I was just thinking about this Jerry Springer world we live in. Maybe Jerry had it right when at the end of each episode he gave his Final Thought on the madness of human nature. Jerry certainly made plenty of money on other people's madness, so I guess his Final Thought was his chance to try to explain away bad behavior.
Case in point: Solange, Beyonce and Jay-Z in the elevator. If you haven't seen it the video, leaked to TMZ, you can find it here. Personally I feel that this was a horrifying breach of privacy on every front. In the name of proper journalism, I share the link, but I don't really endorse it. Like Kelly Ripa said this morning, "Good Lord, that is our house every Thanksgiving." Yes. Almost all of us can admit to one or several moments of craziness like the elevator incident and it lucky for us that we don't have to have it play out in the national media.
Families fight. It's a fact and now we know that celebrity families fight. Celebrities are just like us, except they can be assured that their privacy is not guaranteed and that would seem to be a double edged sword. What about the insane fall out from the Donald Sterling debacle? While it's true that the man is more certain than not a racist, the taped conversation (coincidentally leaked to TMZ also) while unbelievable- is almost unfair because he was supposedly taped without his knowledge. On the contrary, the comments he made to Anderson Cooper of CNN in response to the public outcry tell us quite a bit about Mr. Sterling the person, and that day he had full knowledge that he was being taped. The Cooper incident confirms his small mindedness and unapologetic manner, but his ignorance does not make it OK to lure someone into a potentially damaging situation for personal gain.
Yet the fallout leaves us fascinated. We wonder why Solange went all "Jean-Claude Van Damme" on Jay-Z and it's precisely that which sells magazines, gets us web site hits and keeps us coming back for more. Fair or not, the tapes are out there and they are real and nothing can change that. Why should we even have privacy laws when they can do nothing to protect someone from the likes of a TMZ.com? The fact that TMZ will pay handsomely for video, audio or any other incredible display of bad behavior puts all of us in jeopardy. Even everyday people who have no celebrity can fall victim to the world seeing them, warts and all, on an "America's Funniest Home Videos", YouTube or Vine. The possibility of going viral today is all too real.
It's truly a mad mad world....and try as I might I can't explain it away. I guess it's just my Final Though on that subject.
