[SKUNKY]

Yes, it's happened again!

The war in Iraq, the presidential campaign, the Bhutto assassination, rioting in Kenya, skyrocketing fuel prices et al have once again been toppled from the headlines by the tragic plight of Ms. Britney Spears.

Do that many of us really care to hear about this woman's troubles? Or is it just the trashy tabloids (both printed and broadcast) that are making it seem so?...These paparazzi guys are just as pathetic as she. A report I heard (because I just can't get away from hearing about it unless I turn off all TV and radio) is that a whole herd of these clowns were chasing her ambulance down the street as it departed her residence, and worse yet, there was another crowd of these jokers waiting at the hospital for her arrival, and began beating on the doors of the ambulance as it was arriving.

Hello??....Is this what America is truly interested in? We're more interested in the life of some young woman who had the world by the short hairs a few years ago and then spiralled into her Godless, self-absorbed world of self-annihilation than we are about our neighbor?

It would be one thing if this garbage were limited to the tabloids that assault us at every grocery store checkout, but I am so sick of her and her ilk being treated as mainstream headline news by ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, MSNBC and on and on....

It seems we always need someone like this in our lives. Michael Jackson was "it" for quite awhile, but now he has (thankfully) disappeared. Then we had Paris Hilton, but she's out of jail now. Do we have to have these people to make us feel good about ourselves? Do we get some sense of superiority because even though we're not rich and famous and our lives are somewhat messed up, at least we're not as screwed up as this person who is rich and famous?...Is that it?...If so, then aren't we pathetic as well?

The woman needs help, and I know the help she needs. I just pray she finds it before she ends up making the same type of headlines as Marilyn Monroe and Anna Nicole Smith.


Rant over....

[STARMAN 352ND]

I agree .....I also hope she gets the help she needs..
JP

[Elmer]

Whew! Glad you got that off yer chest!

[jim]

Skunky that was an excellent rant, more power to your elbow my friend.

You and Lorraine would make a formidable ranting duo, (she could rant for Britain at the Olympics if there ever was such an event).

The point you raise leaves me in serious rant mode I too saw all this rubbish on the news, I agree, whats wrong with the world when that stuff makes headline news?
Maybe the poor girl would have more of a chance if the idiot press left her alone to sort herself out.
I wont go on because you have made the point with perfect reason.

[wmosner]

Probably showing my curmudgeonly attitude but I really don't give a rat's a-- about any of these so called celebrities and am starting to feel the same way about professional athletes. It's like the United States has invented it's very own brand of inbred royalty.

[Armour Addict]

Well, what should I say?

I consider this a trait of modern society. The less people think about their own live the more they like the media to dissect the live of others.

Considering Britney, here time has passed long ago. Now she is a shadow of her former self and I couldn't care less about wether she got paid a visit by the police or not.

Shame over me but some of her songs were kinda catchy and I even liked the school uniform outfit...

Oh jeez, I think the Jim & Coke finally shows...

[JustPlaneNuttz]

Britney who?

OK. So that's my take on the babe. My wife and I had EXACTLY that same discussion over coffee this morning. I think we are going to have to talk softer in the future! (The walls have ears)

JPN

[JustPlaneNuttz]

Originally Posted by Armour Addict

. . . and I even liked the school uniform outfit...

Ssssssshhhhhhhhh!!!!

JPN

[MoMo]

Hello??....Is this what America is truly interested in? We're more interested in the life of some young woman who had the world by the short hairs a few years ago and then spiralled into her Godless, self-absorbed world of self-annihilation than we are about our neighbor?

Skunky

First : "neighbour" is spelled : neighbour, none of your American spellings here !

Secondly, does this not occur in the news every day, Skunky? This, surely, is what the world is now all about! Celebrity has nothing to do with real people, it has become just another commodity. It is traded on the stock exchanges of the world ( in various guises ) as easily as sugar or oil. We in the west have helped to create the monster because we in the west need the monster to replace values and traditions which are dead and gone.

The irony is that, as you so eloquently point out, lacking any self-belief, or belief in anything which transcends the empirical world, the young lady in question has become the epitome of the instantly, self-destructive society which we have helped to foster.

Why this should be, I don't know. What to do, I know not.

I do know that once you have sucked on the teat of the press, there's no way it will leave you alone. Remember The Chief's words to MacMurphy about his alchoholic father: " He thought that he was sucking out from the bottle, but it was just sucking him into it ! "

That's what has happened to Britney. She has become a girl in a bottle.

The press have to act out a rise and fall of biblical proportions every day in order to replace the original.

There but for......

Let's hope she gets the help she needs.

[Rush104]

Originally Posted by MoMo

First : "neighbour" is spelled : neighbour, none of your American spellings here !

Secondly, does this not occur in the news every day, Skunky? This, surely, is what the world is now all about! Celebrity has nothing to do with real people, it has become just another commodity. It is traded on the stock exchanges of the world ( in various guises ) as easily as sugar or oil. We in the west have helped to create the monster because we in the west need the monster to replace values and traditions which are dead and gone.

The irony is that, as you so eloquently point out, lacking any self-belief, or belief in anything which transcends the empirical world, the young lady in question has become the epitome of the instantly, self-destructive society which we have helped to foster.

Why this should be, I don't know. What to do, I know not.

I do know that once you have sucked on the teat of the press, there's no way it will leave you alone. Remember The Chief's words to MacMurphy about his alchoholic father: " He thought that he was sucking out from the bottle, but it was just sucking him into it ! "

That's what has happened to Britney. She has become a girl in a bottle.

The press have to act out a rise and fall of biblical proportions every day in order to replace the original.

There but for......

Let's hope she gets the help she needs.

While I am not a Britney fan, I too hopes she gets the help she needs. I hope her two young kids aren't left motherless like Anna Nicole Smith's baby was.