Laura: It seems impossible to open a newspaper or webpage these days without getting bombarded with celebrity gossip.  It’s driving me crazy!  I really don’t care who is pregnant and who cheated on whom. What happened to real news?  What do you think, Steve?  Is celebrity gossip really necessary?

Steve: Well, Laura, I definitely understand you.  It does seem a little ridiculous that so many websites and “newspapers” can exist solely on celebrity gossip.  But while the obsession that many have might be unhealthy, I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon, so complaining about it might be a waste of our time.

I think it says something about human nature that we love digging into the personal lives of people with wealth and fame.  We want to be assured that their lives aren’t any better than our own.  It distracts us from our own daily trivialities and reminds us that even those in the limelight are still human.

If anybody gave me a say in the matter, I would like to mandate that we back off a little bit to give people some privacy (and us a break from having to learn about every single detail of their lives), but in most cases, these people are experiencing many more perks from their notoriety than they are drawbacks.  It’s just part of the job. 

 

 

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