Most of us love to read about celebrities, whether it's their new trend-setting fashion choices, who they were with yesterday or what kind of food they ate. Many people won't admit it, but they can just be so interesting. But some people often end up taking it too far and begin to criticize the way they live their lives. And it's usually over small things like Kylie Jenner's lip injections or whether a particular star gained weight. These discussions do nothing for our society; in fact, they really just take us back a step.
Amidst these discussions, we often forget that celebrities are people too. It is fairly common for these people to get cosmetic work done, for example, and while personally that is a choice I wouldn't make for myself (and many others wouldn't either), those who make this choice must have their reasons. Somehow we are forgetting that we have control over what we do with our own bodies.
The same goes for celebrity relationships and breakups. We are quick to judge their relationship choices despite the fact that these are people we have never even met before. But the worst one by far are weight-based judgments. Everyone -- I mean literally, EVERYONE -- gains or loses weight at some point. We see normal-sized healthy people every day and couldn't care less, but when a usually-skinny celebrity gains five pounds it's in the tabloids. Weight gain can be caused by a number of things, including depression, new medication or simply eating a healthy amount as opposed to a previous serious diet. There is no reason for anyone to judge someone for this. Celebrities already have their entire lives in the spotlight; they don't need the whole country talking about every move or decision they make.
But how does it affect our lives? Well, we are losing progress on important issues. It doesn't affect the country's or the world's progress if a celebrity goes under the knife, but if we constantly talk about them, we are ignoring more important issues. It is Election Day, so the direction the United States is going in could drastically change if young people -- many of whom are consumed with celebrity nonsense -- don't go out and exercise their constitutional right to vote. That is an important issue. Women in third-world countries can be tried for adultery if they are raped. That is an important issue. Children all over the world are starving and don't know where their next meal will come from.
That. Is. Important.
We are invading celebrities' privacy and compromising their well-being by criticizing their every move, and -- most importantly -- we are taking a step back in society when we discuss their lives more than these important issues.
