Celebrity 'Pollution': The Smog Over America's Social Consciousness Could Be Worse Than Global Warming

What do Elizabeth Edwards, Ann Coulter, John Edwards, Anna Nicole Smith, Angie Everhart, Don King, Vivica Fox, Angie Dickinson, Beyonce Knowles and Britney Spears all have in common?

A quick internet search using Google or Yahoo (or even Wikipedia, the free internet encyclopedia) will tell you that Ann Coulter "was arrested after being found nude in the back seat of her automobile with a well-known local black cross-dressing prostitute" (The Spoof.com, 24 March 2007); that Ann Coulter is homophobic, no wait, she's actually a lesbian herself; oh no, Ann Coulter is actually on a meth binge.

Google and Yahoo search engines will also tell you every last move that Presidential Candidate John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth Edwards have made lately. John Edwards is more than just a presidential candidate he is also a cancer survivor and so is Elizabeth Edwards. What other personal information would you like to know about the Edwards family? Well, it's on the internet, just type in your search and have fun.

Britney Spears is a mousketeer; hey, now she's a teen pop star, no wait she's all grown up and singing adult songs. Hey Britney is now married to Jason Allen Alexander. Oops, we spoke too soon - Britney and Jason annulled the marriage. But that's okay because Britney Spears doesn't stay down for long, in fact Britney Spears is now Mrs. Federline, having married Kevin Federline. Britney Spears is pregnant! Britney had a baby (does that mean she is considered a mother?) Hey! What is Britney doing with her baby? Wait... Did I say Britney was married? Sorry folks, she's divorced now.

Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and other internet sites and search engines will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about celebrities such as Elizabeth Edwards, Ann Coulter, John Edwards, Anna Nicole Smith, Angie Everhart, Don King, Vivica Fox, Angie Dickinson, Beyonce Knowles and Britney Spears. In fact, you don't even have to go looking for some of them. Anna Nicole Smith, or more appropriately Anna Nicole Smith's baby has been in the news constantly for some time now. Fox News, CNN, and the rest of those "news" stations parade the story (or is smear it a better wording?) in front of us 24/7 in some cases.

The examples mentioned above highlight the key point of this article:

In line with global warming, the greenhouse effect, air pollution, water pollution, light pollution, etc. we also suffer from celebrity pollution.

Celebrity internet news articles, tabloids, television news, cable news, DIREC TV news spots, email news, magazine news, and good old fashioned gossip - they are all chuck full of stories (true or not) about the most insignificant thing that Angie Dickinson or Beyonce Knowles did five minutes ago, or about the most significant things that happened to Anna Nicole Smith lately. In fact, Anna Nicole can't even escape her celebrity in death. Nor can her family - most notably her child and the father (whomever that may be). More importantly though, neither can I! I have yet to find a news source in my area that isn't polluted with celebrity. It's like trying to soak up some vitamin D by sitting out in the sun only to realize the light is almost completely blocked out by celebrities floating around in the atmosphere doing things I really couldn't care less about.

Unfortunately, Celebrity pollution is a problem akin to drug trafficking. It's addictive and the root of the problem doesn't necessarily lie with the pushers (the media), but with the users. If we as a society weren't hungry to find out the latest gossip about the latest and greatest stars, politicians, and personalities out there; the media couldn't market it and would stop flashing fluff news bits about all day long.

But what about the celebrities themselves - do they deserve all the attention, positive and negative? Is our right to know that Britney Spears is misbehaving in rehab greater than Britney's right to privacy? Does she even want privacy? Is there some point on the road to celebrity where a shadowy looking fellow pulls you aside in the back alley and pulls out a privacy waiver which he "persuades" you to sign before going any further? Have these people signed away their lives for our own amusement? Do they get paid enough for that? If it's all about money, how much will it cost me to clean up some of the celebrity pollution around here so I can breath again? Maybe I should write my congressman. Maybe someone will donate tons of money to a foundation dedicated to cleaning up the celebrity pollution problem... you know, for the sake of our children and our children's children so they inherit a better world than ours.

The fact of the matter is that so long as enough people care about what's going on with people like Elizabeth Edwards, Ann Coulter, John Edwards, Anna Nicole Smith, Angie Everhart, Don King, Vivica Fox, Angie Dickinson, Beyonce Knowles and Britney Spears; celebrity pollution will continue... and I guess we just have to deal with it.

By the way, while you're already here, does anyone know what happened recently on The Apprentice, The Bachelor, Big Brother, The Simple Life and Wife Swap? I seem to have missed the last four or five years of episodes.