The Real Truth About Gossip

So, I told you a few days ago that I was pretty disenchanted with the whole gossip thing. Not really thrilled about the Hollywood droids anymore. I was wondering why people (including myself) have been so drawn to gossip of late, more so than ever. And I realized what it is all about.

Every day, you turn on the news or open a page to find out about the war your country is in, the wars other countries are starting, another country with nuclear weapons, another country that hates Americans, missiles being tested and aimed at your country, protestors and marches against the president and government in general, bird flu, mad cow disease, PCBs and mercury in fish, threats of terrorism, memories of terrorist destruction. We receive phone calls or emails about friends, children or parents who are suffering and dying from cancer. We are accosted by and succumb to our own road rage that is only exacerbated by our tight schedules and narrowminded self-centeredness.

Some of us try to be the supportive caring types, while others of us are just plain wrapped up in ourselves (maybe we all have a little bit of each of these traits to some degree). Our friends, our loved ones and we ourselves get married and find ourselves struggling to maintain our sanity in a life that we have chosen or that has chosen us. And if we don't find ourselves struggling, we are plagued by guilt because so many people around us are having a rough go of it. Everyday, we are surrounded by our own personal struggles, our country's struggles and the struggles of those around us.

WHen it happens that we stumble upon a story about Charlie Sheen and Denise Richard's love triangle with Heather Locklear and David Spade and whoever else gets dragged in there, it helps us to tune out our own drama and point the finger at someone else who is more fucked up than we are. It makes us feel a little better about ourselves that Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson look like total asses because by the third season of the Newlyweds, they were headed for divorce and had no idea how it happened. Gives us something to talk about other than the cancer, the autism, the war or the divorce of someone we know.

And that my friends, is where gossip stands. It's purpose is to entertain us. Much like a movie, to take us away from our daily lives and give us a little something else to focus on. That is why these celebrities get paid so much. That is why these people chose their profession. If they want to remain anonymous, they can't expect to go on screen in front of millions of Americans who are looking to them for entertainment (on screen and off). That's the job description these days. If they don't like it, they should head to the stage, not the screen.

In the meanwhile, the rest of us will be checking Perezhilton, Pink is the New Blog, Egotastic, Popsugar, Hollywoodtuna and MamaBBlog for some conversation topics! Cheers to Us Weekly, In Touch and Star for starting us all on our way to celebrity gossip addiction!