I found this picture in a CNN article about Britney Spears being taken to the hospital.
How disgusting is this scene? I don’t want to say too much about it, lest I come off as a preachy, annoying loser. I just made this really quickly, and decided to throw it up here.
I think Chris Crocker said it best. Leave Britney alone.
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What’s so disgusting about it? What is occurring in that picture is clearly included in Spears’ job description. If you are going to profit from being in the public eye, then you are going to have to deal with, ya know, being in the public eye. And if you are batshit insane and need to be strapped down, sedated, and carted off in an ambulance, then you should realize this, grow up and sequester yourself. Also, there is no indication that Miss Spears dislikes any of this–her behavior can be explained equally well by narcissistic stupidity or as a brilliant strategic plan designed to make her the most famous woman in America. She deserves every iota of derision and scorn. Not only is she a masochist but she also made Kevin Federline look like the paragon of parenting. I see no problem with a few hard working photog’s trying to snap a pic and make a buck from Miss Spears derangement.
Comment by RICKM — January 31, 2008 @ 3:13 pm
To invoke an old saying, “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Or in this case, an ambulance-full of wrongs doesn’t make a business that preys on the personal lives of media figures right.
Why does making music, movies, etc entail getting followed around everywhere you go by photographers?
You could argue that she opened herself up to this type of exposure, maybe even that she asked for it, but BOTH parties are engaged in something morally questionable.
And if you are batshit insane and need to be strapped down, sedated, and carted off in an ambulance, you aren’t realizing anything…because you are batshit insane.
Stalking famous people is creepy, but do it with a camera, and you’re a creep with a job. Her ridiculous and sad actions don’t justify theirs.
Comment by Eric — January 31, 2008 @ 3:56 pm
The actions of the paparazzi are only morally questionable if and only if Miss Spears did not consent to their alleged intrusion into her public life. By acting as a machine of self-promotion, she has tacitly acknowledged that her fame is the product of the abolition of the division between her public and private life.
My argument is not that Miss Spears deserves being ’stalked’ because she is a sad wretch and a horrid mother who let the whole world watch as he pubescent pulchritude evaporated with her sanity. (Maybe Madonna vampired both.) The rules of the game that Miss Spears plays include being paid for nothing except letting the world watch her–not making music.
She is the host, and paparazzi are the parasite. Its just the law of the TMZ.
Comment by RICKM — February 1, 2008 @ 10:31 am
Your argument also accepts these actions as right. That it’s clearly in the job description, or specific rules in a game is nonsense. There is no job description, there are no rules. This comes down to a personal judgment on whether it’s appropriate, and a discussion on whether the TMZ, Superficial, and Perez culture go too far in their coverage of celebrities.
I don’t see the tabloids’ coverage as being particularly positive for the consumer or the celebrity. The most hunted celebs, Britney and Linsday Lohan, are disasters. Alec Baldwin was lambasted for a parenting maneuver that shouldn’t have been publicized, and was arguably not that bad. He’s just an actor. He never entered into a game or contract that said his personal life could be ravaged by scoop-hungry media.
I’m going to stop here, I have to work…
Comment by Eric — February 1, 2008 @ 10:45 am
My argument does not accept the paparazzi actions as right–only that they the expected result of being in the public eye. Anyone who aspires to be in the public eye as much as Miss Spears should expect to be harangued by photographers when she acts crazy, just as a national politician should expect his/her opponents to attack them. Complaining about paparazzi is just as futile as complaining about attack ads–while it would be nice for the singular victim, the populace eats them up.
These people aren’t stalked because they are famous actors or musicians. They are stalked because they are celebrities.
Comment by RICKM — February 1, 2008 @ 11:48 am