Do you think people in the oughties are unusually obsessed with celebrities, compared to other decades? I think this started around 1998, and even earlier there were signs of it with the O.J. Simpson trial, but it peaked about a year ago. Like there are all these shows on cable TV about the "lifestyles of the rich and famous", there's obsessive celebrity coverage in more magazines than the '90s, bitchy TV talkshows about celebrity lifestyles, and constant obsession over boring celebrity couples like Brangelina, Bennifer, etc., the rise of meaningless celebrities with no reason to be famous like Paris Hilton, and attention paid to what "the celebrities are doing." People in this decade are fascinated to the point of sickness with the rich and famous.

It's sick and retarded but nothing new.
Celebrity gossip has been deliberately pushed since the 1950s  to insure the void in people's lives won't get filled with political convictions for reforms the ruling class does not wish to make.
It was not until the Rush Limbaugh phenomenon of the 1990s that the ruling class figured out they could create a whole raft of celebrities who would make advocacy for the agenda of the rich and powerful a branch of entertainment in itself, hence FOX News.

Why do they care? Pretty much everybody has the same problems.. It's like reading about your own life!

One thing I notice which is very 00s is celebrity bashing - scrutinizing everything the celebs do, hate-mail.etc - seems more prevalent after the Britney Spears, then the Paris Hilton hate rings popped up (don't you notice it's mainly the girls' who get the flak?). Well I guess there is Tom Cruise...

But obsession with celebrity has always been around - in the 80s and 90s it was mainly in those trashy mags, now it's mainly the internet and TV.

One thing I notice which is very 00s is celebrity bashing - scrutinizing everything the celebs do, hate-mail.etc - seems more prevalent after the Britney Spears, then the Paris Hilton hate rings popped up (don't you notice it's mainly the girls' who get the flak?). Well I guess there is Tom Cruise...

But obsession with celebrity has always been around - in the 80s and 90s it was mainly in those trashy mags, now it's mainly the internet and TV.


And the trashy mags, which have become much more celebrity focused. Back in the late '90s, tabloids were all about alien sightings, predictions for the end of the world, angels, conspiracy theories, etc. Celebrities, going down to the D-list celebs represented on Celebreality and MTV shows, are huge this decade.

bump.

And the trashy mags, which have become much more celebrity focused. Back in the late '90s, tabloids were all about alien sightings, predictions for the end of the world, angels, conspiracy theories, etc. Celebrities, going down to the D-list celebs represented on Celebreality and MTV shows, are huge this decade.


Back in the 40s you had pulp magazines like 'Amazing Stories!' which included some very decent sci-fi serials. Of course there were the 'trashy mags', but those were slightly more tastefully done. Wheras today fashion mags, homemaking mags.etc are just advertising billboards, back in the day those magazines were actually quite useful.