WAG - Yellow Journalism Lives
TOP STORY: Britney Spears Married, Single!!!!!!!!!!
I know what you’re thinking (or at least some of you).
After seeing me slack off concerning my posting responsibilities, you know think I’m on resurfacing to see what muck I can rake up on the whole “What the crap was she thinking” engagement.
Well you’re only partially right.
While I plan to throw in my two cents, because this is a shot few could resist taking, I would also like to comment on the coverage of the whole debacle.
Yes, the would-be-journalist will attempt to cover journalism.
Wish him luck.
One could blame it on it being a slow news day (the other “big” stories of the day were another Osama tape and fallout concerning Steve Irwin taking a page from the Michael Jackson book of parenting), but it would have been a circus regardless.
- See Princess Diana’s death trumping Mother Theresa’s death.
- See also The Monica Lewinski “thing” beating out the Pope’s trip to Communist Cuba.
There are legitimate big news stories and there is juicy gossip that is often dressed up as something just as important. I’m not saying I’m opposed to it being out there, I gobble it up as much as anybody else; I just wish people wouldn’t try to give it equal billing on the marquee.
After watching the press go cuckoo for Coca-Puffs while Ben/J-Lo watching over the summer, especially during their “will they?”/”did they?” affair with their nuptials, I shouldn’t be surprised.
I mean during that time they even coined new terms to refer to the couple. Bennifer. You know some punk was proud when they came up with that one. You know the new name given to Mr. Jason Allen Alexander? Mr. Britney Spears. You know that one’s going to stick.
I will give the media a bit of credit. It’s not like The New York Times broke the story; though lately they should be so lucky. It was People Magazine that had the scoop. A quasi-serious, though mostly tabloid-y publication brought it to light.
The trouble came when it seemed EVERYBODY wanted to get a piece and TOO MANY made it the feature story.
I know there are easy shots to make. Many people pulled out the file photos of Britney in wedding dress (left her previous major debacle at the MTV VMA’s). Many smarmy comments were made using her song titles (I won’t repeat any here, because they come to mind naturally without any assistance).
Personally, I’ve being saying for a couple years now I’ve been looking to the “Behind the Music” that finally spills all the dirt. The guys, the plastic surgery, all of it.
I like most people weren’t expecting it to come crashing out into the open so surprisingly and so soon. Usually an artist has to be out of the spotlight half a decade before springing something this serious (it used to be a decade, but people’s attention span got shorter. Go figure).
When the major options are shotgun marriage, a public announcement before entering rehab, a contrived religious conversion, or murder/suicide – I give her some credit for picking a classier option, but that’s like saying you picked the most graceful way to foul out.
It’s human nature to put people up on pedestals. We do that even when they may not belong up there.
But that works out okay, because it’s also human nature to tear people down from the altars we’ve set them on.
Some of us take more pleasure from dethroning people rather than enshrining them in the first place.
- See M. Stewart, K. Bryant, and S. Hussein.
Yes, it is worth taking note when an idolized hot shot flames out. In a time without much moral teachings, they can act as cautionary fables. Be cautious about rushing into marriage. Or at least have the pre-nup worked out far in advance.
Britney’s breakup is news of the “water cooler” sort (not that I’ve seen a water cooler in years, let alone one that was a designated “hang out and chat” spot), but don’t present it to me in a way that makes it seem more important than it is.
In the long run, it has no impact on me. It will make for some entertaining commentary in the short run. It has already been mentioned in late night monologues, SNL scribes are currently coupling together the sketch that will skewer it, and locals back in Lousianna are lining up to be the next one to make a crack at the expense of “Mr. Britney.”
But other than that, and a brief bit of nostalgia I’ll have in 2014 when I catch the latest update in Spear’s Behind the Music (MAKE YOUR FAVORITE SUBSTANCE ABUSE/REHAB JOKE HERE), it means nothing to me.
Concerning the profession I aspire to, telling people about the world they live in, I’ll have to deal with the bruises concerning the sloppy journalism that was going on today, but even that’s not a big deal.
We do it to ourselves all the time.
It’s just a matter of when… and who…
Somewhere out there, a “news” guy is saying to himself, “It’s been 5 minutes. Let’s go check up and see what Michael Jackson is up to.”
And we’re off to the races again.
Pick your pony and away we go.
'Heigh_ho_scandal_AWAY'
