- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
Full disclosure: I agree with everything said in this piece - who couldn't? - but I have to add that sometimes I wonder at this self-flagellation we feel we need to engage in everytime a celebrity scandal consumes more than a weekend of our collective mental month. We're like media bulemics, swinging between the all-you-can-eat tabloid buffet and the porcelain alter of self-loathing for our pathetic habits and the sorry culture that spawns them. Well, I'm done. I'm ready to admit that the fascination with O.J. and Paris is as human as twiddling opposable thumbs. The rise-and-fall arcs of these modern-day Greek heroes and Goddesses is the meat and potatoes that fuels our collective imagination and identity, and we need them as much as we need to once in a while get down to the business of electing leaders and curing diseases. So enough with the preaching and guilt; go on watching TMZ - just try doing so with a copy of Crime and Punishment in your lap.
