment news from 7-8 nightly, because it fills time. It's not that I am salivating for celebrity news, but you know, I enjoy certain "stories" not in a paparazzi kind of way.
I think that peoples attention spans do not last more than then minutes on any given subject unless of course it hits them personally in their back yards.
I think "some" of the media makes life difficult on celebrities but you know who's to blame? The people who demand the information or the creeps who gather it?
Marriage is Marriage is Marriage...
You get married, you find a place to settle and you deal with your marriage. I for one don't think that celebrities should be given any special "indugences" because of "celebrity" about whether their marriages work or not. I think, IMO, that celebrities give marriage a bad name, they hook up, squeeze out a few pups then part ways, some don't even procreate, take a look, how many "golden couples" remain married for longer than 10 years, (excluding Sting and Trudy Stiler?)
I watch the news daily and sometimes I write about it, I don't write about celebrities. I'm not a celebrity junkie by any means.
It's hard to avoid 24 hour cable news these days in the U.S. and Canada is getting close with CTV Newsnet! Unless there is news worth watching I stay away from news outside of regular news hours.
One can near and cross over into 24 hour News Overload. T.M.I.
Too Much Information !!
Cheers
Jeremy
I think you nailed it here Carmi. Not much more to add except to congratulate ms.mac on her honesty.
No argument here; I totally agree with you. And yet I have a theory as to why celeb "news" is so big: when so much of the real news is frightening, depressing, sad, and scary, it's little fluff stories that somehow make us think things are "okay" -- if we still have time to publish and discuss fluff that has no bearing on our lives, then the scary headlines must not be at a critical level, and the power of the real news' fear factor is diminished slightly. Of course, that's just a fantasy, a false perception on the part of the reader. But when haven't people turned to escapism during difficult times?
At least news about Paul is more interesting than Brittany and others, but they do make all too much of it!! I came from michele's today.
I am constantly amazed that people are so interested in the shallow goings-on in 'celebrity' lives...
Johnny Depp's got it right - find a woman, shack up in a deserted vinyard, have children, occasionally make reluctant public appearances and make the films you like, then bimble back off to the French countryside to be with the family...
:-)
cq
[wink] Michele again....
I find it to be a sad commentary of our personal lives when we become so enamored with the frequent meaningless doings of others. Is this obsession we have for celebrity news just a diversion we use to avoid examining how we are living our own lives?
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