There comes a time in many people’s lives when they come across their first celebrity crush, often tall and thin and known for their various talents in and out of the spotlight. However, some people only have the talent of hogging the spotlight.
Take, for instance, the Kardashian family. If you ask around, nobody knows why they’re so famous. Yes, they have multiple clothing and beauty product lines, multiple reality TV shows, and a pretty massive following on social media, but their only claim to fame seems to be through their former Olympian stepfather turned stepmother who believes that the hardest part of being a woman is figuring out what to wear.
Then, take another star who might as well have gotten a good summer’s tan from all her time in the spotlight: her highness of heartbreak, Taylor Swift. This month, she broke the heart of Kanye West by saying that she did not give West consent to use a picture of them naked in bed with ten of their cohorts on the cover of his most recent album.
Earlier this year, she had also accused him of using lyrics about her without her permission despite a text conversation released by Kim Kardashian West.
Here, you can find more details about the feud between them.
At this point, you may be asking why I went through the hassle of explaining the situation for the few people who have not seen this hit the tabloids, but it just comes to show where our minds are.
It is true that the publication of this picture without Swift’s consent would be legally and morally reprehensible on West’s part, but we’re not even sure if Swift denied consent to the publication of this picture or if she just wanted to get a rise out of the public because she does have a history of doing so with many, many other people—even though it may seem like it, she really is not stupid. Nobody who could keep the attention of the public for this long due to a long stream of publicity stunts is stupid, even if their actions are not the smartest.
In this case, we all need to be smarter. Yes, the issues celebrities face are relevant due to the fact that they are human—and we all suffer from the damage our fellow humans incur—but we do need to be smart about it. They need their privacy so they can have their temper tantrums on their own time. I’m not trying to insult anyone involved in this situation, and I wish all the best for every person involved that has something to lose because of this. I’m just trying to say that we as a public do not especially need to get involved; we don’t need to be the parents who succumb to a child’s request for attention just because they feel they deserve it and that they can blame everybody else for their poor choices.
The main question that would come to some people’s minds is, “Where else can we focus our attention and resources?” or they may be trying to distract themselves from these larger stressors we face as a society. My answer to that is this:
What about the rapidly decreasing bee population that will wreak havoc on our ecosystem, and ultimately the economy? The presidential election that will ultimately determine the leader of the civilized world? Technological advancements? Scientific breakthroughs such as the one fully funded by the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge of 2014? The fact Brock Allen Turner is getting out of prison next month for rape?
There seems to be a pattern with the things that actually do get prolonged media coverage versus those that don’t. As Kanye West described to the Bazaar in a recent interview, “I do not like thinking. I think people think I like to think a lot, and I don't. I do not like thinking at all." Neither do we, folks. Neither do we...