Is This as Low as it Goes? I Hope So

I honestly didn't know what a Kardashian was until last year, so I may not be qualified to even discuss this, but the story in the news this morning was the lowest thing I've read in a long time.

A young woman who had been on MTV's "Teen Mom" show, which I also was unaware of, was desperate to extend her 15 minutes of fame. She'd tried singing, and writing a book, and bikini modeling (why not? What's the difference between being a writer and a bikini model?) Didn't work. So she made a sex tape which then "leaked out" on the Internet. She claims she made it for her own personal use, the fact that her partner is a professional porn star notwithstanding.

There was a survey, gosh, it must have been more than a decade ago now, in which teens were asked what their goal in life was. The majority said they wanted to be "famous." Not a famous singer, or a famous lawyer, or a famous artist or even a famous accountant. They didn't say they wanted to be so good at something that it made them famous. They just wanted fame.

And that's why we have today's news about some 21-year-old woman "leaking" a sex tape online so that people will keep talking about her. She didn't even sell the recording, so there would at least have been a monetary reward. All that mattered was to keep people talking about her.

The story was complete with all the tongue-clucking about pop culture reaching a new low. But the worst part of it was this comment from a woman who runs a pornography production business.

“The fact of the matter is a few weeks ago this girl was just some girl on a past season of a reality TV show. She was actually one of the more responsible moms on the show – yes I watch it – which should be a good thing, but unfortunately it made her yesterday’s news really quickly. The more messed up moms on the show, like A**** and J******, are in gossip magazines all the times because they are constantly in and out of rehab or jail or whatever. In any case, everyone is talking about her now. And what is she going to do, get a ‘real job?’ It’s hard to go from being on TV to being a manager at Best Buy.”

Yesterday's news. Horror of horrors! Is that like the worst thing ever? Might as well be dead as to be yesterdays news. In or out of rehab or jail, whatever it takes to keep the camera on you. Makes it sound like Lindsey Lohan is a role model rather than a cautionary tale. Heaven forbid someone should go from being on TV to having a "real job."

There once was a notion that a celebrity was someone who had done something worth celebrating. Now it's just a person people talk about, for whatever reason. Like the late Zsa Zsa Gabor, who as near as I could figure out was only famous for being famous. The definition of a Kardashian. And really, is this that different from the PBs (professional beauties) of the Edwardian era? The human race has never been short of people willing to sell their soul. Now it's a career goal.

From where I sit, being manager of a Best Buy would be kind of a cool job.

Guess I'm getting old. Very very old.