Pundits of all stripes- lawyers, editorial writers, politicians- are weighing in with their opinions on Martha Stewart now that she is a convicted felon. Personally, I guess I really don't much care. I've followed Stewart's case, but only in the same way I've followed Michael Jackson's. Given the media fascination with train wrecks, if you watch the news at all, you can't help but being exposed to Martha's legal travails.
I don't know if Martha is guilty, if she is innocent, or if she is Evil Incarnate in a chiffon dress. If she is guilty, she deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. If she is innocent...well, the media really isn't going to deal well with THAT possibility now, is it? And if she IS Evil Incarnate, well, at least Hell will be tastefully decorated. In the end, does her guilt or innoncence even really matter to us? Not really, because once Martha's utility has been squeezed dry, the media will move on to the next celebrity train wreck. We love to see successful and famous people fall (or be pushed) off their pedestals. Though no self-respecting person will cop to this, seeing the high and mighty fall makes us feel better about our own miserably meager existence. That's right; we may not have much, but at least WE didn't have to lie, cheat, and/or steal to get what we've got. It's hard not to feel superior when you look at things in that light.
The rich really ARE different- they can afford better lawyers. They can also buy better PR- and what better way to sell records/books/magazines/movies than to get your face plastered all over national cable news?? Does this make their personal failings or peccadilloes that much more interesting or newsworthy? Not from where I sit, though it might make them more lucrative. Still, it is easier to sit a reporter and a camera outside a courthouse in New York, do a live three-minute stand-up, then endlessly parse that meager bit of news for any shred of hidden meaning or significance. If news channels weren't doing that, they'd actually have to cover news that matters: why American troops are still dying in Iraq, why Americans can't find meaningful work that pays a living wage, or why the Bush Administration feels it necessary to kill civil liberties in order to save them- etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum. No, that would require intelligent insightful analysis, and sound bites don't really lend themselves to that sort of thing.
....And after the break, we'll tell you why Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson were arrested this morning on charges of running a child midget porn ring....
