I don’t normally follow the news coverage of celebrity tripe or the tragedies that happen to random people. The first are vapid, the second are usually only given national-level attention by the media if they are uber-disturbing. But I was bored to death at work this week. Here’s two stories that definitely fit that bill but share a common theme.
I have no idea if the “affluenza” kid who stole beer from Wal-mart, got in his truck and killed 4 people was actually raised in an environment which condones this sort of thing or if he was just young and stupid. What I do know is that there is such a thing as spoiled rotten. Paris Hilton. Nicole Richie. Justin Bieber. Pick your favorite rock star. The list is endless. I went to college in Texas with a bunch of oil-money brats out of Houston and Dallas who acted the same way.
What I will charitably call the other end of the spectrum has been shooting off more than just their shotguns this week. In an interview with GQ magazine, Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson compared Muslims to Nazis, gay sex to bestiality and that pre-Civil rights era blacks were perfectly happy (I wonder what he thinks about us here at Bluelight?) My point is not that these remarks are obscene (which they are) but that after you found out who said them it feels far less scandalous. We’re like, oh yeah, I’ll bet he said that. A religious hillbilly gun nut who is bigoted isn’t exactly earth-shattering news.
The world is full of people who are self-absorbed, narcissistic or simply prefer to live behind walls that insulate them from reality. My mother does the same thing through her religious devotion and mistakes it for piety. “Affluenza” and Duck Dynasty are simply different symptoms of the same disease although I don't know what the hell to call it. Maybe it's just plain old, garden-variety vanity.
I have no idea if the “affluenza” kid who stole beer from Wal-mart, got in his truck and killed 4 people was actually raised in an environment which condones this sort of thing or if he was just young and stupid. What I do know is that there is such a thing as spoiled rotten. Paris Hilton. Nicole Richie. Justin Bieber. Pick your favorite rock star. The list is endless. I went to college in Texas with a bunch of oil-money brats out of Houston and Dallas who acted the same way.
What I will charitably call the other end of the spectrum has been shooting off more than just their shotguns this week. In an interview with GQ magazine, Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson compared Muslims to Nazis, gay sex to bestiality and that pre-Civil rights era blacks were perfectly happy (I wonder what he thinks about us here at Bluelight?) My point is not that these remarks are obscene (which they are) but that after you found out who said them it feels far less scandalous. We’re like, oh yeah, I’ll bet he said that. A religious hillbilly gun nut who is bigoted isn’t exactly earth-shattering news.
The world is full of people who are self-absorbed, narcissistic or simply prefer to live behind walls that insulate them from reality. My mother does the same thing through her religious devotion and mistakes it for piety. “Affluenza” and Duck Dynasty are simply different symptoms of the same disease although I don't know what the hell to call it. Maybe it's just plain old, garden-variety vanity.