Seasons Greetings, dear readers! Apologies for the long overdue post, as things have been rather loco here at Casa Scarlett, business (and busy-ness) wise. But I’m sure you’ve had plenty of other eyebrow-raising reading material with which to indulge yourself. What’s that? Not keeping up on the latest sordid scandals? Let me sum up for you. In the last week or so, Alec Baldwin turned into a whiny attention whore; Adam Lambert proved to be an actual whore; and Tiger Woods went from being known as a master golfer to a raging swinger, when (following a truly bizarre car accident), five – count em, FIVE! – different women came forward with claims of having had affairs with the married father of two.
Two out of three women agree: Tiger Woods is a cheatin’ whore.
Interestingly enough, I happened to read a magazine article the other day about the phenomenon of “schadenfreude” – which is a German word occasionally used in English that roughly translates to “harm joy” – or more specifically, deriving pleasure from the harm that befalls others. And it’s a perfect way to describe the general public’s rabid interest in anything having to do with sex or scandal (or preferably, a combination of the two) when it involves someone of celebrity status. Think about it: men cheat on their wives every day – it’s nothing new, and it’s not a practice that will die out anytime soon. But somehow it becomes hypnotically mesmerizing when the person involved has a certain level of notoriety. Now I’ll admit, Tiger’s case is particularly compelling when you factor in the odd way it all began, and the sheer number of women making claims. But even then, it’s nothing truly earth-shattering – and yet, the story has been dominating all news outlets for well over a week. Although I do have to thank the man for giving us a grateful reprieve from non-stop gossip about the New Moon cast. Huzzah for small miracles!
Still, I think the bulk of the public’s fascination could certainly be chalked up to a case of schadenfreude, and it’s easy to understand why. The Average Joe will never know the fame, success, or wealth of someone like Tiger Woods, and there’s a bit of a perverse thrill in seeing someone so seemingly perfect and untouchable take a tumble. But how did we let ourselves become so obsessed with the foibles of celebrities? Don’t we have our own lives and families and careers to worry about?
Now please don’t mistake this as me rockin’ some kind of “holier than thou” attitude; after all, I’ve been subscribing to Entertainment Weekly for years, and while they’re pretty good about not going over the top with scandal speculation, they are a pop culture “news” outlet, first and foremost. I just don’t see how these stories warrant endless news coverage. It’s one thing to be informed, but another thing to be inundated, amirite? If anything, I blame people like Perez Hilton who makes a living off exploiting the famous (and infamous) in his Blog o’ Shame. I do appreciate how celebrities are made accountable for their wrong-doings via public scrutiny, though. When you have people like Lindsay Lohan getting away with DUIs and drug possession charges with barely a slap on the wrist from those who are supposed to be judging her crimes fairly, it’s good to see that the public isn’t so forgiving. Still, I’m sure that Tiger will bounce back over time. Famous men have traditionally suffered much less backlash in the wake of infidelity than women (see: former US President, Bill Clinton). Although I hope that his wife takes him to court for every penny that he’s worth. I’m sure she’s not an unerring saint, but girlfriend deserves some major coin for this mess!
Aww, fuck. Now I’ve gone and dedicated an entire blog post to this junk – I’m truly no better than the rest. Quick, someone recommend a good game or movie to review! When does Avatar come out again?
Damn you, pop culture holiday slump! 
