What Does It Matter To You?

"I think any woman who's questioned about her interest in celebrity should turn and ask her husband, 'Why do you want to watch the Yankees-Red Sox baseball game? What does it matter to you? It is man chasing a ball around a field. It is of zero consequence to you,'" she said. "And that's sort of the same as wondering, you know, if Jessica Simpson is dating Tony Romo." Janice Min, Editor-in-Chief, Us Weekly magazine


"IS Z OR ISN'T Z?"; "THE ROCKET'S LOVER SPEAKS OUT"; "CLEMENS' SECRET AFFAIR" are just three headlines gracing the front of the DAILY NEWS over the past few weeks. The first being the caption under a picture of rapper/businessman Jay Z. The caption read, "The story was that Jay-Z and Beyonce tied the knot this weekend. So where's the ring? Not on his finger in midtown yesterday. (Jay-Z's ring finger on his left hand was actually in an inset circular enlarged photograph). The other two trailblazing news headlines speaks for themselves. The question is, why do we care? Who gives a hoot if Jay-Z and Beyonce were really married or not other than them?


Editor Min's response above is about the closest thing I've come across to a somewhat logical answer, and then again, I might ask the same question she asked concerning why are we so fascinated by watching grown men chasing balls around on a field? I once had a professor that made the statement (I'm paraphrasing) that only a crazy person would sit and watch a baseball game or any game for that matter. At the time I thought he was the crazy one and said to him, how dare you make such a statement and asked him what did he mean? He went on to explain that he had nothing against the sports or games, however it made more sense to him for people to actually go out and play the games (and get some exercise)as opposed to just sitting around mindlessly watching someone else play (not to mention the salaries the players are making to be watched, that's an entirely different CRITICAL THINKER edition.) I now understand what my professor was talking about and Ms. Min's comments above brought his comments back to me. My father being the practical man that he was (yes, a critical thinker too) would always say if they stopped playing baseball tomorrow, would it make a difference to the world? Probably not. Something to think about.


ABC NIGHTLINE did a segment on our fascination with celebrities http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=4884806&page=1 where Ms. Min was interviewed concerning the popularity of US Weekly magazine and our having to know what is going on in the lives of "celebrities." Even after watching the well done piece, I am still left questioning, WHY DO WE CARE? Are our lives that horrible that we have to live vicariously through someone else or is it misery loves company and we are happy that horrible things are happening to the rich and famous? Do we have nothing else to do other than to watch stupid reality television shows (mindless activity again....hey it's my blog) and fawn over who is doing who or who left who or who is back with who? Must we know who wore what color underwear (or if they were wearing underwear) to what awards show. My God, how long was Jennifer Aniston on every cover of every magazine because of her divorce from Brad Pitt?


If you really look at this critically, one must come to the conclusion that the amount of energy wasted on what someone else (who we don't even know personally) is or is not doing just does not make sense. I must say that I agree with Ms. Min when she tells the women to ask their husbands, "what does it matter to you," and that's my point exactly. What Does It Matter?


Critically yours,