Here's a little story for you: A person walks into Wal-Mart and grabs their needed items. They go up to one of the least busy registers and look around for amusement for the person ahead to be finished.-áThey find - insert gossip magazine here. Rather than laugh, or nod their head, they pick it up and purchase the item.
Before I go any further, I would like to state - at least for my girlfriend - that I am not for or against celebrity gossip magazines.-áI can get a laugh out of them.-áAnd actually, some of their fashion advice makes sense.
But now I'm getting off topic.
What should worry America is that some Americans would rather be inspired by celebrities rather than find heroes that are inspiring.
Some people look up to Paris Hilton.-áWhile she has does have fashion sense, she is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.-áRecently, she was arrested for driving under the influence. As of Tuesday, she was charged for that arrest and could face up to six months in jail if convicted.
Some people look up to rock stars, athletes, movie stars or some other iconic image.
Why?
Is America so lost that it needs to iconize rich people?
Are there no heroes left in America?
Five years ago, we found heroes in every social group on a fateful day in September.
Because we have no royalty, do we have to make them up?
Is that why a billionaire pays a baseball player - who isn't really that good - $25 million a year to play baseball?
America has never had aristocrats.-áWe do not have royalty.
Yet we place so much emphasis on the daily lives of some of the least important people.
While some celebrities give so much, they rarely get our attention.
In the media, good deeds rarely get reported.-áOnly Tuesday did I learn of Reggie Bush's amazing impact of his charity on New Orleans.
However, within hours of Paris Hilton's arrest, the word spread across the continent by every means of sending information.
Sensationalism is at its worst today.-áNews is no longer being covered on news stations. News is no longer being covered in newspapers.-áThe news that people consider news now is no more than blatant gossip, misinformation, and paparazzi-ism.
While I value entertainment as much as the next person, I read about five times as much real news than I do entertainment news.
Yet, nothing will happen if we still feed into the frenzy of gossip and "entertainment," and no longer ask serious questions about serious matters.
They say that our generation is the most educated and the most informed ever. However, most teenagers cannot tell you where the Middle East is or who the vice president is. Yet, if you want to know what is the top music video on TRL or who is currently dating - enter teen star here - you'll get a several-sentence answer.
The media today is not educating and informing us of the things that are important.-á
When disaster or tragedy happens, we say that had know way of knowing.-áWe would if we had a responsible information-driven news media, rather than the crap we have today.
If you don't believe me, when can you consider it a real news story if the top of the newscast is about Tom Cruise jumping on a couch - and the second story is about the death of five soldiers in Iraq?
Matthew Stephenson is a senior history major and writes 'The Left Side of the Couch' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write to Matthew at mlstephenson@bsu.edu.
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