Good Riddance

Rebecca Traister has an article in Salon about the possible decline of the celebrity gossip media. Speaking as a person who occasionally samples such fare for the same reason I take a sip of my wife's Diet Pepsi - to remind myself why I don't like it - I hope she's right. In addition to the factors she cites, another aspect of it annoys me; the attitude and behavior of the involved media. Watch the TMZ television show for 10 minutes (keep a bucket nearby) and you'll almost feel sorry for the celebrities they "cover". They don't just take pictures/video. They ask incredibly personal questions, they shout and harass. They don't seem to have any regard to the celebrity; the attitude seems to be that being a good actor/singer/etc somehow forfeits all rights to humane treatment. I can understand why California,with it's celebrity Governor, passed special laws regarding them.