A Los Angeles politician has declared “personal safety zones” must be placed around celebrities like Britney Spears to protect them from paparazzi. Councilman Dennis Zine has asked the city’s attorney to draw up laws to protect targeted celebrities, as well as pedestrians and drivers, who may be put in danger by a ‘swarm’ of photographers and cameramen…. “We are a celebrity town. We have hundreds of celebrities living here, and they have the right to peace and tranquillity, while the general public has the right to be able to travel down the road without being accosted,” he told Sky News.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. I don’t give a rat’s @$$ about celebrity or celebrities. We all put our pants on one leg at a time, so why should the antics of an actor or singer be of any import to me? Whether or not George Clooney is dating another supermodel, Angelina Jolie is tap-dancing through minefields in Darfur, or Pee Wee Herman is going into rehab…these simply aren’t things I concern myself with. Lindsey Lohan? Who (&^%$#@ cares if she’s a whore and/or a druggie? It’s not news.
Judging by the proliferation of celebrity web sites, magazines, and TV shows, far too many Americans are far too concerned with the lives of the rich and famous. It would seem that, collectively speaking, our own miserable, pointless existence has become so unbearable and mundane that the ennui is relieved only by obsessing over what celebrities like Britney Spears are up to. How (&^%$#@ sad and pathetic is that??
Normally, I couldn’t care less if Britney Spears took a vow of celibacy at a Satanic coven. What I find so thoroughly disturbing, though, is the way in which photographers and various and assorted paparazzi scum shadow Spears’ every move. Regardless of what her (astonishingly mediocre) career accomplishments may be, no one deserves to be followed and hounded by jackals wielding cameras as Spears has been. Here’s a woman who clearly is experiencing some serious emotional issues, and a little compassion would seem to be the order of the day. Sadly, the sick (&^%$ that maku up the paparazzi live for this sort of thing. Where will it stop?
Regardless of how you feel about Spears and her spoiled, childish, drugged-up lifestyle, NO ONE deserves to be hounded to the brink of insanity as she has been. When will it stop? Will it take a tragic accident, such as the one that killed Princess Diana in 1997? Is there any reasonable person who doesn’t believe that, if not for the paparazzi’s relentless pursuit, Diana would be alive today?
No one, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done, deserves to be hounded, tracked like prey, or experience the terror of having their car surrounded by photographers at every stop light. Enough is enough. Yes, being a celebrity means being in the public eye. That means essentially making a deal with the Devil, in that celebrities depend on publicity to fan interest in their careers. Most celebrities court the paparazzi to greater or lesser degrees, for without them and the publicity they generate, celebrities would have to work a lot harder to attract attention (and money). It’s a symbiotic relationship, and neither side is guiltless. Having said that, how can anyone assert that celebrities get what they deserve when the paparazzi go overboard? No one deserves to be hounded until they’re dead, as happened with Princess Diana. Are we going to have to wait until the paparazzi kills someone in this country before something is done?
No, I don’t really give a damn about celebrity, but I do care about simple human decency and the fact the careers are made off the suffering and harrassment of celebrities. Can there be anything more sick and parasitic?
