Watching the Mighty Fall

There seems to be compunction in humans to get some perverse pleasure in watching someone on who has reached success topple. People have made their careers (if you could call it that) by searching the lives of people who are the top of their game for signs of weakness, and then exposing these secrets for others to delight in.

I find it heartbreaking to watch the media frenzy surrounding the pictures, innuendos, speculations and outright lies that surround celebrities like Sandra Bullock and Jesse James; Tiger Woods; John Edwards and Jennifer Anniston. What gives the public the right to delve into the private lives of others just because they have money or fame?

Paparazzi stalk celebrities to take pictures of them at their most unflattering times. They hound them for answers to personal questions as if it’s any of their business. Just because they are good at their craft does not mean anything past their performance is the right of the public. Gossip is such a horrible thing, and so many people get hurt from it. We’ve all experienced the heartbreak caused by rumors, spread by people who have nothing else to do than delight in the hurt of others.

“Focusing on the failures of others allows us to hide from our own weaknesses,”(author unknown) is an excellent way to describe what is really going on. We look at the lives of celebrities as being perfect, and dream of a life for ourselves just like it. Those beautiful people could not possibly know what it’s like to walk in your shoes!

There is no such thing as a perfect life. Everyone has flaws, and everyone experiences heartbreak. Imagine what your life would be like if you were betrayed by your spouse and the local newspaper spread it on the front page, put it on the radio and television, and you were hit in the face by it wherever you went? It’s not bad enough you have to endure the pain, you have to do it in front of everyone. Not only that, your family and friends are made to suffer along with you – getting asked questions from perfect strangers about your life. There is no time to work it out alone and in private.

The questioner makes it appear that they are concerned, where in reality they are simply satisfying their need to rub it in and be superior to the one in pain.

I find Paparazzi and tabloid “journalism” disgusting. There is so much going on in the world, and in our lives, that we don’t have to take pleasure in the pain of others. These people are not journalists, and this is not news. If they really wanted to take their craft seriously, find the good things that are going on in the world and report about them. Every block of every town in the world has something wonderful going on at any given minute. There is no lack of material to cover. Hurting others in order to “earn your bones” seems like a seedy way to earn a living.

It is my belief that tabloid journalism has done a great deal to topple our society and drawn us away from the compassionate side of ourselves. We delight in the struggles of others, and don’t see anything wrong it that.

What does that say about us?