The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Grab the popcorn - it’s the Brangelina show
IDON’T know about you, but I’ve had just about as much of ‘Brangelina’ as I can take. Since news of their impeding divorce broke the media has been spun into a whirlwind of celeb gossip, feasting on the nitty gritty of their weird and wonderful relationship.
Sure, we all like a bit of light relief in our news coverage but come on, how can this be headline news for an entire week?
Their antics are of no consequence to a single soul outside their own family, and yet there is a ridiculous fascination with their every move amongst the public.
Just when you think it has ceased, up pops another eye witness eager for their moment in the sun who is ore than willing to dish the dirt on what they saw and heard.
And so, why do we enjoy reading about their doomed affair so much.
Every last detail has been recounted in the press and daily newspaper round ups on radio have been top heavy with ‘Brangelina, the break-up’. After all it is a tabloid dream story. The possibilities are endless really...
We have really entered a different realm when it comes to celebrity. We are completely obsessed with celeb culture and the lives of those in the public eye? It is like a drug of sorts, with fans craving the next hit.
We feel entitled to know everything about them, just because they have a job that makes them recognisable to the public.
The level of influence that celebs have on the ordinary Joe Soap never ceases to amaze me. Their dazzling Hollywood lifestyles are the dream of many - but how dazzling is it really when it falls apart and the whole world is there watching?
People feel that because they recognise an actor and know their name, that they actually know them, and more worrying, that they have the right to know everything about their private lives.
Now, as riveting as the inner workings of Brad and Angelina’s domestic life may be, I think there are far more important or useful matters we could be focussing on.
Perhaps all the tragedy and grief, political and economic difficulties and doom and gloom in the world, and consequently in the media equally contribute to the public want for an antidote.
Stories like the celebrity break-up of the year are a harmless distraction and the reader doesn’t if what they are reading is even true - they just want to be entertained.