Re: Should our President call Kanye a Jackass?
Fact is - I'm not in charge.
We as a nation (actually, we as a Western culture, as this doesn't seem confined to America) have become more and more insistent of complete and unhindered access to our celebrities and notable figures. We used to just see actors in movies. Then there were interviews. Then there were "heart-to-heart" interviews, where they bared all. Then there were behind-the-scenes peeks, and gossip magazines with "seen last night" spreads, and "Cribs" so you could see their house, and twitter so you could know what they were doing and thinking 24/7.
Personally, I don't get it. I never liked an actor, or politician, or singer, or any other celebrity, enough to care. I might watch an interview snippet, or read a press release to know more about a new album, say, but that's about it. I don't care what Prince's house looks like. I couldn't care less what the Battles do off stage. I don't give a flying fuck what the Fray thinks about Serena Williams. But apparently, a lot of people do.
It's all well and good to say "we should afford them privacy". Yeah, I'm in favor of it. But if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. The fact of the matter is that, in 2009 America, we ARE a nation of twitter-obsessed gossip queens. Obama IS on the Real World, and as much as he, I or you wish he could just be a private citizen for a week, a day, an hour, a minute, the fact is he can't. He can work on changing that, if he so desires, but the public eye is going to stay on him until that change takes effect.
Lex