What Americans Read
At the checkout line of my local grocery store, two headlines caught my eye.
The first angered me. It is a tabloid expose about Obama’s supposed “top secret” meeting with “Muslims.” It refers to a “shocking pact with the enemy.” I love how this garbage rag equates “Muslims” with “the enemy.”
I know few people take these publication seriously (I hope), but our grocery lines should not be polluted with such racist trash.
The second amused me in a very juvenile way but then inspired deeper thoughts. “Why Angelina is Hiding the Twins” it reads. Naturally, “twins” evoked the slang term for breasts — yes, I am part ignoramus.
My second thought was why the hell should the public have access to stars’ children? The rapacious voyeurism of such celebrity media is quite disturbing. However, I reasoned, that this is the cost of stardom; there has to be a down-side and this is it. With all the privilege, influence and money they get, celebrities sacrifice their and their families’ privacy; so it’s a trade-off of sorts, and one that reflects poorly on star-stalkers, our celebrity-worship culture, and the celebrities themselves.
