Blog by Sean Gehon, Tuesday, March 20, 2007

We live in a world of endless possibilities. With the invention of the internet an unlimited amount of information is just waiting at our finger tips. It seems we’ve built ourselves an addictive invention that many people can’t live without today. From personal diaries or scrapbooks (Blogs), to music and video downloads, the internet is home to it all. Lately, we’ve seen a large spike in the internet blogging phenomenon. People are finding themselves addicted to celebrity Blogs such as dlisted.com, tmz.com, and pinkisthenewblog.com for all their gossip needs. In a world full of starving children, war, and growing disease, why do we need to know what time Naomi Campbell left her community service?

Blogging is the latest craze sweeping the nation. If you have an opinion, the ability to type, and the desire to share that opinion with the world, you too can be a blogger. The nature of a Blog can range from personal diaries to celebrity gossip. Where did this sudden obsession come from? Do people really need to know the intimate details of another person’s life? Apparently we do. Life can have its dull moments, so what better to do than take time out of our own lives to follow the misadventures of our favourite celebrities.

I recently became concerned with the state of the world when perusing one of my favourite websites tmz.com. TMZ was reporting that Naomi Campbell had left her community service at around 3PM EST. This information really had me curious. It is one thing to know that Naomi is doing her community service and that it starts today, but do we really need to know what time she finished? I for one barely cared that Naomi Campbell was forced into doing community service for throwing her cell phone at her assistant, but I didn’t really have time to waste concerning myself with the exact details of her sentence. Naomi’s case is just one example of our over exposure to celebrities day to day behaviours, but have we crossed a line?

Placing yourself in the public eye automatically causes you to lose a certain degree of privacy. With paparazzi ever growing, and quickly becoming more demanding, privacy is a luxury that A-List celebrities aren’t granted. Working in my industry, it’s people like this that are giving shows like mine interesting, and often outrageous content. However, as a human being, I have to feel sorry for those celebrities. If stalking is illegal, why are the paparazzi allowed to function in the way they do? Seriously, the way they go about their business is practically stalking. The paparazzi will wait out side of celebrity homes, popular restaurants and even follow the stars around just to get a candid celebrity shot to sell to their employers. There has to be a definitive line that people shouldn’t be crossing, even if it is their job.

During my stay on this planet, I’ve watched a few celebrity based programs dealing with ‘super fans’. A super fan is someone who, allegedly, knows EVERYTHING about their favourite celebrity. Do super fans really need to know what time Britney Spears got her coffee or the fact that Paris Hilton was seen walking out of a club with some guy we don’t know? No matter how big of a fan I may be of someone, there is almost no reason I would care that Cher was seen shopping at Bloomingdales. I assume that celebrities are regular people who just happen to live their lives in front of cameras. Certainly I’ve been wrong before, but I’m going to assume that I’m right in this case. The fact that celebrities often do everything, including pick their nose, in front of the paparazzi isn’t their fault, in truth, it’s ours. For those of you who are sick of seeing and hearing about Paris Hilton, please stop reading about her and talking about her, then she’ll go away.

We’ve created a monster. Celebrity is an ever growing ever demanding phenomenon that has recently been multiplied due to celebrity bloggers. Sure, I’ve become a blogger, but I do my best to avoid pointless information such as who Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan is currently dating. My blog may not be as well known as TMZ, Dlisted, or PITNB, but it appears I’ve joined the ranks of the celebrity obsessed. Obsession can be a dangerous thing, just have to make sure we keep our fascination in tow.

Sean (Did you know Paris Hilton was seen leaving a club with Josh Henderson?!)

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