The Cult of Celebrity

I moved to a new computer at work today and discovered that my new homepage was set to MSN UK. I spent a few minutes browsing the various news stories that popped up and was intrigued to find that the majority of the articles related to celebrities. Now I love a good bit of celebrity gossip as much as the next person (hello Daily Mail!) but what I couldn’t comprehend, is why Kate Middleton doing her food shopping was news….or so I thought…

…that was until I started flicking through the pictures. Before I knew what I was doing, I found myself wondering what was in her trolley, were there security guards hiding behind the Coco Pops, does she read Cosmo, does she too have an appreciation for Haribo? And on reflection, I feel a bit disgusted with myself. Here we have a new mum. A young woman, just like me (but with unimaginable wealth, stunningly good looks and amazing hair.) Okay, so she’s nothing like me but she is a human being and surely a human being should have the right to buy Tampons without making the headlines?

The thing is, I understand why the photographers take these pictures. The demand is there. People want an insight into the life of celebrity. What I don’t understand is why. Why, in a week when we’re verging on a war with Syria, do I automatically click on the picture of Michael Buble’s new baby before the interview with the Prime Minister discussing the lack of public support for military action in Damascus? I don’t really have an answer.

Perhaps the ‘real news’ is too brutal. There’s so much sadness in the world. I do watch the news every night and it never makes me smile. Even the possibly pregnant panda this week didn’t bring a smile to my face because she just looked so grumpy and depressed. Give her an extra stick of bamboo and get the camera out her face! But seeing Mile Cyrus make a tit of herself. Well, that did make me sneer just a little. It’s escapism. A distraction from the mundane and the miserable. And who can blame me for wanting to distract myself from that?

I liked it when the news ended with interesting lifestyle pieces. And in an attempt to find something similar, I simply googled ‘happy news’ and found this site: http://www.happynews.com/ The first story I read was about a man who proposed to his girlfriend on a custom made pair of shoes that said ‘Marry me.’ Isn’t that lovely? I need more happy news like that in my life. Maybe then, I wouldn’t bother reading about TV’s most ridiculous teeth.

Now I’m off to see if I can find a video of Lindsey Lohan’s interview with Oprah…