The ever opinion-raging pop culture

I realize its early and this could be tough for a first post, but I want to take a stab at our current pop culture with a picture that my friend sent me at work this morning.

Ok so I can't seem to get the picture in here but I hope you can visualize it or go to people.com and see for yourself. Britney shaved her head (you can imagine the kind of start my day got when I saw this at 7:30am) after checking into rehab for ONE day. I could say that blah blah she's supposed to be a role model yadda yadda yadda. But what I'm more worried about it the fact that she is scum, yet the media keeps feeding her to us, along with many other wash-up celebrities. Paparazzi create a flip book of young celebs which I have finally passed up in age (which makes me feel older, wiser, and more pulled together) as America widdles them down to nothing with their comments and opinions. I find it fascinating that, somewhere along the way as the US grew up, we turned actors and musicians into our country's equivalent to the Pope, Gandhi, Hitler. We follow their every action, whether it be leggings or botox, and hang on to their guidance of make millions, spend millions, divorce, cheat, look sexy. And the worst part is that I can't sit here and say that glamour and style are dead, because they are very much alive. There are plenty of classy ladies out there. But the bulk of our media-frenzied lives are focused on these superficial beings. The only upturn that I see in Britney's new hair, in the obscene weight-lose of Hollywood teens (see Nicole Richie, MK Olsen, etc.), Anna Nicole's not-so sudden-or-mysterious death is that I believe people are finally seeing the not-so fabulous life that these people lead. They are like us, they mess up. Great. So why are the spotlights still on them and not us? Why are they still held up as being what people want to be? I say we look to the underrated and even non-famous beings that have graced our country if we really want to try for something more than barefoot bathroom trips or drug induced weight lose diets. America Ferrera (whom I cannot say enough about. She is giving my generation a clean slate and a peak at what normal, beautiful women there still are out there), Kate Winslet (Who actually makes being a mom someday seem nice, homely, fun, and puts to shame the myth that actresses are SO overworked and have SUCH a hard job that they have no time for anything but mirror-posing-perfection and sunless tanning. She also shows me that maybe there are some actresses out there that are intelligent and have some worthwhile advice for me.)

My new epiphany, as my jealousy grows for countries that have philosophical leaders with spiritual awareness that they want to share with their community, is that maybe America goes beyond the superstars. There are intelligent people around every corner. Why am I upset that advice Hillary Swank gave to Vogue just isn't good enough for me? Why not see that I can learn from more than just your average pretty face? I mean, they are just like us.