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This just in: Robert Patterson scratched his nose at LAX! Jennifer Anniston bought a bottle of generic shampoo!!

Sounds ridiculous does it not? It seems like recently, we have been bombarded with useless and pointless celebrity news that ultimately does not affect any of us in our personal lives. Yet every time we turn on the news or the entertainment shows, we see stories like this. There have been so many stories about the sad love lives of Kristen Stewart and Robert Patterson, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. These stars cannot even go to the store without the media making a big deal of that. It seems like these stories have gone too far. It is crazy how far we have gotten from celebrating talent and achievements. We now live in an age where we celebrate gossip, negative behavior, and indulgences. This now translates into our personal lives. We do a lot of gossiping and celebrating negative energy and negative thoughts.

I am sure when Kristen Stewart got into the entertainment industry she wanted her talents and her gifts to be the focus. Now she will be known as the girl who slept with her married boss. Was she wrong, yes but is the only person to make this mistake? The crazy thing to me is that we actually see on news shows panelist discussing this like it a recession or some type of national tragedy. It would be one thing to see the headlines like the ones you see labeled on top on just the tabloids, but now they are being scattered on national news media outlets and our local news.

I remember once when shows that had the words “Entertainment” in them were actually about entertainment: talking about movie premiers, a album’s release, and getting inside of the creative energy of our artists and getting their stories. Now we are subjected to such ridiculous stories as “What was Brad Pitt doing at the .99 Cent Only Store?” WHO CARES? Why is this entertainment? I think we need to stop calling these shows entertainment. At least TMZ is honest in their approach. Their purpose is just about getting dirt. I just think it is ridiculous how far this has gone. Not only do we focus on such salacious scandalous headlines, but also again we celebrate reality stars that are not famous for anything but being ignorant and raunchy. What message is that sending to the artist and legends that had to work so hard to get where they needed to be?

I think we are sending the wrong message to our young artist who wants to crack into the entertainment industry. It is all about whom you are dating, what drug you are using, and whatever other negative behavior is being celebrated. Why don’t we flip the script and stop talking about those headlines especially for those who are doing these negative things just to keep themselves in the media? Quit feeding into it. It is much like mass shooters and criminal minds who commit criminal acts to gain notoriety; a lot of these new celebrities are doing the same thing. A lot of these reality stars such as Spencer Montag and Snooki love the attention they get. They want their fifteen minutes. Why do we continue to honor that?

Let look at celebrities such as Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Robert Dinero, and Clint Eastwood. While yes, every now and then their personal lives are discussed, a majority of their media focus has been on their professional lives not their personal lives. I applaud Robert Dinero for being able to maintain somewhat of a private life and refusing to talk about it. You cannot have it both ways, you cannot appear on a reality show with your spouse then when the marriage tanks, you go “That is private!” So on some level, some of these celebrities who are constantly in the public outlet have themselves to blame for the media scrutiny because there are some celebrities like Robert Dinero and Jack Nickelson who keep their private lives private while maintaining superstardom.

I really think that is time to go back to that golden age where we focus on the art. As I continue to make a name for myself in the writing world, I do want the focus to be my writing but I want to maintain privacy. If a personal story can inspire someone than I will share it, but you have to leave some level of privacy for yourself. With all that is going on this world, we need to focus on the issues that affect us all, not the romantic trials and tribulations of our celebrities. Let’s get back in focus.