The Decline of Western Civilization III

By Life & Times guest blogger Tony Taylor

For last two months, I cannot turn on the TV, or even check my email without being inundated with the latest intelligence delineating the sordid lives of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Nicole Ritchie and Lindsay Lohan. I am more in tune with the lives of these three useless girls than some of my cousins. I have no idea how this happened. I don’t think it’s just me, it’s you too! How did this happen to us as a society?
I could understand us being interested in the lives of our favorite athletes, musicians, politicians and weathermen, but these young ladies are not of that ilk. I know Lindsay Lohan has a few movies under her belt, but I am sure the crux of her fame belies her substance issues rather than her stagecraft.
When I first started thinking about why these girls get so much attention, I first thought it was gender bias. Girls aren’t supposed to act like this, hence the attention. I’m sure on any given night of the week an Ozzy Osbourne or Robert Downey Jr in their heyday could put these girls substance abuse issues to shame. Is that it? Is that why these girls get so much news coverage? I don’t think so, I think the reason is the same reason traffic on I 95 slows down when someone changes a tire. As a society, We love a train wreck. We cannot turn our head from what Don Henley so eloquently called “Dirty Laundry” We don’t care about Paris or Britney’s music, we know it’s manufactured crap, We are infatuated with failure. I think we feel better about ourselves the more we see the misdeeds and posturing of these young ladies. At the end of the day, I think I’d rather just shut off the news and listen to Don Henley anyway. Kick em When They’re Up, Kick em When They’re Down.