American newspaper front pages are substantially devoted to stories about sexual interactions among various people whom we might have heard of (or at least one of any given pair). If we assume that what’s in the news is what Americans are interested in then we must conclude that American adults are tremendously interested not only in who is interacting sexually with whom, but also in the precise details of those interactions.
Previously, stories about celebrity sex would be relegated to interior sections of the newspaper. Adult residents of the U.S. talking about other adult residents would give only brief summaries of the sex acts, e.g., “X slept with Y.”
Was there ever a group of Americans who had the time and interest to follow others’ sexual interactions in detail? A group whose life was so intellectually unchallenging and devoid of serious responsibility that they had time to contemplate these tales, evaluate them for truth, and discuss the details of who did what to whom and which exact body parts were involved?
High school students!
Ergo, American adults are the new high school kids.
Readers: Agree or disagree?
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Agree, altho there has long been a market for celebrity sexual gossip in the supermarket tabloids. Now the NY Times and Wash. Post resemble the tabloids. It is embarrassing.
I think a better comparison is a mother or father in law: overly critical and judgmental to behavior that they otherwise accept as part of life with their neighbors, friends, and blood family.
The disturbing long term implication is that even the most valid critiques by the public towards the powerful will be dismissed as resentment.
Which philg are we supposed to believe, the one who claims to care about making logical arguments or the one writes blog posts like this one?
There was probably always a big market for such salacious gossip, but the major papers were making a decent amount of money and regarded themselves as having a public responsibility to do actual journalism. Now all the papers and other outlets are financially gutted and don’t have much choice but to cover such fluff, which doesn’t cost anything to pump out.
My employer’s CFO has a recurring annual subscription to People Magazine. I know that because, when she’s done with it, she shamelessly drops it in the breakroom for others; like I do with my National Geographic and Popular Mechanics.
American life is high school with money?
A local TV station WHDH [1] used to be affiliated with NBC, but not any more [2].
The one big change I have noticed right away when it comes to news (or even general programming) is that WHDH is now more about reporting the news vs. “entertaining” its viewers with the news. There are no longer opinions, debates, talking heads, investigation or entertainment in the news programming even though WHDH now has more news hours than ever before. And in case you are wondering, WHDH news in both local, national and international.
I think the reason for this sudden change is simple: WHDH is no longer competing with other stations across the country, it is focused on its local audience.
The above applies to news papers and news stations. Since they are competing nationally, their first goal is customer acquisition. So if sex brings back readers and viewers, they will put that on the front page.
[1] http://whdh.com/tv-listings/
[2] http://www.newenglandone.com/news/local/boston/nbc-set-to-announce-nbc-boston-today.html
probably a natural evolution given that dress code for morning news shows is suits for the male hosts, and cocktail attire for the female hosts, with obligatory short hemlines and high heels. Wasn’t that way in the late 20th century when Jane Pauley & Bryant Gumbel didn’t have to report about every actress who had taken up Harvey Weinstein on an invite to his hotel room — and then even when his entourage of employees were asked to leave, didn’t decide to leave along with them (asking whether she could continue the discussion with Weinstein about a role in an upcoming movie in the hotel’s lobby/restaurant/bar). Does appear to be a witch hunt at this point — especially as would-be actresses in their 30s & 40s see an opportunity to have their moment of fame (NB how that woman in her 70s who alleged that Trump groped her in business class of a plane in the 1970s was not taken too seriously — or was that because her plain Jane looks elicited, “I don’t think so” from the Donald?)
“Was there ever a group of Americans who had the time and interest to follow others’ sexual interactions in detail? A group whose life was so intellectually unchallenging and devoid of serious responsibility that they had time to contemplate these tales, evaluate them for truth, and discuss the details of who did what to whom and which exact body parts were involved? High school students!”
There are actually whole forums dedicated to gossip about reality TV stars (reddit?), believe it or not. On the flip side, while not a productive use of time, it at least might divert a person’s attention away from gossiping about others in their own community. There are those people who are nosy and simply need a outlet (or target). Maybe like a ‘snark pressure valve’ perhaps. Or maybe it’s just a sign of the increased leisure time combined with increased social isolation? It seems to be a more female activity as well. I remember my mother liked to watch those Entertainment Tonight/The Insider/Access Hollywood shows while preparing dinner IIRC. Those shows have been around since the 1980s. Women really like them.
Not everyone has (or wants) a challenging career or seeks intellectual engagement. Or maybe they want to live a quiet live but live vicariously threw celebrities. We are social creatures and there a need to feed the social interest.
does explain a lot of the gawking & voyeurism, mostly by women. I once chatted at length with a DC area children’s performer, Turley the Magician. He offered to tell me a good story as follows: he was asked to perform at the JW Marriott Hotel for a family. He arrived to realize this was Brad Pitt and another actor (he couldn’t remember Angelina Jolie’s name, he admitted), along with a passel of children. It wasn’t until Turley returned home that his wife could explain to him about the adopted children, the twins, etc. (this was pre-smart phones). It’s not as if Jolie-Pitt could take their brood to a children’s festival, so it made sense that he was asked to perform in their hotel suite. From my own experience, I personally love reading People Mag in the dentist’s waiting area, whereas my husband and sons may never have opened up that near-tabloid.