Pop culture addictions – do celebrities dictate our lives
Jatin Kumar, Staff Writer
October 6, 2011
Filed under Opinions
I’m addicted and I just can’t get enough.
Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, Charlie Sheen, Kate Middleton. Typical names in the average American household. What about, Pete Stark, James K. Polk, Galileo, or even Barbara Boxer? Who are these people?
Ladies and gentlemen, when was the last time you read the news? Not Facebook news, but the real deal? Sure, Yahoo, Twitter, Tumblr, show dependable coverage of what is going on in America, but have you read the New York Times, CNN, or the Washington Post? Let’s face it, we’re obsessed with celebrities, singers, princesses, almost everyone that makes it on Yahoo news.
But why? Why are we so addicted to the fall and rise of entertainers? Is the media to blame, an oppressive government? What is the reason?
“The news you watch, and the things you do are based on your own choice,” senior Brandon English said. “I honestly do not care about celebrities, but I do want to know what happens to them.”
Senior Tynan Otts had a similar approach about the media and celebrities. “I don’t listen to much celebrity news, but I do find out funny celebrity stories from my friends, or I go on Yahoo or YouTube and see what’s going on,” Otts said.
However, Junior Aditiya Dharma disagreed with English and Otts. “I think that the media has a great impact on us and really influences what television shows we watch and what music we listen to,” Dharma said.
I personally love celebrity gossip, the whole cheesy scoop, and scandals that encompass the lives of celebrities. Yet I think to myself, why am I even giving up my time to listen and watch a bunch of celebrities messing around? But as soon as I ask this question I go back to watching the stars. I notice that many other people have this same experience.
Seniors Mayumi Regala and Allison De Los Angeles have a special place where they get their gossip. Bloggers like Perez Hilton, and TV shows like TMZ, have a great impact on what we watch and listen to. “The stuff that Perez puts in his blog (perezhilton.com) might be rumors, but it’s just fun hearing about certain stars,” Regala said.
So is it just the tendency for us to be curious to know what’s going on with popular culture? Or is the media behind it all? I don’t think that the media should be put to blame, because they give us a choice in the end, whether or not we as spectators want to watch it. Maybe if we spent less time worrying about celebrities, and more time on learning about ourselves and the people around us, we could be more articulate about the world that surrounds us. But in the end, as English said once before, “the news you watch is based on your own choice.”