DebateGate
General Category => 3DHS => Topic started by: Stray Pooch on January 05, 2008, 07:17:14 AM
-
I have, over many years, had several occasions when I have had to witness and/or deal with people in crisis. As an NCO in the Army, I had the responsibility to deal with young privates in financial trouble, soldiers ruining their lives with substance abuse, building occupants threatening violence over parking spaces and even extreme cases of murder, rape and one troop who threatened to kill himself and his entire family because he was being evicted from his house. It is deeply unnerving to have to deal with such things, knowing that you are completely unqualified and emotionally unprepared. In my church, I have been called upon to answer questions of eternal significance, and deal with families in crisis. There is nothing like seeing one of the "star" families in the ward putting on Sunday faces at church while falling apart during the week. In my own life, I have had to deal with personal problems that seemed overwhelming, and raising five children to adulthood has given me times when I have had to see the people I love most dealing with serious issues. Having myself survived an awful lot of tough times, I can maintain a sense of optimism because I know that bad times, like good times, come to an end. I always did my duty, whether it was in the way of assistance or discipline. But I was always careful to keep the confidentiality of everyone involved.
But what if those terrible times become public knowledge? My nephew had his 16 month old son murdered by his ex-wife's boyfriend a few years ago. It was, of course, front page news in our town and he couldn't walk the streets without people staring and pointing. He was innocent of any crime himself. But he was an object of curiosity. judgment and that vague sense of self-righteousness that we get when we see some heinous crime happening to someone else. We are, as a society, constantly looking for titillating scandals to feed the notion (usually false) that such things couldn't happen to us, because we are living right. I remember writing an op-ed piece for a weekly in Massachusetts defending a Taxi company owner who had just been convicted of torching a rival's taxicab. He was probably guilty. But, because the rival was black, the specter of burning crosses instead of cabs was brought to mind and he was getting crucified in the press, the bars and the barbershops. I knew the guy and felt sorry for him. The day after the piece was published, I was walking downtown across the street from the cab company and the dispatcher, Karen, came running across the street dragging an older woman with her and calling to me. Karen introduced me to the woman, the mother of the man I had defended. She hugged me, thanked me for the piece and told me her son had read it in jail and it was very comforting to him. That was simultaneously humbling and an ego boost for the Pooch. I was amazed that my writing had actually affected a family in this way.
Imagine now, if you can, the horror that is going on in Britney Spear's world right now. Did that make you roll your eyes? Are you thinking "Oh no, not another BS story about BS." Are you just sick of hearing about this spoiled kid who used to act so virginal and now can't even keep off the crap to keep her kids? Well guess what? Britney Spears is a human being. What is going on in her world right now is being replayed in thousands of homes across the country. Drug addicted mothers fighting inadequate dads over custody of kids they never should have had while trying to turn their own lives around - that's a story being rewritten over and over in a neighborhood near you. For the most part, apart from that "small circle of friends" Lanya alluded to in the Richpo poll thread, none of us know or care. But in Britney's case, we not only know, we REVEL in it. Because she is a celebrity, just a character on our TV screens, we get to indulge our inner voyeur, our sanctimonious natures and our thirst for blood. We no longer tolerate stoning, our civil religion forbids it. But we still do the deed vicariously, through the paparazzi.
Look at the pictures on the news. Screaming, swarming, camera-toting mobs are jockeying for the best shot of the ambulance, the kids, the star herself - looking stunned, shocked or just mouthing "where are my children?" Great stuff! The INSIDER proudly proclaimed that their footage was being used by all the major networks and even the OTHER tabloid TV programs. What a coup. Lord, if only we could get her to slit her wrists on camera! Wouldn't that be great?
And we all watch. No, I don't make a habit of watching the Insider, though I can't escape TMZ at night since it is the only thing on and I keep the TV running to help sooth my insomnia. But millions make a point of it, and even I get caught up in it sometimes. I admit I watched the Insider this evening just to see what all the fuss was about, since every newscast was featured a toned-down take on the story (sort of a public pebbling). I wish I hadn't now. The image of Britney looking dazed and devastated is haunting. "You make them stars, " the TMZ tag line goes. "We make them real." But this is not reality anymore than the characters these people play on TV or the personas they put on for the stage. It is a parody of reality, a travesty of truth. There's nothing real about this tragedy except the tragedy itself. Paparazzi swarming like frenzied Pharisees, exposing their warped vision of truth like stripping a victim bare. A string of shouted questions like accusations from some grotesque Sanhedrin. Camera bulbs flashing like hundreds of stones being cast simultaneously. And all of us looking on, cheering the accusers and jeering the victim, dutifully playing our parts in this bloodless but no less deadly lynching. And why not? After all, the victim is not exactly innocent, is she?
Can any of us see not the celebrity but the human life being destroyed? Do any of us who self-righteously profess concern about her poor children, see the child in the troubled adult whose life is beyond her own control? Does anybody notice a man, stooping down, writing with his finger on the ground? Or is the figure lost in the lights, the shouting, the stones?
There is a child of God who is, tonight, in deep crisis. She is not innocent, but neither are any of us. Nor is she the only person in the world in despair. There are many in worse trouble, and many of those far more innocent than she is. But for the horrible crime of celebrity, Britney Spears is sentenced to the symbolic casting of stones. Her despair is our nightly entertainment, her stoning our judgment. The scribes and Pharisees of our day have cameras, tabloids and websites, but they are no less barbaric or harsh in their judgments than those of 2000 years ago. How many people will say a prayer for Britney Spears tonight? How many think that she got herself into this mess, so she deserves what she gets? That is what the Pharisees thought. But then, they couldn't see the writing on the ground. Over two thousand years, the writing has long since faded. All that is left is the question "Woman, where art those thine accusers?" The answer is, just look for the flashing lights.
-
Neat essay.
I will try to avert my eyes unless I am prepared to help.
-
There is nothing like seeing one of the "star" families in the ward putting on Sunday faces at church while falling apart during the week.
This is one of the reasons I admire your church; you all make sure that your members are seen to on the other six days of the week.
-
I was raised in Liberty, Missouri, a town that had a lot to do with the LDS's early history. Joseph Smith was jailed in Liberty, and then sprung by Alexander Doniphan, a Mexican War Hero, know as the American Xenophon: "a soldier who never loast a battle, and a lawyer who never lost a case." Just after I was graduated from college, the LDS erected a huge eight-sided monument over the former jail. My father, a Recorder of Deeds for 12 years, and president of the Clay County Historical Association, had a brass monument erected on the county road at the site where Mormons agree that Jesus will make his next appearance. What other Church purports to know so much of the future plans of Divine Beings? Where else is Jesus' future venue marked by a ceremonial plaque BEFORE the event has happened?
The Mormon Church is a combination of very wacky beliefs (ie that one can translate text from ancient Hebrew into King James English by looking through two miraculous lenses, the belief that the Lost Tribes of Israel got lost in North America, just to name two) and a lot of pragmatic social engineering. Mormons live longer, and the Church assists the needy among them, they have stronger family ties than most other Americans.
And what could be more American than the belief that a prophet will always be ELECTED, and God will always talk to whomever is elected? That certainly reflects a greater belief in Democracy that one can find anywhere in the Bible. As a rule, the ones with the truth in the Bible tend to be ranting prophets who everyone else considers to be annoying and troublesome losers.
It does seem that God has less to say to current prophets than he did with Joseph Smith and Bigamy Young, though. He was a regular Celestial Chatty Cathy when those dudes were prophets, but lately, the messages passed down seem to be fewer and less wordy.
It took a really long time for God to proclaim that Black men could be ministers in the LDS Church, but it did follow the Civil Rights movement. That was a rather nice touch. I still have met no Black American Mormons, but I did meet a rather dark Belizean couple in Dangriga in 1980.
-
I like Britney. She's younger than my two daughters, like them quite talented and attractive but unfortunately, really fucked up.
However, she's in the position she now finds herself in because she's a risk-taker and preferred to live her life to the max. Not all risks taken pan out. Of the six and a half billion people on this earth, many are living lives of tragedy, hopelessness and despair that dwarf the travails of Ms. Spears and her undoubtedly ill-starred offspring. Like the others, Britney will either surmount her problems and survive - - or not. Either way, for the rest of the 6.5 billion, life goes on, with all its tragedy, horror, successes and failures. If at the end of her life (and I hope it's a long one) she has any regrets, I hope she will take pride in the fact that her pain was the consequence of daring and ambition and not of passivity or timidity.
WAY too much attention has already been paid to this poor young woman. Let's just wish her and her two kids the best and move on.
Pooch, my compliments on the humanity of what was mostly a very profound and true essay. I could nit-pick on a few of the points (your nephew's story is an excellent illustration of "Lie down with dogs and you get up with fleas," and your newspaper editorial, comforting as it must have been to the fucking criminal who torched his rival's cab, must have been infuriating and hurtful to the innocent victim, who was probably facing financial ruin without recourse,) but in general it was wise and compassionate. It was just good to read.
-
This is one of the reasons I admire your church; you all make sure that your members are seen to on the other six days of the week.
That's really a large part what a church is for - edifying the saints. If it was just about worshipping God, he could do pretty well without it. We believe that when you are in the service of your fellow man, you are only in the service of God.
It's very kind of you to say that, Ami.
-
My father, a Recorder of Deeds for 12 years, and president of the Clay County Historical Association, had a brass monument erected on the county road at the site where Mormons agree that Jesus will make his next appearance. What other Church purports to know so much of the future plans of Divine Beings? Where else is Jesus' future venue marked by a ceremonial plaque BEFORE the event has happened?
I'm not familiar with "where Jesus will make his nextg appearance." Perhaps you are referring to the site of the Temple?
The Mormon Church is a combination of very wacky beliefs (ie that one can translate text from ancient Hebrew into King James English by looking through two miraculous lenses, the belief that the Lost Tribes of Israel got lost in North America, just to name two)
Well, wacky is the eye of the beholder. But the two examples you cite are actually pretty good example of misunderstandings. The "miraculous lenses" to which you refer are not lenses at all, but sacred stones kept in a breastplate that were used by priests and called the Urim and the Thummin . They are NOT LDS inventions, but rather items mentioned in the Old Testament prior to the reign of Zedekiah (when they apparently went with Lehi to the new world). The "Lost Tribes" did not go to North America. Only one group that we know of did at the time of the captivity and that was an offshoot of the tribe of Joseph under the leadership of Lehi. We do not know where the lost tribes ended up, but we believe them to have been scattered throughout the world. We do not have any record of their whereabouts, but we believe Christ very likely went among them as wel after his resurrection and that such records, if kept, will be revealed later. If you'll pardon the pun, a lot of LDS doctrines get lost in the translation. Sometimes this is done out of disrespect and sometimes just oversimplification, but the result is that a lot of doctrines are misrepresented or even flat out lied about. So while the doctrines cited may be wacky, maybe they are not as wacky as they are presented, when compared to what the mainstream religions have taught or still do.
and a lot of pragmatic social engineering. Mormons live longer, and the Church assists the needy among them, they have stronger family ties than most other Americans.
We are deeply family oriented, and it is very gratifying to see many churches and even non-religious groups adopting such ideas as Family Home Evening (Our local mayor actually declared Monday as Family Home Evening in the city a few years ago. That is the traditional evening that LDS families get together for family worship and activities. There is even a manual the church puts out for public use to encourage Family Home Evenings. (There is a FHE Manual aimed at Church members which is more oriented towards LDS faith, but we also have a manual intended for those who are not LDS.)
And what could be more American than the belief that a prophet will always be ELECTED, and God will always talk to whomever is elected? That certainly reflects a greater belief in Democracy that one can find anywhere in the Bible. As a rule, the ones with the truth in the Bible tend to be ranting prophets who everyone else considers to be annoying and troublesome losers.
Ya mean like Joseph Smith or Brigham Young? And you should hear how some people howl about the Proclamation on the Family put out by our current prophet Gordon B. Hinckley and his counselors. But to be clear on the "election," the fact is that ALL church callings - right down to ward librarian or Sunday School Teachers, are subject to the concept of "general consent." We do not so much "elect" someone to a position as agree to support and sustain those called to a task. It is an opportunity to show support and, where necessary, express any objections. In the case of the Prophet, the new President of the Church (determined when the old one dies) is the previous President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. There is an "election" of sorts among the twelve, but the results are alway unanimous (at least they have been until now). We believe God will insure that the right person is in place before removing the current President. When I was first taught this principle, I stated "in other words the election is fixed." The person next to me moved in case the lightning bolt missed - lol. But, for example, the current President is Gordon B. Hinckley, as stated. The President of the Quorum is Thomas Monson, but he is currently serving as the first counselor to President Hinckley. (There are two, and sometimes more, counselors to the President.) So the Acting President of the Twelve is Boyd K. Packer. Should President Hinckley die, the Presidency would be dissolved and authority would revert to the Twelve (who would temporarily become 14 with the addition of the other two who served in the Presidency). They would hold an "election" to support the new President, in this case Thomas Monson, who would call two new counselors at his choice. The Twelve (now temporarily 11) would vote to sustain the new First Presidency and it would up to the new president to prayerfully call a new member of the twelve to replace. The Presidency of the Quorum would pass to the next most senior of the group. Should that next most senior be part of the new First Presidency, the NEXT most senior would be the Acting President of the Twelve. Eventually, after all the arrangements were finalized and sustained by the Quorum of Twelve, the changes would be submitted at the next General Conference of the church for the general consent of the church, and that consent would then be affirmed at the Stake Conferences and Ward Conferences held later on that year, and so forth. Got it? I knew you would.
It does seem that God has less to say to current prophets than he did with Joseph Smith and Bigamy Young, though. He was a regular Celestial Chatty Cathy when those dudes were prophets, but lately, the messages passed down seem to be fewer and less wordy.
Less wordy, yes, but only because far less has to be settled than the complete restoration of lost portions of the gospel, proper priesthood authority, establishing a new church, interpretting new scripture, dealing with issues like successioin in the presidency and btw, that whole polygamy on and off thing. There are, of course, times when direct revelation still gets added to the LDS standard works. The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church, which is considered scripture, has had several additions since I just joined the church. I do not know if the current Proclamation on the Family has been added yet, butI suspect it will be. That seems unusual to a modern reader, but that's exactly what happened in NT times. The Bible Jesus read from did not include any of the Gospels, the epistles of the Apostles, or the Apocalypse of John. They were written, considered sacred to those who saw them, and eventually added to scripture. After some legal wrangling, a group of these writings were solidified and approved as scripture - and some rejected for a variety of reasons. That's pretty much the process now, except that the group doing the approving is, if you believe in LDS doctrine, those with the authority to do so.
It took a really long time for God to proclaim that Black men could be ministers in the LDS Church, but it did follow the Civil Rights movement. That was a rather nice touch. I still have met no Black American Mormons, but I did meet a rather dark Belizean couple in Dangriga in 1980.
I know quite a few, but I grew up in a very large African-American population city so one would expect that.
-
The way I see it, Brittany certainly had her chances - more than most of the rest of us - to straighten her life out, and seemed to constantly make the wrong choices. Thing is, they were her choices to make. That means the consequences of those choices are hers as well. I don't have much interest in her, or what becomes of her. If she had ended up in her current state through no fault of her own, I might take a moment to pity her. As it stands, though, I have more important things to worry about.
-
However, she's in the position she now finds herself in because she's a risk-taker and preferred to live her life to the max. Not all risks taken pan out. Of the six and a half billion people on this earth, many are living lives of tragedy, hopelessness and despair that dwarf the travails of Ms. Spears and her undoubtedly ill-starred offspring. Like the others, Britney will either surmount her problems and survive - - or not.
True, MT, but unlike the other 6.5 Billion her tragedy is taking place in a fishbowl. And more to the point, we are the ones looking in gleefully.
I could nit-pick on a few of the points (your nephew's story is an excellent illustration of "Lie down with dogs and you get up with fleas," and your newspaper editorial, comforting as it must have been to the fucking criminal who torched his rival's cab, must have been infuriating and hurtful to the innocent victim, who was probably facing financial ruin without recourse,)
Actually, the community pitched in and bought a new cab for the victim, and the story I wrote included both sides of the situation. I also indicated that, as the perp had been convicted, the sentence - assuming his guilt - was just. So I doubt that the victim was offended. Mine was, however, the only one that considered Keith's humanity - even though he had, apparently, committed this crime. (He, of course, maintained his innocence.) I was, I confess a bit surprised at Keith's reaction, since I had been objective enough to point out that the crime included elements of potential racism, and that if Keith were guilty he deserved what he got.
As to my nephew, he grew up in an extremely abusive home with several fathers (depending on who my sis-in-law was married to or sleeping with that month) most of whom were abusive (or at least negligent) drug addicts. He and his sibs spent a lot of time in foster homes while mom worked out HER addictions and fought to regain custody. So his life has much in common with Britney's kids. That he turned out to have problems is not surprising. He and his siblings have all struggled for years, but knowing their background it's easier to see the humanity in them rather than the shortcomings. At any rate, the fact that his wife ran off with another man and took his kids (one of whom he eventually lost to murder) is not his fault. He has struggled with the aftermath, alternatively forgiving and then hating the man who did it (who is serving a well-deserved life sentence). My nephew often wonders how this man (who was in spite of the whole "you took my wife" thing a friend of his and whom he considered to be a very decent person) could have snapped and strangled the child. He, too, knowing the man, sees not just the murderous monster but the human being beneath that and wonders why he became the monster. But none of us know Britney - in spite of the fact that most of us could immediately recognize her face. To us she is just a paper doll. So it's easy to enjoy watching her self-destruction and shake our fingers at her. We are people, she is just another spoiled celebrity. Bring on the stones.
-
The way I see it, Brittany certainly had her chances - more than most of the rest of us - to straighten her life out, and seemed to constantly make the wrong choices. Thing is, they were her choices to make. That means the consequences of those choices are hers as well. I don't have much interest in her, or what becomes of her. If she had ended up in her current state through no fault of her own, I might take a moment to pity her. As it stands, though, I have more important things to worry about.
Fair enough, but my point is that there ARE more important things to worry about, and this confused kid has every right to be paranoid. People are making a whole lot of money and getting a whole lot of schadenfreude over her situation. This is pretty much the same argument folks make about AIDS being a result of someone's own actions. Yes, an awful lot of gays and drug users contracted AIDS that could have easily avoided it, but far too many people used that as an excuse to sit in judgment. I always said that it WAS the fault of most people who got AIDS that they had it, but so what. If a man walks out in the street without looking both ways and gets hit by a car, I won't blame the driver. It's the victim's own fault. But I sure as hell wouldn't stand by trying to get the best picture or suggest that he not be given medical care. Darwin Awards nothwithstanding, i think even foolish people who do foolish things ought to be treated as people.
Anyway, thanks for the kind words.
-
I pay less than a whit of attention to Britney Spears. Tragically screwed up, apparently, she fortunately has the means to unscrew herself, if it can be done, and that is enough for me. I worry about the billions of people in this world who have an equally or more arduous path and don't have the means. Not to be misunderstood: if she were to come into my life in some natural, organic manner, I would probably -- depending on whether we hit it off and other circumstances -- offer her a shoulder to cry on and perhaps more. That is my nature, and my philosophy. As it is, however, all things being equal, I can from a detached distance simply (and briefly) hope she can use the assets at her disposal.
-
The place alluded to, wher my Dad helped get a historic site plaque placed was Adam-Ondi-Ahman.
Adam-ondi-Ahman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about a geographical location. For the article about the Latter Day Saint hymn, see Adam-ondi-Ahman (hymn).
Tower Hill at Adam-Ondi-Ahman
Tower Hill at Adam-Ondi-Ahman
Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman (the Grand River valley)
Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman (the Grand River valley)
Adam-ondi-Ahman (sometimes clipped to Diahman) is a historic site along the east bluffs above the Grand River in Daviess County, Missouri. According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), it is the site to where Adam and Eve were banished after being cast out from the Garden of Eden and will be a gathering spot for a meeting of the priesthood leadership, including prophets of all ages and other righteous men, prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
It was the proposed site for a Latter Day Saint temple (which was never built) and a flash point in the Mormon War to evict the Mormons from Missouri.
After the Mormons were evicted, the site was renamed Cravensville and was the site of a skirmish on August 4, 1862, in the American Civil War in which six Confederate soliders were killed with 10 Confederates wounded and five Union soldiers wounded when Union troops attempted to stop Confederate reinforcements in the First Battle of Independence.[1]
Most of the site is now owned by the LDS Church and it remains predominantly farmland.
=============================
If the Holy stones Uram and Thummin were not lenses, at least they were what anyone would call supernatural.
They were pretty well undefined in the OT.
Neither lenses nor stones have ever been scientifically proven to be capable of translating languages.
I suppose you might be able to convince someone who beieved that the OT and NT were the word of God, but I am pretty certain that they aren't.
Biblical silliness that is reincarnated as LDS silliness is still silliness.
Some of the Hebrew children that supposedly were lost and ended up in the Americas were the alleged authors of the Book of Mormon.
Here is what I imagine will happen sometime in the not too distant future: the Lost Tribes became Persians, renounced Jehovah and became Zoroastrians, or whatever Persians were in those days, and their DNA will reveal this.
-
Britney Spears is like several young women in my town, except no one is publicly rejoicing and making money off of their troubles. They are suffering, their children are suffering, their mothers usually are taking care of the grandkids AND working; there are just a lot of very troubled people.
I loved your essay, Pooch.
One awful thing that happened this summer is that a little girl who lived near us for a while, who rode the bus with my older son to school years ago, started to work at a strip club. Then she got into "prostitution." Then she disappeared. A search....and months later, her skeleton was found in a remote area.
(I say little girl...I only remember her as a little girl.) People wrote comments to the newspaper online section about how she was going to hell and they would not waste their prayers. Other people wrote just the opposite, that they were praying for her, her family loved her, etc.
She didn't have much going for her in the way of stable family life.
-
The place alluded to, wher my Dad helped get a historic site plaque placed was Adam-Ondi-Ahman.
Yes, I am familiar with Adam-Ondi-Ahman. We believe it to be near the site of the Garden of Eden. (Long story, but basically the Great Flood is how all the Bible All-Stars got to the other side of the world.) It's pretty cool your Dad helped get the plaque. I would not, however, have referred to it in the way you did as the agreed upon site of Christ's next appearance. The gathering is of priesthood leaders and will occur before the second coming of Christ. That second coming is a temporal event - not a geographical one. Again, I think you misinterpret - and therefore misrepresent - the doctrines and beliefs. That's understandable, because often it is impossible to fully understand a culture without some actual immersion in the culture. It's funny how many lifetime Latter Day Saints think that certain standard Christian doctrines are uniquely LDS or, conversely, do not understand that other Christian fatihs do not share some of ours. Of course, Wikipedia is not the world's most accurate source of information, but at least it gives something to go on. Frankly, I feel the same way about most encyclopedias.
-
Can any of us see not the celebrity but the human life being destroyed?
Poochie....MYGOD..of course, I can't go on without reacting to the first post of the death of a young child..your blood relative-child. Lord, Jesus. May God take her soul. Lord. I am a Catholic, but those of us who LOVE the Lord are in this for the long haul. My god, man....how sad.
Poochie....you are a strong male. You have touched so many lives. I can't type to the other issues, just yet...as I just read this post, and I am almost literally in prayer as I sit with my precious niece, who is 4.
I am babysitting her this weekend, and I can't tell you how much I love children. I am so sad about your loss.
I'll respond later to the issue.
Cynthia
-
I like to point out one goodthing about britney that nobody notice.
through out this whole craziness.
she has never spent a single dime of the money she made .
every expense we hear about is paid from the interest she incured.
she a total mess but somehow unlike all other young celebrities she was able to keep her money.
if only she knew enough to enjoy a quite life.
it one of the pleasures of beiong old.
I did the crazy party(remember me and strippers) life.
but I finally settled.
very few people her age enjoy the slower pace.
I truely enjoy boredom in my vacations,because time slows down and thats a very goodthing.
unfortunately many people my age don`t get it and are cursed with never being happy.
-
How do we come to support or even tolerate the sort of industry that springs up around celebrity's?
Why is there big money to be had by invading the privacy of prominent people?
What do we need it for, and why is it so persistant?
If anything it seems to gradually get worse , where is all the support for this phenomenon coming from?
-
the payout is so huge for this info,that pretty much most folks is willing to do it.
it`s so bad I think there`s a site devoted to just track the whereabouts of celebrities .
privacy is all gone for these folks.
-
Yes, I am familiar with Adam-Ondi-Ahman. We believe it to be near the site of the Garden of Eden.
===================================
I grew up in Northern Missouri. Eden it is not. I suppose for someone like Smith, who was raised in frigid upstate NY, it might have seemed so, but it is not a place where Adam and Eve would have been able to frolic about in their birthday suits. It is way below freezing at least three months of the year, and hotter than the hinges of Hades in the summer.
-
I grew up in Northern Missouri. Eden it is not. I suppose for someone like Smith, who was raised in frigid upstate NY, it might have seemed so, but it is not a place where Adam and Eve would have been able to frolic about in their birthday suits. It is way below freezing at least three months of the year, and hotter than the hinges of Hades in the summer.
Yeah, but Eden was back awhile, and it was also abollished. So we are comparing apples and oranges. I, as it happens, have only been to Missouri once - Primary Leadership Development Course at Fort Leonardwood, MO. From my perspective Missouri is just Misery mispronounced - a lot closer to hell than paradise! :D
-
How do we come to support or even tolerate the sort of industry that springs up around celebrity's?
Why is there big money to be had by invading the privacy of prominent people?
What do we need it for, and why is it so persistant?
If anything it seems to gradually get worse , where is all the support for this phenomenon coming from?
The market, did you even have to ask?
People have an interest and the market fills that need for information. Why people have an interest and whether it is healthy or not is of no concern. Money is exchanged for a service. That is the wonderful system you all love and adore. Why are you questioning it?!?
-
The market, did you even have to ask?
The "market" causes people to have an interest in the private doings of celebrities? You'll have to explain that a bit further...
-
The market, did you even have to ask?
The "market" causes people to have an interest in the private doings of celebrities? You'll have to explain that a bit further...
The market doesn't cause the interest, it fills the niche for the interest by invading their privacy and providing the information. It could care less as to the "why." I explained that in the post as you well know.
Although, that isn't entirely true. With advertising and marketing, which use psychology to a great extent, many products and services are now produced and the interest in them are created to a certain extent, or at least built upon an intitial interest. In other words, "you should be interested in Brittney's life, here's why..." So as I think on it, the answer is really a bit of both.