The issues of celebrity

Arrggh...

Where to start from this video...Kimmel's unwillingness to let his guest speak...the dopey ignorance of his guest - unwilling to understand the seriousness of the issue...the stupidity of a website/company in sending this ditzy girl to defend their business...the continuing deterioration of private space...Kimmel's far-too-personal take on the story..."...citizen journalism, people don't read it with the expectation that every word of it will be gospel. Everyone who reads it knows that it isn't checked at all."...the fact that Kimmel seems to be filling in for Larry King, which mystifies me...the hugely blank, dopey face and chuckles from the girl at the end...

Or, the real kernel...

"Honestly, I think there is a shifting definition of what is public and what is private space for everyone, not just for celebrities. The internet, blogs, MySpace...no one has the reasonable expectation of being able to walk down the street and not have what they're doing be noticed by someone anymore."

"Well, that's just the terrible thing, though, isn't it?"

"Is it really? I mean, I think it's great that we're not putting people up on a pedestal and worshiping them anymore."

Ok, folks, there's the real rub.

We no longer have private space unless we are locked up in our house with the windows drawn and the firewall turned up to the max. The moment we step onto the front porch or into the back yard, the moment we take out our trash, the moment we lean toward the windows, the moment we log onto the internet and send our email into the magical ether, we are giving up that privacy.

And I hate that fact.

I hate overhearing the conversation of the jerk at the check out in front of me at Wal-Mart because he won't put down his cell phone while he's paying.

I hate seeing the bluetooth ear phones in people's ears while they wander the stores and schools where I have to be.

I hate that the line between what is public and what is private has faded into near oblivion with the advent of cell phones, digital cameras, telephoto lenses, wireless technology, and every other technological development that is supposed to be making our lives easier.

Yes, I answer my work email at school and while I'm out of town.

Yes, I pruriently look at two celebrity stalker blog websites regularly.

And lord knows that I post my daily thoughts onto a blog for everyone to see.

I am not without sin in this miasma that I decry, yet I find it more and more necessary to throw stones at this glass house.

Let me make a small first step, and I then I will a few other small steps that you can pick from to take that small step along with me.

I pledge from here on out to delete the links to the celebrity stalker blogs that I check with some regularity; to not refind those sites; to not buy (not that I ever really did) any magazines such as Us Weekly or People - magazines that depend entirely upon telling us the intimate and private details of celebrities.

Now, what can you do to take small steps away from the abyss?

• Promise to end all cell phone conversation before you approach a restaurant counter, a store check out, or a drive-thru window.
• Promise to leave the cell phone in your car when you go into any business.
• Take the bluetooth earphone out of your ear when you aren't using it.
• Stop talking into the air because you've got a cell phone earpiece in unless you are alone at home or in an office.
• Don't talk about the private lives of any of the following people: Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie, Jake Gyllenhall, Heath Ledger, or anyone who you have not personally met or spoken to.
• Don't watcht E! News, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Extra, or Showbiz Tonight.
• Don't post videos on YouTube or any other site unless you know the person in the video personally, have gotten their permission to post the video, and know that in ten years they'll be happy to have put that image of themselves out there.

Please, help me to stop the madness...