Like, gag me with a spoon.
Posted on 01/05/2007 6:59:19 AM PST by Mike Bates
Gone are the days of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the Rat Pack, who engaged in questionable behavior but kept it private. These days Americans are left with semi-celebrities like Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton. And like never before these semi-talented semi-celebrities are on the front cover of major magazines, in the tabloids, in the news, and on our televisions, and worst of all, influencing young girls across the country on what it takes to be famous, or more appropriately, infamous.
In what was presented as a significant "news" development, ABC News reported that on November 22, cameras caught Britney Spears in a leopard-print mini-dress that was so short it revealed her underwear. Two days later, the mother of two was photographed getting out of a car in a mini-skirt but this time without underwear.
In a desperate cry for attention, today's semi-celebrities show no shame, no modesty, and no remorse, in a never-ending attempt for media coverage. And the media comply.
Peter Post, director of the Emily Post Institute of etiquette and manners, told ABC News, "My concern is the impressionability of young people. I think that some young people are going to say, 'Wow, if Britney Spears and Paris Hilton can do that, I wonder if I can do that.'" What concerns Post even more is that these semi-celebrities are "having to go a little bit further and be a little more outrageous in order to be talked about." He's right, but it's a sad commentary that his opinion is sought precisely because of the bad taste of the media. It's like the media are embarrassed over what they show their viewers. So they have to get an ethics experts to reprimand them. Perhaps that is a step forward.
(Excerpt) Read more at aim.org ...
If people who are all over the news all the time are "semi-celebrities," what does the author consider real "celebrities." Perhaps he thinks "celebrity" means something other than "all over the news all the time"?
By the way, as I understand it, Dean Martin played up his image of being an alcohol soaked playboy - in reality, I have heard he was faithful to his wife and not nearly the drinker he portrayed himself to be.
Regards, Ivan
Well, maybe not his first wife. But he did wear underwear in public. We think. :)
Like, gag me with a spoon.
Regards, Ivan
But I bet the author thinks a celebrity ought to be able to do something important and to do it well, and that vague conviction leads to the uncertainty of "semi-celebrity".
Go to nypost.com for a pic of Spears..she looks like she's aged about 50 years..
Thanks. I needed that.
De nada....but it's really scary, isn't....
I saw a movie with Lindsay Lohan in it - "Mean Girls," a teen-chick flick. She can act like a teenage girl :-), and also sing, or at least she could a few years ago.
I think you're right about the point the author was trying to make.
I am, like, SEW glad I tuurned her down when she asked me to marry her!
The Rat Pack actually had something today's punk celebrities don't....talent.
That much I know.
Thanks! I'll check the library for it, next time I want a movie for my little girls. There's only so many times one can show "Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus" without breaking out the adult beverages before noon!
Cheers.
Frank Sinatra said his secret during the Rat Pack shows was to take one sip from a drink, set it discreetly to one side, then pour another one. It was all an illusion.
When you peak at 18, it's a long way down...
I'll try to remember!
Yup. There was a girl in our neighborhood who peaked at about 14. She was sensational at 14, but by 18 she was long since over the hill. Amazing.
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