COMMENTARY| When I first heard of Kim Kardashian, I honestly thought she was somebody.
Now I know that Kim, her ex-husband, whatever his name is, and her sister, what’s-her-name Kardashian, are like the Baby-on-Board signs you see on the backs of old Volvos. I used to think those yellow placards were signs required by law to make children in cars safer. As it turns out, the safety signs, like the Kardashians, are just made up.
Explain to me again why we are supposed to care about Kim Kardashian? Oh. Right. Right. Her dad was a lawyer and she was on a reality show, once. I don’t even know which show, and everybody I’ve asked doesn’t know either. Andy Rooney might phrase it, “I don’t think Kim Kardashian has actually done anything anybody really cares about.”
Gaining stardom from a reality show or from your father being an attorney is tantamount to achieving success or notoriety through watching some TV or maybe even erasing the board for your teacher, one time in 5th grade.
I used to think that KK was an actor of some note, like Lindsey Lohan who was great at one point and who had real potential. However, most stargazers follow Ms. Lohan’s ups and downs because they want to see her get back up again and act. (Secretly, I hope LL pulls a Martha Stewart, does her time, comes clean, and goes back into the studio. Think John Travolta and Pulp Fiction.)
Who are we talking about, again?
Oh yeah. K.K. Kim Kardashian. You can’t make a comeback if you’ve never had a go-out in the first place. This Kardashian infatuation is a form of social voyeurism, letting us peer into a window of our own cultural malaise. We all seem to have lost our edge, not just Americans, but the whole world. Greeks and Chinese, too. Kim Kardashian is a great example of exalting someone for having done nothing. It’s the lotto life. Ask kids what they want to be when they grow up, and they say, “Rich.”
This Kardashian-esque filter is just about me and my iPhone and my iCloud and my perspective. Instead of working toward something to improve our current station in life, we seem to be rubbernecking for the most inane subjects, as if to numb ourselves until things get better on their own.
Unfortunately, Kim Kardashian is still Velcro-ed to our collective rear window. She is yet another bumper sticker of faux identity here in Slogan-land. If it doesn’t have a tag line then it might not be worth looking at. Right?
I wonder what Kim Kardashian’s tagline would be?
Whatever.