Nicole Richie Can Go Away

It isn't fair to single out Nicole Richie for this kind of comment. To be perfectly honest, any number of people who have grown to become part of our cultural social consciousness could head up this article. The truth is Nicole Richie could be a very good person. She may have impeccable manners and be a vigorous supporter of worthy causes. If she is, I don't know about it.

I don't know about a lot of things about Nicole Richie because I am guessing there isn't much to tell. Her father is incredibly talented. He is one of the better recording artists of past generations and he was a true entertainer. He had talent.

Nicole Richie doesn't have any real talent. She appeared on reality television for a short while. I would say she appeared on TV only because of who her father happened to be. It became interesting and I would dare say it still is interesting for many people to see "things" about other people who happened to be related to famous people. It is an opportunity for them to become celebrities for no other reason other than the fact that they are related to a famous person.

To this day I still don't understand how Nicole Richie makes news. She is followed around by paparazzi and photographed doing the most mundane things. When that happens to somebody like Alicia Keys it is much easier to understand. Alicia Keys is an attractive woman who happens to be incredibly talented. Alicia Keys plays instruments, writes and performs her own music. That is amazing and documenting the life of an incredibly amazing and talented individual like Keys is understandable given the elevated status of celebrity in our culture.

So why the attention for Richie? I think I figured it out. She can't sing, she can't dance, she can't act, she can't do anything that would be considered contemporary entertainment. However, she can sell magazines. She sells magazines for no other reason than the fact that she appears in magazines. How do you like that! There are people all around the world practicing an instrument daily, taking classes, honing skills to one day hopefully become a great performer. Some of those people are remarkably gifted and have the opportunity to become great in the arts. However, we will never hear about most of them because people like Nicole Richie sell magazines. That my friends, is sad.

Think about it. The next time you see a picture or hear a news blip about Nicole Richie or some other pseudo-celebrity, ask yourself if you could do that. Then ask yourself if any number of people you know could do that. If the answer is yes, don't pay attention to the story. Change the channel, turn off the volume or just leave the room. If you see a magazine featuring stories about these people doing things that you do every day or that people you know do every day, don't buy that magazine. You see, these people are famous for no other reason than the fact that everyday people like us buy garbage magazines with stories about them. The paparazzi business of rag mags has become an entertainment forum onto itself.

Haven't you noticed that less and less stories are printed in these garbage publications about talented people? That happens because talented people have careers of showcasing their talent. They don't need stories about their trip to the grocery store to maintain their careers. When that starts to happen, you should know what is going on.

So now you know how to make a contribution to the arts. Support talented people. Stay away from the garbage because if you stop demonstrating a demand to see these people whom you could easily replace, the sooner they will go away and the sooner we could be reading cool things about you.