In the check out line of the grocery store today, it was proven to me, yet again, why I cannot stand the reliance on and symbolism of the "celebrity". As I glanced at and was rolling my eyes at the cover of the latest Enquirer (or whatever the fuck those magazine's titles are these days,) the woman in front of me decided I was interested in hearing how sickened and grossly outraged she was about this whole Tiger Woods 'scandal'.

"It's disgusting," she said, sneering over at Tiger's face printed on the cover.

I stared at her for a moment, taking a deep breath before replying very simply, "Why is it any of your fucking business?" I then mimicked the twisted sneer she had aimed at the magazine back at her and continued to stare evenly at her, awaiting a sensible answer. Her mouth moved for a few seconds without sound before she huffed and turned away. I had to chuckle then, but really, is this what our world is coming to? Relying so much on the business of other people's lives to live our own and for what, so we can have something to gossip about, something to compare to?

Beyond that, these people, these "celebrities" may be in the public eye, but they are people too. They are humans who bleed the same fucking color blood you and I do! It's wrong, on so many levels, how there is a need to be INSIDE public figures' heads. You do NOT know them personally, you are NOT in their circle of friends or family...who the fuck do you think you are judging them? Is it not possible to just enjoy what these people do and not care about what they're doing in their lives; where they go, who they date or sleep with, what their favorite color is ect? I completely understand idolization, don't get me wrong. It's one thing to love and respect a person for their contribution of talent to their craft, it's even okay to find a particular public figure attractive, but to pry and poke and prod for trivial information, to judge and criticize is at an all time disgusting peak of occurrence right now. It boggles my mind.

Take my idols for example...I absolutely adore A.F.I. To me, they are the most talented and dedicated musicians of this day and age. They play amazing music and their live shows are to die for, honestly the best I've ever seen (and I've seen the likes of The Styx and Bad Company live.) Do I know a lot about them? Yes. Do I know more than I probably should? Yes. Do I really fucking care? No. Yes, it's wonderful that they're vegan & vegetarian...hey, cool, so am I, but does it really hold any relevance to the music they create? Not a chance.

Even more so, and this just randomly popped into my head and I feel the need to say it, look at someone like Lady Gaga. That poor girl is ridiculed and judged by the fashion she chooses to showcase and the 'out there' style she has. She is called a freak and looked down on, hated even. Have you ever heard her SING? Go take a little trip here. If you can still, honestly, hate the woman after hearing that amount of exquisite vocal talent, you truly have no respect for what music is really supposed to be about.

All in all, my point is that we as human beings cherish our privacy and rarely do we let people see the side of us that is true, so why do we feel that these public figures are an exception to that? More than any scandal, mental breakdown, or fashion choice of a particular celebrity, this is what really sickens and angers me.

/rant