COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, September 13, 2010

Kate Moss and the Jackals



Hat Tip: Trish

Andrew Sullivan

This is a kind of human assassination, a video I just watched that reveals to me, at least, that fame is a cancer not just on our multi-media society but on the human beings who are caught in its cross-fire. This is really what killed Diana, Princess of Whales. It's really what killed Michael Jackson. Yes, these people choose it in a way. But it should be possible to be a princess or a model or a singer and not be treated this way. And yet nothing can stop it.

I don't know the answer; but I do know the response. In the tiniest way, I have experienced a smidgen of this through the medium of television. It's like acid on the soul. Being off the box for three months or so makes part of me want to be off it for ever.


10 comments:

  1. Talk about the declining utility of fame and fortune; this is living hell.

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  2. Shows you where I'm at--who is Kate Moss?

    now back to bed

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  3. "[It] seems like the metaphysical equivalent of what stargazers call averted vision. If you are trying to observe a dim object in the night sky, it is better to look a little to one side of it rather than straight on, because the rod cells toward the periphery of the retina gather more light in those conditions than the cone cells at the center. The trade-off is that you won't see color or fine detail, but at least you will know that something is there."








    Averted vision.

    I remember that from somewhere.

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  4. The paparazzi are slugs and scavengers.

    In the clip, you can hear them saying that they are only "doing their job".

    Scum.

    Hard to manage any sympathy for Bernie Maddof, but I still recall that video of him coming out of the courthouse and moving down the street toward the paparazzi. At one point, one of the paparazzi actually pushed him back a couple feet so that he can get a better shot.

    Maddof is an old man and can't do much about it. The guy should have been arrested and charged with assault.

    Florida and Michigan have laws allowing you to shoot someone that you reasonably think are a danger to your life.

    A couple of these ladies popping a cap in a couple paparazzi would do wonders for guaranteeing some personal space.

    .

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  5. Please tell me there's a prize in this.

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  6. You're walking through my life.

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  7. I had a dream last night that you thought I was the hacker in your computer. I wake up to see this.

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  8. Perhaps a personal reading from Quirk would explain all.

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  9. That's okay, I'll do my own readings.

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