I’m guilty. I’ll admit it. And chances are, you share a little of the blame too.
I’m a Kardashian fan. Well, former fan.
Until the other day, I was an avid (and I mean avid) Kardashian fan. I’ve seen nearly every episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, followed all of them on Instagram, read all the entertainment news articles that included them… if something was posted about a Kardashian/Jenner, I knew about it.
So, the other week when Kim Kardashian posted an embarrassing yet humorous ‘music video’ of the Kardashian/Jenner crew for Kris Jenner’s 60th birthday, of course I saw it. The next day, I had a ten-minute or so conversation with someone on the video, all the while noting how dumb it was but continuing to talk about the video and other Kardashian news. I was even asked “so do you religiously follow them?”, to which I said yes.Immediately after the conversation, I felt embarrassed, and with good reason.
The Kardashians are not important. The Kardashians are not news. The Kardashians are not worth the time and energy to discuss and follow. I’m not the only one who’s made this revelation. Over the summer, Perez Hilton did a ‘Kardashian Kleanse’, excluding the family from his news site because of the usual Kardashian overkill in the media. A few months ago, a news reporter stormed off the air, refusing to talk about the Kardashians. There’s been a handful of new apps created that filter out Kardashian news, like #KardBlock, choosing to exclude the stars.
People are getting more and more vocal about being fed up with Kardashians, but yet the celebs continue to reign social media timelines and pop culture headlines. What’s more
irritating is that the family’s news often trumps ‘real’ news – local, state, national and international politics, economics, relationships, and events. Some people can talk about what
Kendall Jenner wore, Kylie Jenner’s lips, mock Kim Kardashian’s pregnancy looks, but they can’t discuss news that doesn’t involve the family.
Why?
Kardashian news is easy to read, there’s no real issues of concern. I mean, what’s easier to read, a compilation of Kylie and Tyga pictures, or an explanation of why ISIS killed over 100 people in Paris?
Ignore the Kardashian headlines, and there’s a lot of important stuff in the news worth talking about: racial tensions are escalating at Mizzou, political debates continue in the race for American presidency, extremist groups continue to kill hundreds every day, tensions in the Middle East – particularly between Palestine and Israel – are at an all time high, the Boston homeless population now faces winter temperatures and lack of shelter space, and loads more.
A friend of mine on Facebook recently shared a photo that said ‘stop making stupid people famous’, and I have to agree. Eleanor Roosevelt said it best: “great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.”
When we can prioritize and discuss REAL news and events in the world, maybe the ‘Kardashian Obsession’ can be tolerated. But, for now, it’s unacceptable and unjustified.