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 ...
"Finally, these kids are getting the attention that they didn't get from their daycare providers."
Shoot, that's a zinger worthy of Mark Steyn!
I liked that movie enough to buy it. The music in it is really good, including songs from the 40's.
Someone should morph that picture into one of Madeleine Albright.
Somehow, I think it will show what Brintey will look like in the future.
Is 'going commando' like 'going regimental'?
I love them enough to turn either the channel or the television off when they are on.
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