Jersey Bullshit

I am physically repelled by Jersey Shore. I have never actually seen it, but I see those people all over the Internet. I have watched their clip from The Today Show, and I am not impressed. I read the article about them in People mag (my fave), and I am still not impressed. But what does "impressed" actually mean? To make an impression? If that's it, then, yeah, I guess I am impressed. Shit.

It's not the people on the show or what they say or do - its their pictures. I cannot resist pictures of any or all of these people. I have this thing I do when I look at slide shows of famous people (because I like to do that kind of thing - its usually so comfortingly inconsequential). I will contemplate the photos of famous people I like and/or respect. My favorites usually involve snaps of men with their children, particularly daughters (gee, analyze THAT).

For example, I didn't necessarily like Hugh Jackman until I started seeing pics of him with his daughter - they always look so happy! Now I am a big softie for Hugh. I have always liked Jason Bateman, and now I do even more whenever I see pics of him with his daughter - you can tell they belong to each other, and that they are so comfortable with that they probably don't even realize it.

I will NOT contemplate the photos of people I don't recognize or that I don't respect. I will roll my eyes and say "Next!" (not out loud, just in my head) and not give them the time of day. I like to think that lack of acknowledgement is my own way of contributing to our society's vast need of improvement via ignoring stupid people instead of following them around with cameras.

Here is the conundrum: When I get to a pic of a Jersey Shore person (fine, I admit, I know some of their names: The Situation, Pooky?, JWOWW? I can't think about it anymore - my head hurts right between my eyes and I'm feeling a bit nauseous) I flip right past it AND THEN GO BACK TO LOOK AT IT! I mean, what the fuck? Not only am I acknowledging them, I am compulsively drawn to stare at them for seconds on end as though they are some kind of freak show. I suppose that may be because they are some kind of freak show.

In addition to involuntarily acknowledging them, I am now writing a BLOG POST, and only my second one at that, about them! Do you see my conundrum? I do, and since I am the only person reading this, that's all that really matters. I thought I might give more examples of people I don't acknowledge, but that of course would mean acknowledging them, and I really don't want to tarnish my reputation of intellectual snobbery any further than this Jersey thing, so I'm just going to stop now.