Toxic
I’m sitting here this morning wondering when our senses of compassion and respect deteriorated to this point.
When did we become so callous and heartless that we started to view a young mother struggling with a mental illness as entertainment?
When did we stop trying to empathize?
When did we find ourselves so miserable with our own existences that we started to distract ourselves by watching someone else fall apart live on TMZ?
I hear the feeble attempts at logic.
When she decided to become an entertainer, she gave up her right to privacy.
Oh, I see. So because she's makes her living in a spotlight, she can never leave it. Even when that light irrefutably reveals that she's unwell, that she needs help, that the decent and humane thing to do would be to turn the light off and leave her alone, we refuse.
And let's not stop at simply broadcasting her breakdown; let's taunt her on her way down. Let's call her "Unfitney" and repost pictures of her crotch and act as though we have been personally effected by someone else's breakdown.
If it bleeds, it leads.
Better her than me.
I’m sitting here this morning wondering if anyone else sees more than one tragedy here.
Oh, you kill me. Did the Grinch's heart grow three sizes today?
COUGH. LAUGH.
We all make mistakes, some more publicly than others. Its how we, as a culture, handle them that's key.
Which is why I will continue to think pulling Zoey 101 off the air is wrong and why I will never buy a tabloid. I might gawk a bit while sitting at the salon, but I won't buy one. Ever.
Big fat kiss from me to you for showing that compassion. Did Barack get to you last night too?
LOL...commence the Danny yelling at Queen again in 3..2...
I think she gives up that right to privacy a lot of the times... I think she craves the attention 90% of the time and I have no doubt that she calls the paparazzi to make them aware of where she is and where she's going.
But there is a complete lack of any sort of compassion in this world and it's disturbing. I saw the photos this morning and I caught a few seconds of footage because it was on our local news and I didn't want to get up and change the channel. Is it sad that at this point in her life she can't get any privacy? Yes it is, but even sadder yet is the fact that this is what her children have to grow up with. They didn't ask to be born into a famous household, to a drug addicted mother with mental issues and they certainly didn't ask for their worst moments with their mother to be broadcast to the world. That is where the compassion is lacking. So what if their mother is a media whore (for lack of a better word)... that doesn't mean the world can't have compassion for her children and step back and leave the situation the hell alone.
And even less compassionate shown -- the footage I saw was a small blurb where photographers were yelling "Loser" at Kevin Federline... who was only there trying to pick up his children who'd likely just been through hell. Despite all this man has been through and all she has done to prove everything he's ever said people still think he's the one in the wrong...
Sad.
I don't believe that entertainer's personal lives are de facto any of our business just because that is where their talents are. I agree that the media frenzy on our entertainers can get ugly.
I regret that so much of even mainstream news has fallen into yellow journalism. That's why my TV is now only a DVD-player and I get my news at NYT and NPR.
I am most scared by the fact that the same people that believe celebs have given up all rights to privacy and are eating up this news will be voting soon for our next President. . . The trick is how do you get the media under control without violation of the First Amendment since self control is obviously out. . .
Ahava. . . what you get from NYT and NPR is not news, it's left wing propaganda. . . Sorry
I'm fed up completely with the obsession over celebrity itself. My fiance gets onto TMZ to get her "Britney updates", and I just can't stomach it anymore. Part of me hoped that this was all some elaborate publicity stunt she concocted, but now it's just too apparent that she's got some deep seated emotional/psychological issues. I mean, what parent in their RIGHT mind is going to walk a path that is going to lead to them losing their children?
Disney may have created this monster, but we've fed it, kept it alive, and now we're killing it & making money off of the film rights.
My heart goes out to Britney and her kids. There are times when I'll see a photo and think "what was she thinking?", but then I realize, people probably think that about me! (As I'm sure they did the week before christmas when I went to the mall in flip flops while we had 10" of snow on the ground because I just got a pedicure.) We all have our moments some that people see and some behind closed doors, but as a society, we've lost our ability to "kindly look the other way" when a celebrity or famous person is going through their moment. Yes they sing, make movies, have more money than we can calculate, but no - they don't deserve to constantly be photographed, ridiculed, mocked, invaded - even if sometimes they are too messed up to realize it themselves.
I feel so sorry for her and her children. Period. No one deserves what has happened to her (IN SPITE of some of it being her own doing) and I wish that I could give her a hug.
It's a terrible tragedy and I hope that she can pull through it.
Oh, most definitely. I wouldn't trade lives with her in a second even without all the mental/substance/family problems. I feel so sad for her. The media attention really is far too much.
Hmm, seems someone's been reading Perez. Yea, ITA. Seems she's been hanging on to the attention as long as she can. It seriously is not good for her or those two adorable little boys. Daddy K-Fed's no better, but at least he hasn't dove off the diving board just yet. It's so sad that the paparazzi can't just leave her alone for 2 minutes. Now she's in a 72 hour lockdown in a hospital. I hope it helps. And I hope she can dig herself out of this hole.
Judge not lest ye be judged has always stuck in my mind. Should the world's pendulum swing back to ultra-conservative, these same folks would probably drown me to see if I would float.
I see several tragedies happening at once. The one that disturbs me most is that normal everyday folks consider this entertaining.
I saw the footage on the news this morning (news! national NEWS!) and was just disgusted. I felt ashamed, like I shouldn't be watching this. It just felt so pathetic and so sad and so awful... all I want to hear is that the poor thing is finally getting some decent help. I don't want to watch every moment of her self-destruct live and in color, you know?
You know what kills me? I do feel bad for her kids, but not so much now. They're young enough that they will only have vague memories of chaos. It's when they are older and all this PERMANENT RECORD of their mom's problems are still available, maybe highlighted on the anniversary of her death (because I soooo see THAT coming up like Anna Nicole)....
I would never want to know the details of my mother's life in that manner. I know she's had some bad times. I know she was young and made a myriad of mistakes. I would hate to have a written, filmed, documented public record of all her youthful (and perhaps mentally sick) misdeeds.
Jesus Christ inna chicken basket, I'm sick to my stomach thinking about it now.
Who is the "sick" one... Her - or the rest of us for paying attention to this madness.
And it's perpetual - the more we watch, the more it drives a person mad - the more someone goes mad, the more we watch...
Whatching the "journalists" (and I use that term lightly) chase the ambulance like some bad lawyer was enough for me to swear off network news again this year.
Blech. Leave her alone. No one cares.
I do feel sorry for her. How can we expect her to be anything but a bit crazy when we put her so high on a pedestal one minute and then kick her back down the next? It's hard to cope sometimes when things get tough in life - I can't imagine trying to cope with things in front of the entire world.
I feel for her kids but not for her. Through this all she's been courting the paparazzi and begging for their attention. I wouldn't be surprised if her people made sure the cameras were rolling before they brought her out of the house.
I, too, feel bad for her and the entire family. There are many other average people experiencing the same things but not on a public stage.
The real question remains, why does the media report this? Are "we" really that interested? I'm not. I turn it off or ignore as the case may be. Who is it that Needs To Know? I don't think the celebrity gossip sites / shows would truly be missed were they to go away.
i'm sure there is a part of her that can't (or thinks it can't) live without the attention...i've seen some of the gas station footage and stuff, and really, can't she send her assistant out for cigarettes? i don't try to get my 'britney fix' i just really have nothing to do at work and one can only read so much news (and DGM doesn't post more than once a day!)!!! And when something like this happens and takes up the first 30 minutes of the Today show(!?!?!) it's just disgusting.
i love that mika b on msnbc simply refuses to read these stories...at least someone still knows what journalism is (clearly not the network, they just cut to someone in NY who was willing)! (and please don't call the papparazzi journalists, that makes me gag!)
I think the whole family should pack up and move back to louisiana and try as hard as they can to live some semblance of a normal life...before this happens to her 16 year old, pregnant sister and her kid(s).
A little more than my 2 cents worth, but i guess you touched a nerve or 3...
I think people have always been drawn to accidents. It's part of our nature. The part that has changed is that today the networks have thrown any moral obligation for constraint down the tube in favor of their pursuit of the almighty dollar. The "people want to see this" agrument trumps what was once a societally imposed ethical barrier and most people won't take the time to let the networks know what they think about that decision. Apathy and/or feelings of helplessness strip most of their motivation to speak out against this trash.
I am not really a Britney fan. I loved the Mickey Mouse Club as a kid, but never got into her music (or style). But whether I like her or not, no one deserves this kind of treatment. When did mental instability move from serious illness to entertainment? This is so sickening, on so many levels. I offer prayers for her and her family at this horrible, trying time.
While watching the "regular local news" last night and how they were giving in scene updates of the "stand off" from Britney's driveway, I had to laugh when the reporter tried to distinquish herself from the papparazzi that was "also" on scene. The sad story in all this is that a young mother is in crisis, and her children are in real danger. And yet we sit and watch it all for entertainment!
Right on Danny, what has become of our society?
I very much dislike Britney, but being the healthy one in a relationship with an depressive alcoholic son of a bitch helps me to see past her celebrity and a little bit into the things that are troubling her. She is sick and she needs help but she is never going to get that unless she takes herself out of the spotlight. A week at a "spa" treatment center that caters to celebrities is not going to help. An addict is an addict, it doesn't matter if you have a million in your pocket or simply 25 cents. As an adult she has to make her own decisions and she has over and over again decided to keep herself smack dab in the middle of it all. I sit back and congratulate myself for not buying into the media hype and doing only what I can and that is not reveling in her distress and illness. Her children deserve a healthy mom, I hope she wakes up to that truth soon so that they can all move on and heal, i won't be there to watch however and I can only hope fruitlessly that not many others will be as well.
I wish I had something witty or something with a modicum of intelligence to it. But, for some reason, I liken it to a car accident, or a train wreck. No one wants to watch. Not really. We all know how cruel and heartless it is. Everyone feels guilty searching the scene for carnage, hoping to catch a glimpse of gore.
And yet, we do it. I do it. And for most, at least those of us with empathy and souls, there is shame.
I figured out that this was Brittany Spears from the comments, but I'm pleased to say I don't know what she did. Haven't watched local news in years. I'll stick to NPR thank you.
I figured out that this was Brittany Spears from the comments, but I'm pleased to say I don't know what she did. Haven't watched local news in years. I'll stick to NPR thank you.
I agree with you Dan... the whole thing is absolutely pitiful. But most of all, those poor little kids. I hope she gets some help and the right meds (which I'm here to testify, can make all the difference in the world.)
I think the media in the United States and even in Europe has gotten out of control, and has totally changed the face of our nations. Everything is different now. For example: The President of the US. Every move he makes is photographed, video'd, and re-run on the tonite show. He has gone from a respected figure in our government to a laughing stock, a tool for the media. The same for our celebrities.
For example, when Marilyn died...when Elvis died...it was a surprise. The nation mourned. Now, if (when) Britney dies, or when Amy Winehouse dies...will anyone be surprised? I won't be. We're watching their deterioration every day...thanks to the media.
The world has changed, and not for the better.
When I went into my sweet little boy's room this morning, my heart ached for Britney. My baby Asher is the same age as her youngest. Asher saw me this morning and his face widened with the cutest little smile. "Mommy, uppy, Mommy," he cooed as I lifted him from the crib and smothered him in kisses. Britney is missing all of this and more -- and she'll never be able to get it back. I hope she finds peace.
Even if Britney was the most stable person in the world, I don't envy the fishbowl that her and other celebrities have to deal with, especially as I have seen it first hand for those who I know that live in this fishbowl world. I have to wonder though ... would the issues that Britney has right now be any better if she didn't have all the paparrazi sleaze watching and filming her every move?
Well thank God there is someone other than myself who thinks this is incredibly sad. Just the thought of someone taking videos of me during the worst moments of my life makes me cringe. This woman is losing her kids! I dare any mother in that situation to not lock themselves in the bathroom with her children. I don't know why people get off on listening to this, and wondering what the party girls (lohan and Hilton) are up to.
I don't know. That's the whole part of celebrity culture that I hate. If I were in lock down for a mental breakdown, it sure as hell wouldn't be on the news. If Susan Sarandon and her ilk weren't famous and didn't have the opportunity to accept awards, we wouldn't know or CARE what she thought about politics. I sure wish managerial accountants had their own Emmy awards. Maybe then America would care what I do and what I think. I just don't get how we place more emphasis or greater value on the lives and opinions of people who are famous for their talent. It's just boggles my mind. Hot Wife is a nutritionist, right? So wouldn't it seem crazy if society suddenly couldn't get enough of HW and what she thinks and what she wears and she got invited to create a perfume line because she's such an kick ass nutritionist? Whaa? And even that, she's helping people be healthier and happier, which Britney can't do for you.
That's what I don't care for about TMZ and the like. I don't care about celebrities. They aren't any more important than any of the rest of us. They are just good actors or singers, or MARKETERS. How does that qualify them for some kind of elevated status in society?!?
I'm so with you on this. I'm not going to click on any more Britney stories in 2008. It's my New Year's Resolution. I hope she gets help, gets well, and that I don't read all about it.
Haven't watched that kind of crap in years, never read about that crap, and don't even waste my time talking about that crap. I could care less what entertainers are doing to entertain themselves. I sincerely hope she gets the help she needs so she might be able to raise her children, but I hope she does it away from the glitz, drugs, and cameras.
If we all stopped watching the train wrecks, then no one would report about it. Everytime someone tunes into E! or reads a magazine article about Britney's latest guffaw, they will just continue exploiting people's lives.
Thank you for posting this. I think we've known for a long time that the poor woman has some serious mental problems that need to be taken care of, that she's probably self-medicationg with drugs and alcohol, etc. It's sad that she's such a "powerful" celebrity that no one can make her get the help she needs... maybe if we didn't all make it our personal business, her life could quiet down and someone could get through to her.
I'd have a lot more sympathy for her if her poor little kids weren't getting the worst of it... they need their mom, not a bunch of twatsicles following them around with cameras. I hope everything turns out ok... I'm sure we'll ALL hear if it doesn't.
I have to agree with a lot of the comments I've read. Why are 'celebrities' so much more important than everyone else? Most are no more educated than the average Joe. They just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and have an ounce of talent.
I have long be irked by the attention that we as a society place on them. Because you can act or sing doesn't mean that you now have to be a role model for the entire country. People make mistakes, that is a fact of life. Some are small, and some are disaterous, but everyone makes them. Do you think that Mel Gibson was the only man arrested for a DUI on that fateful day? I can guarantee you no, but you don't hear about anyone elses.
I propose a study should be done. Ask each of the hundreds of thousands of people that buy tabloids if they would like their mistakes splattered on the front page of that junk. I am willing to bet 99% (at least) would say 'Hell no!' Yet that doesn't stop them from buying it.
Another option would be to create an army of 'anti-papparazi.' They would each be armed with the weapon of choice, a high quality camera. Their job would be to follow the 'real' papparazi around and document their lives 24/7. I'm guessing more than a few would leave the business after every mistake they make is presented to the world. We can only hope at least.
When I went into my little boys room I felt sorry for Britney. She will never know the true joy only a little angel can bring to one's existence. Instead, her soul will be with those poor timids souls who neither know love or defeat. Its not the critic who counts, but the mother who is there, who knows defeat, but valiantly triumphs. No way as way. Using no limitation as limitation. Rock on Britney.
When you try on underwear in a store right there out in the open, my guess is you're not much for privacy anyway. Despite that? I'm not interested in her and never have been. Not beforeor after K-Fed and even while she was breeding/shaving her head/not wearing pants. I just couldn't care less. So she's strapped to a stretcher and headed for the hospital? (Sorry...it was a headline, but I didn't read the story. Honest) Godspeed, there Ms. Spears, but I'm not rubbernecking on your pain. Not because I care...but because I really, really don't. Love me some Obama, though.
It's true, there's a difference from being an entertainer and being entertainment. Poor girl.
What I think is depressing is that a lot of people in the comments section seem to blame the media for the coverage, yet the media only airs what we want to pay attention to.
Crap TV like TMZ and the tabloids sell because we're buyin'. Supply and demand. It's basic economics.
Sometimes I wish we'd go back to the days when we didn't know who our presidents and celebrities were banging on a weekly basis.
TMI can be TMI, plain and simple.
well said DGM. i've thought this since brit first started her spiral downward... or at least when it was first noticable to someone like me... who pays almost zero attention to the tabloids. and then it was on the evening news. the EVENING NEWS, for the love of god. right there next to the update on the War on Terror.
i felt bad for her. i still feel bad for her.
did you ever see what creig furgeson said about it when she first caught the nations eye by shaving her head?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7bbaRyDLMvA
In a sick sort of way it makes us all feel better to watch her demise. I know it makes me feel that in 5 months time I will be a decent parent. I know it ain't right.
Absolutely 100% agree. I thought the same thing when I looked at perezhilton.com. I shook my head in disgust -- not at Britney, but at him -- at the media -- for "entertaining" us in this way. It's disgusting, pathetic, and low.
I had a sister who was mentally ill and drug addicted. She died of an intentional overdose. I can't help but be grateful that no one was pointing a finger at her and laughing when she went through what she did. We might've been horrified, but we HURT for her. No one, that I know of, mocked her or called her names.
Britney, despite her chosen career, deserves at least the same respect.
I couldn't agree more. (How's that for an enlightened first time comment here?!)
But really, I couldn't agree more.
When she got started in the Mickey Mouse Club, then chose to continue her career as an entertainer, she became a role model. Whether she likes it or not, just like Charles Barkley, she became one. Now that she's in a spectacular, years-long crash and burn, she won't get the privacy. She is still a role model--what NOT to be. Show her to the older kids. Hold her up as a horrible example of what fame and the lifestyle she chooses to lead can do to you. Use her as an example of how the choices you make can impact not only your life, but the lives of those around you.
Those poor, poor babies.
You know, Hillary said "it takes a village to raise a child," meaning that a community has got ot come together to make a happy childhood possible. Imagine what those two little boys are learning about "community" and their "village." THAT is really what gets me.
Perhaps if she stopped making such a spectacle of herself, people would stop watching. Or, we could stop watching, then she may stop trying to draw attention to herself. When we stop paying attention to the child on the floor having a hissy shit fit, that child usually stops, right?
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks ENOUGH ALREADY. Christ, does she even have a chance at this point? And why in the world do people want to see her fail? So they can feel better about themselves?
And going back to her poor VMA comeback, it made me SICK to see/read/hear all the awful, nasty comments writers put online the day after... how fat and out-of-shape and tragic she was. I'd personally like to see a photograph of every one of those people to see if they're a size 0 AND perfectly toned after having had two kids in as many years. Fucking hypocrits.
MH
www.undomesticdiva.com
I think she needs to take a chill and head back to her home in the Bahamas. Oh wait. That was somebody else.
Well said. It's tragic all the way around - for her, for those little boys who in no way deserve to grow up in this kind of insanity, and for society as a whole. It makes me sick to watch those vultures chasing after her (both in her day to day life and in the darkest moment of her life) all for the sake of feeding the people's demands.
There is so much she needs to do right now, first being getting proper medical help and secondly getting the hell out of L.A.
I'm with you. It breaks my heart whenever I see her on TV, especially what they showed today. I'm afraid her sister might go through the same treatment that she is getting. Leave her alone or help her someone please!