Celebrity-Craven-Culture

“All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.”

― Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez, Gabriel García Márquez: a Life

If only.

There was a time not so very long ago when Garcia Marquez’s quote was true, of course.

But that was back when news was news and the only scandal was Elvis shaking his hips on the Ed Sullivan Show.

But that was back when the notion of someone watching us 24-7 was purely the imagination of fiction writers like George Orwell: “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself–anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide.” 

That was back before Princess Diana was pursued like a rabbit on the run. Back when editors had a common sense of decency and respect for the privacy lives of others.

But the telescreen changed all that.

As did the Internet.

As did the proliferation of a celebrity-craven-culture hooked on porn.

Kate Middleton is older, wiser than Diane Spencer was when she married into the Royal family.

Kate certainly had a clearer idea of what she was getting herself into.

Or she certainly should have.

You don’t have to be the Duchess of Cambridge to know that there is no such thing as a private life anymore. Anything you do can and mostly likely will be photographed, videotaped and circulated widely, without your permission. It has become fashionable for the Name-branded to make a sex tape and feign dismay when it goes viral. Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian have built empires of their own that way.

But those of us who remember the day Diane died can’t help but wince when we hear that some sleaze-ball of a photographer has violated the private lives of Prince Will and Princess Kate.

Editors who are buying and showcasing the photos of a topless Kate are justifying the publication of the photos by saying that the photos show a newly married couple in love. That the photos are beautiful. That there is nothing to be ashamed of.

And I quote: Laurence Pieau, the editor of Closer, insisted she had no regrets about the pictures.

“These photos are not in the least shocking. They show a young woman sunbathing topless, like the millions of women you see on beaches,” she said.

HELLO.

There is a reason one’s romantic relationships are called intimate.

What goes on between a couple is not supposed to be for public consumption.

It is not news.

This justification to spy and exploit is simply a soul gone mad.

Such a person is given over to greed and selfish ambition.

Such a person has little regard for human decency and human dignity, much less privacy.

They are the most heartless of individuals.

Prince Will and Princess Kate are said to be saddened and enraged by this intrusion.

Shouldn’t we all be?

After all, you don’t have to be a member of the Royal Family to be under the long-scope these days. Most everything thing we do is captured on film by someone, somewhere.

As it turns out, Big Brother and the low-lives are watching us, continually.