The Reality of Reality

When I heard that Kim Kardashian and her husband (of 72 days) had split yesterday, I had just responded to a friend's post on Facebook about the Kardashian family. I don't normally like to write about celebrities very much, contrary to popular belief pop culture doesn't just mean celebrity gossip. If I do write about people (look for a post soon about Mindy Kaling!) it's because they've earned our attention, not because they've made a sex tape and fought with their sisters on basic cable.

I've managed to for the most part miss a lot of Kardashian-centric information, but unless you're living under a rock it's impossible not to know more than you need to about them. And damn it, I resent that! I don't want to know anything about them, and spend even one second wondering what the hell Bruce Jenner did to his face, because you know, at one point he was kind of good looking and remember the '76 Olympics???? Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!! See? They are like the ear worms of media. They get in your brain and you can't get them out!

I don't watch their reality show on E! or any of its spinoffs, I did not watch the wedding, but somehow, like the Mafia, it dragged me into its poofy, bedazzled, overblown extravaganza of an event. These people were everywhere talking about the beauty, sanctity and sacredness of this day. You could not miss it unless you were on Necker Island with Richard Branson - post-fire.

What I resent is the presentation of this marriage as if it was something real. It's not. It never was. It's as real as "The Bachelor" or "The Real Housewives of...Wherever." These people made millions of dollars duping the public into buying into their franchise.

More than anything I resent that while people will whine and complain and talk about this sham of a marriage, there is a segment of the population that will still believe this is just crazy celebrities being crazy. They will never connect how wrong it is that these clueless money-seeking celebutarts have the right to get married, but for the most part, save a few states, same-sex couples who truly love one another cannot.

Anti-gay marriage folks will say that if we allow gay couples to marry it will ruin the sanctity of marriage. That is far from true. What's causing that is as close to them as the cover of the National Enquirer.