All the World is a Stage

Everybody loves a good scandal, as long as it’s happening to someone else, someone not all that real to us, someone we can hate/love without actually having to interact with them. Our ideal candidates? Public & political figures, celebrities, and as of lately athletes. It has gotten to a point where “we the public” can now dictate a person’s worth based on actions that have nothing to do with their profession. Is a candidate for presidency not capable of running office because he/she cheated on their spouse? We learned with Bill Clinton that it doesn’t matter, and whatever goes on in their personal lives is none of our concern. But, we love to humiliate the powerful and all mighty; show them their flaws and make them known all around. You are not so grand and your personal life is a mess, this is what we tell them in our own way. Well, wouldn’t that be their problem, not ours? The public’s “power” has transformed into a ridiculous judiciary system where we put these “public figures” on trial for all the world to judge. How do we know that what we are judging is even true? And shouldn't we be judging and checking that they do their job responsibly and as best they can?
Mel Gibson recently said he felt bad for Tiger Woods, and that the whole situation of his various infidelities is being blown way out of proportion – you think? "Why are we talking about this when we're sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan?” said Gibson... “He's being used as a diversion, and it just drives me crazy." I agree, there are so many other more important things happening in the world, things that actually have an effect on the great majority of the worlds inhabitants, and here we are watching headlines all over the place about Tiger Woods and what he did, the fact that he has decided to take a break from what has made him so great – he is an athlete, he very seldom failed as a pro; and now due to all the scrutiny about his personal issues he has decided to take a break from continuing to accomplish his dream. Sean Penn did the same when his marriage was falling apart; he took a break from acting after just having won an Academy Award. Interesting trend, as soon as these people reach an important accomplishment or success, they are quick to fall. Why should their personal lives matter to the public, and why should they affect their careers? There is no justification in their actions, and I can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that they feel like they need to “act responsibly” in order to appease the public, rather than doing it for themselves. Where am I getting the idea that their attempts at reformation are for the public rather than for their families? Perhaps from their very public announcements? Or from the fact that we refuse to let them get away with it – boycott their films, endorsed products, etc… If they are going to reform that is great, but it should be done for them and their family, truly. Why make a speech, do an interview and address the issue, making it into something worthy of attention?
Is it their fault or ours as an audience? Both I guess. We tend to prefer soft news versus hard news, maybe because we are so used to fictionalized and sensationalized drama. We see it everywhere and it’s become easy to manipulate and create these events at our request. These public figures aren’t real to us, they are simply characters meant for our entertainment, everything about them is made up in our minds, made up by the press, made up by themselves- we forget they are real people. Isn’t it better to see a celebrity in yet another scandal than to see the reality of those poor people who are in grave danger on a daily basis finding themselves as collateral for a war they didn't wish upon themselves?
Some people might say that the news is a plethora of negativity, it’s just one catastrophe after another: death, disasters, war, hunger, poverty, etc… the list is never ending. Meanwhile, the tabloids are full of sensationalized stories that read like a soap opera, full of juicy gossip on people you don’t even know, but people you have come to love or hate a.k.a. “the popular crowd” people seen from afar, easy targets for gossip and bashing. I really don’t want to think that ignorance is the reason for why people would prefer reading about an actor/athlete gone wrong, rather than read about what bill’s are being passed by Congress, which issues are not being addressed by our government, etc… If the public can be so powerful as to control what we want to read and learn about, then we should be directing such focus on reality, on world events, on finding solutions to the many problems that plague our newsrooms. Yes, the world is not a perfect place, and neither are the people in it. I’m just asking that our attention be directed towards more substantial issues rather than who is dating whom. At this point I would have thought that we would be over the whole “high school” notion of what is newsworthy. So the man cheated on his wife, why on earth should you care? This problem is between him and his wife, and the reformation should be for the benefit of his family - that’s it, you are out of the picture, and so are all your judgements. Try to re-direct that anger towards this person you don’t even know, and focus on the evils of the world, try to think of ways to make it better. If you don’t want the news to be so negative then you shouldn’t be either. More important issues and situations need our attention. Be the powerful public that makes them come to light.