33 Comments so far

1. gerimay February 27th, 2007 4:32 pm

   How dare Common Dreams print this garbage.

   I never watch Idol, always switch the channel when celebrity garbage is on. I don’t have a clue who all these so-called idols and celebrities are, and i don’t care about any of them.

   I thought Common Dreams catered to us political junkies, not whoever this is directed at, the dumbed down american public.

2. Poet February 27th, 2007 5:46 pm

   AsI read Joyce Maf el’s article, i was reminded of an Iranian woman being interviewed about the difference before and after the Islamic revolution. The interviewer was particularly intersted in her comparison to getting to wear pumps and pantyhose as comapred to a viel and Burka.

   The lady replied,(much to the interviewers surprise) that both outfits project an image of women as having no existence except between their shoulders and ankels–western clothes flaunt their sexuality and Muslim dress tends to shame and hide it. Both are obsessed over sex and as a result they devalue both the minds and hearts of the women they either flaunt or shame.

   Just because you or I don’t get caught up in the phoney celeb news culture does not mean that we and our loved onwes are not effected by it.

3. John Freeman February 27th, 2007 8:02 pm

   So, what part of the ‘Dumbed Down American Public’ are you not a part of?

   I kinda figure anyone who is still ‘changing the channels’ has got to be part of the problem. Turn the thing off, watch a movie from Netflix or something. To me, television is the conduit that Corporate America uses to rot our brains. Seems to be working, too!

   John Freeman

   Anything less than the whole truth, is just a lie.

4. gerimay February 27th, 2007 8:41 pm

   Oh John Freeman, I agree 1000% with your whole comment.

   That’s why I come here to Common Dreams. TV is such a waste, full of celebrity and garbage ‘news’. Never heard of netflex, sorry.

   Thank goodness we have alternative news, here on the internet. Please don’t think I disagree with you at all. I agree, believe me.

5. iwarrior February 27th, 2007 10:12 pm

   Our world, on every level, is full of hookers and johns.

6. octotroph February 27th, 2007 11:22 pm

   This article belongs …..somewhere? But not on Commondreams. I hope I don’t see anymore like it on my favorite website.

7. ballerina February 28th, 2007 4:20 am

   While reading the article, I was wondering why it is even on this website. However, if you go on and read the one about “24″ later, you might start reflecting on how the media looks at their audiences. Talk about dumbing down, but what about warping? Isn’t it all of a piece?

8. The Extra OddNari February 28th, 2007 4:42 am

   Great article. Thought-provoking, disturbing and saddening. I thought it very pertinent, not just to America, but to many other countries, particularly developing ones like mine.

   To most post-ers here: This is reality, folks. This is the way the world is moving, whether we like it or not. Turning off our tellys and ensconcing ourselves in front of commondreams’s webpage (something which I am guilty of, too) is not going to make it go away. It’s just demonstrating that we’re turning shut eyes (if not blind ones) to current trends.

9. rob.price February 28th, 2007 7:11 am

   I comprehend the author’s irritation with materialism, and greed, and all the other things I suppose one might think of when the author evokes connections with the new testament and Jesus. Greed, sloth, envy, and on and on.

   I don’t know if using the show Idol, and entertainment magazines, and the celebrity status of the deceased represents anything more than the US demographic that participates in this form of entertainment. I don’t see this is as sign of a changing society -or worse, sign of the end times! (joking)

   Just because 11%-13% of the people who watched Smith’s story also watched with the same intensity as the presidential elections and a Superbowl doesn’t mean the world is going down the elevator shaft, nor does it mean Smith died for America’s sins.

   I can come up with a list of examples and employ circular reasoning, repetition, and sensational proclamations that links the death of Christ, consumerism, Smith, myspace hysteria, and show Idol’s view ratings -and I’d still be off base. However, I do like the use of Princess Diane, I just wished the author had mentioned her rather mundane background compared to Prince Charles. Perhaps she too was a gold digger?

   Nonetheless, I worry more about people trying to make some type of cosmic connection to justify the shallow, cruel, egotism of humans — and then use their connections to proclaim some form of social conditioning that we must all adhere to in order to be cleansed from our sins.

   Take care,
   Rob

10. Rick February 28th, 2007 7:22 am

    This idea that Anna Nicole was our fault, is bull. She could have of gotten regular job like the rest of us and fought it out in the trenches but she wanted more.
    She was whore of system because she wanted to be.. She wanted the attention and money.
    She didn’t die for my sins. She died as result of her own.

    ICH http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

11. Curlew February 28th, 2007 7:48 am

    Who honestly gives a rats ass if Anna Nicole Smith died for any reason other than her heart stopped beating? John Gibson from the Faux Noise Network recently stated that reporters who chose to cover the war in Iraqnam rather than Anna Nicole Smith were “snobs”. Good god/allah. What has this nation come to? So, a former playboy bunny with big tits died and there’s a question about who the father of her last kid is. Just proves that everyone was screwing her but me I guess.

    Lets put things on Common Dreams that are meaningful. If we want a daily update on whether or not Anna Nicole Smith is still dead we can check the tabloids and Faux Noise.

12. questchoning February 28th, 2007 10:22 am

    This article belongs here. Nicely written with an entertaining flair without any substance whatsoever. You don’t want the article? Puts you in her thinking camp. Fight the urge, you might end up looking like her.

13. JamieBerry February 28th, 2007 10:30 am

    Here, here, Joyce!

    Anyone who thinks Anna Nicole Smith was not a victim of the sex industry in the US should read the story entitled, “Number of Americans in Extreme Poverty Has Grown 26% under Bush” and then think of a single mother who becomes a stripper to avoid homelessness along with her children. The fact is most strippers, by far, are not prostitutes.

    Think about the majority of homeless people being children. Think of deadbeat dads. Take a look at Spike TV. Hell, look at underwear commercials. Think about Madison Avenue’s motto, “Sex sells.” Think about pornographic magazines. Think about modeling. It’s a very short trip between “respectable” modeling and stripping. Have you ever seen “Independence Day?” What did Will Smith’s girlfriend do, and why did she do it?

    Of all the women with whom I have had even a casual acquaintanceship in the past 35 years, two-thirds have admitted to being raped at some point in their lives. This is admittedly not a scientific poll, just a testimonial.

    The number of unreported child rapes and other molestation is staggering. Take a look at any of the documentaries on life in a Mormon polygamist family. Read up on modeling from the model’s point of view. The percentage of young women going to Hollywood and ending up strippers or porn movie actresses is axiomatic. Look at the world in general and think about rape as a military tactic intended to cause genocide. Read up on the worldwide problem of females of all ages and all races being kidnapped and sold as sex slaves. Read any biography of Marilyn Monroe. Just try to imagine taking drugs and alcohol to stop thinking about the number of times you’ve been raped.

    Wake up! The subjugation of women has always been a much larger problem than any racial prejudice or any caste system. Most of the comments here are typical of the abuser blaming the victim.

14. alanasolimeo February 28th, 2007 10:57 am

    This article is crap. Whoever is in charge, please do not let me be subject to this likely hipocritical, irrelevant b.s. We all know what this country is like, no need to talk trash to those who don’t follow your way of life. I come here for NEWS particularly concerning politics and foreign policy.

15. ctrew February 28th, 2007 11:25 am

    Yes! to Joyce Marcel and Jamie Berry.

    To Gerimay, do I detect the presence of a troll?

    If my guess is wrong, and you honestly question the appropriateness of this article for commondreams.org (where one of our common dreams is a world where people have Opportunity without the need to sell their bodies for a living (for sex, boxing, stripping, soldiering), then I would ask you to re-read it and spend a little more time trying to understand what she is saying.
    Women (and men) who have experienced sexual assault &/or sexual abuse make up the vast majority of sex workers, strippers, runaways, drug addicts, female soldiers(70% of those polled prior to the wars in Afganistan and Iraq). Abuse and assault are about power and humiliation more than sex. Making the best of a lousy life situation is a way of taking back a measure of power over ones own life. Let’s not blame the victims.
    Wouldn’t it be wonderful if each and every person’s dignity were left intact, so that they loved and cared for themselves as well as others? I think that the current decadance of the USA , including the obsession with gambling, is an indication of the oppression, powerlessness and despair of a country which is becoming a dehumanizing, disrespectful dictatorship. It’s all connected.

    If we work together our might will trump theirs.

    “People should not be afraid of their government, …” V, from V for Vendetta.

16. evelyna February 28th, 2007 11:36 am

    I feel she was more a victim of the hollywood greed machine. Why are these people allowed to become drug addicts. I believe the managers and others supply them. Just like they did with Judy Garland to keep her thin.
    The Movie industry keeps most of the money and allows them to have some of it. Most of the stars end up in the gutter and on drugs.
    These people are human beings and should not be exploited by the industry or any other vultures(lawyers,bodygaurds,Medical Staff). Once upon a time some people had morals.
    She had the income for top notch staff and look how they all botched it up. All should be sued for incompetance.
    Instead of taking pictures the movie industry may try administering drug tests.

17. PattiD February 28th, 2007 12:41 pm

    I disagree with those who feel this article should not have been here in Common Dreams. The underlying point is that we, as a society, have lost or have buried the main tools we have to determine how to be human in this world - our morals and our capacity for critical thinking. There is no moral or ethical base to most of what most people do, and we seldom ask ourselves “I can do it, but should I?” Instead, the imperative is “If I want to, and I can, I will.”

    The values like compassion and altruism that give order to society and keep self-interest within bounds have largely disappeared, replaced by materialism and an obsession about money, looks, and health. Our country would be in a very different place if this were not so. Why do people watch American Idol, and why are we fixated on the sad life of Ms. Smith, instead of working on what really matters - getting our society back to a morally-grounded foundation and re-developing our capacity to question? That’s politics! Instead we covet the biggest SUV, the largest house, or taking the most number of vacations, and if we don’t have all this we feel worthless. Good grief, even 8-year old girls dress like skanks and want to die if told they can’t. Talk about an insidious subjugation of females.

    In the meantime the planet is burning and our government is destroying our country and much of the rest of the world. How out of touch can we be?

    As long as we deny the potential we have as humans,and deny the unconscious material that motivates us we will continue on this sordid journey. Where is the public face in this society that encourages the reflection and the self-examination necessary for us to find out who we are, and what makes meaning in our lives? Instead we are fixated on boob tubes where trash is called news, and where the real events tearing our country apart are kept secret or lied about.

    So Common Dreams, Democracy Now, Jim Hightower, Theocracy Watch and the many other progressive organizations who bring the real news to our attention please continue what you’re doing. Maybe one day we will all wake up.

18. Bruce Chambers February 28th, 2007 1:12 pm

    Those who are putting this article down might want to step back and consider the fact that our national attention, being diverted by air-headed B.S. like the life and times of celebrity gold diggers, could be part of the reason our country is in the downward spiral of dumbness that it’s in!
    Ms. Marcel even cited statistics on the percentage of Americans who have made it a priority to follow the lurid death of Anna Nicole Smith, instead of the even more pressing life and death issues such as the Irag disaster, the pending Iran catastrophe….any others come to mind?
    She makes a very important point here, people!
    Good lord, seems more people vote on American Idol than for President. Swell. I bet more people on the street could identify Anna Nicole’s picture than Hillary’s. Comforting, eh?

19. judi February 28th, 2007 1:20 pm

    Why trash Nicole? Why not the media that thrives on such dirt? This writer falls into the grab bag of stereotypes who believe all women who live in trailer parks are sluts. And don’t sell Americans short. Most take politics very seriously and at least 75% are disgusted with the crooks who are in charge of our military and economic structure that favors the rich and famous.

20. Vern February 28th, 2007 1:57 pm

    Sad story of a surreal circus… and for those of you who think it is beneath you, it is an interesting social commentary in so many respects. Not only for the reasons the author makes, but for the bizarre media spectacle unfolding and the open season declared on this poor woman and her tragic life in the spotlight. Unless the entire incident was orchestrated, people should find it in their hearts to have some small compassion for a mother whose son died laying beside her in her own hospital bed. And the way the vultures swept in–there was no line between the product and the person. This image we have all allowed ourselves to sneer at was a mother who painted pictures for her baby daughter’s nursery walls… I found myself studying her and watching the man always shadowing her, her lawyer, and it seemed obvious to me that he was devoted to her and was always there for her. I hope she found some small measure of happiness and contentment with him in an otherwise chaotic and tragic life in which she may have regretted having the starring role.

21. Brigitte February 28th, 2007 7:57 pm

    Great job, I couldn’t agree more.

22. Rebecca March 1st, 2007 12:26 pm

    I agree that this article is complete crap! While far too many here are cheering it, blaming the moral degenaration of this society, and the author goes so far as to say that Anna Nicole died for our sins…PALEEZE…You have missed the point all together.

    What makes this country a sore and pitiful site in this day, is the exact example displayed in this sorry excuse for an article and it’s delusional author. Everyone wants to blame someone else, something other than their own bad choices. Under the tenents that they are not accountable, nor held accountable.

    Anna Nicole made her own choices. I, nor any of you had anything to do with her own promiscuity, SHE chose that. Her addiction to perscription drugs, SHE chose that. Her craving for not just a decent living, but millions of dollars, to the effect that she was willing to place herself in some of the lowest standards that any woman could have. She had everything to do with those choices.

    Regardless of society, regardless of our upbringing, I can speak from experience, that we always have choices.

    Anna Nicole is NOT the martyr some would like to make her out to be. She reaped what she sowed, that is the simple truth of it. That is the law that all of us need to face the truth of. Come tomorrow or before the throne of God…you had better believe it, Ye shall reap what Ye sow!

23. feminista March 2nd, 2007 12:10 am

    I was linked to this article from a lefty Canadian site and I just have to comment. As a feminist and a hooker/escort I resent the author’s implications about my line of work and her conclusions about non-hooker Anna Nicole.

    Sex work is legal here and is an honest profession especially when being a rape crisis counselor doesn’t pay that well.

    Smith died of pneumonia.

    Joyce is projecting.

24. Vern March 2nd, 2007 6:52 am

    Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.

25. Vern March 2nd, 2007 7:08 am

    Rebecca: Interesting to see the “personnal responsibility” preaching going on here on a more progressive site that one would think would advocate the “common good” (remember that–It’s in the Constitution, but conveniently overlooked by the Libertarian Right who claims the Constitution as their own)or “common responsibility”. After all, in an ethically deteriorating age, being your brother’s keeper is rejected for the personal responsibility credo of any means necessary in the pursuit of the American Dream of “enlightened self interest” and blaming the victim.
    It amazes me to think that some would think to be spokesman for the judgement of their god- being raised as a Christian myself, it is not my understanding of the basic tenants of Christian forgiveness or compassion.

26. Rebecca March 2nd, 2007 11:46 am

    Vern, I have all the compassion in the world for Anna Nciole, but that certainly does not take away from, nor change the truth…and the truth is that she made her own choices. Would you rather take away her right to choose for herself being her “brothers’ keeper”? That would be fascism, and I think we have quite enough of that going on right now.

    And did you know that “brother’s keeper” appears only in Genesis 4:9, when God asked Cain of it. Being raised a Christian, I would think you should probably know that. And since then, Christ is Risen. Today, we are called not to put a stumblingblock before a brother that may cause him to fall. Did you do that with Anna Nicole? I didn’t and I never would have. Nor would I have supported her dis-ease by giving responsibility to everything other than her own choices, always praying that she would learn from her *own* mistakes. That is Truth and Love.

    To see the Truth does not mean at all that one does not have compassion and forgiveness. Sometimes it’s tough love, or would you rather lie to someone, just so you don’t have to deal?

    And as far as the forgiveness from me to Anna Nicole…she did nothing to me for me to forgive. Whether or not she is forgiven is between Anna Nicole and God.

27. Vern March 2nd, 2007 12:16 pm

    You could also argue, Rebecca, that young people, for whatever reason, who join the military are responsible for “bad choices”–but in that case, we are encouraged to “support the troops” and not condemn them for their bad choices? It seems to me an arbitrary thing, when we blame the victim–and it seems politically correct from all quarters to sneer at Anna Nicole Smith. Perhaps she brought it on herself, grasping for fame and fortune, with her sometimes raunchy sexuality and exploitation of white trash sterotypes, but maybe she made choices based on the limiting circumstances of her own life, and maybe she was trapped in her own hell? Who knows, but without all the doctrine and claims of biblical authority, my feeling is that Jesus especially felt for these lost, despised and tragic souls the most.

28. Rebecca March 2nd, 2007 3:22 pm

    Yes, Jesus felt for the lost, that’s why He died for the sins of the world, and rose again. I’m getting the notion that you allude to knowing what Jesus feels, and yet it’s obvious that you don’t know your Bible. The Lord doesn’t go back to the Cross to die over and over again just because Anna Nicole or any of the lost rejects Him time and time again.

    They have a choice…we all do, with EVERY facet of our lives. The simplicity is remarkable…and those that are *awake* can see that. The bottom line is..We either chose to live or chose to die, in one form or another.

    And as far as what we are “encouraged to do by this nation or world for that matter…doesn’t matter much me, in fact, it doesn’t matter. I don’t support the troops, (gasp), especially when their job is to murder in the name of an illegal war, period!

    This pretty much sums up how I feel….

29. Rebecca March 2nd, 2007 3:33 pm

    Universal Soldier by Donavan

    He’s five foot-two, and he’s six feet-four,
    He fights with missiles and with spears.
    He’s all of thirty-one, and he’s only seventeen,
    Been a soldier for a thousand years.

    He’a a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain,
    A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew.
    And he knows he shouldn’t kill,
    And he knows he always will,
    Kill you for me my friend and me for you.

    And he’s fighting for Canada,
    He’s fighting for France,
    He’s fighting for the USA,
    And he’s fighting for the Russians,
    And he’s fighting for Japan,
    And he thinks we’ll put an end to war this way.

    And he’s fighting for Democracy,
    He’s fighting for the Reds,
    He says it’s for the peace of all.
    He’s the one who must decide,
    Who’s to live and who’s to die,
    And he never sees the writing on the wall.

    But without him,
    How would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau?
    Without him Caesar would have stood alone,
    He’s the one who gives his body
    As a weapon of the war,
    And without him all this killing can’t go on.

    He’s the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame,
    His orders come from far away no more,
    They come from here and there and you and me,
    And brothers can’t you see,
    This is not the way we put the end to war.

30. JustAnotherOpinion March 5th, 2007 5:49 pm

    K heres the deal, metaphorically speaking this arictle hit everything depraved and ridiculous that american has become. Did Anna Nicole die for our sins? Maybe that was flying a little high but whose to say that she didnt? Society always pushing for bigger and better, money money money and she did what she had to to be “part of society”. Now with that I will post the following poem and now really give much care who becomes offended.

    Prisoner Within

    so many these hopeless mistakes
    smiling they are all hopeless fakes
    walking in this city so many masks
    milling about in meaningless tasks
    Did you see the hopeless
    did you feed the homeless
    I think I look like holy mother Mary
    I live with the pixie princess fairy
    And I can bet I’ll f@#k her too
    because evil has nothing on you

    Don’t go out tonight its storming
    snow is blowing, something is coming
    riding on the tide of hopeless mistakes
    hiding in the masks of the wondrous greats
    behind the blue eyes of a monster lies
    humanity strapped upon railroad ties
    holy mother Mary, did you f@#k her too
    when evil cant hold a candle to you
    black the heart smiles the prisoner within
    dark as the soul while you lick and grin

    Was it wrong to have compassion
    to forgive your digressions
    continually feeding your passions
    weeping in darkness depressions

31. andrewprince March 7th, 2007 1:29 pm

    I believe it is human nature to desire the violation of other humans. From the times of the Roman gladiators (and probably before) people reveled in the abuse of other creatures and human beings. The reason America catches so much crap for it is because we are the best at almost everything we do, including abusiveness.
    The reason I think that people take so much enjoyment in seeing celebrities is in enjoying their wild lives vicariously without having to suffer the consequences of their outrageously immoral behavior.
    -Andrew Prince

32. Roots March 12th, 2007 12:17 am

    I have to agree that it is sad. Shows such as Idol, Girls Next Door and America’s Next Top Model…are these really what we want to represent the moral and even intellectual ideologies of America?
    But at the same time, people like Anna Nichole strive for fame–they will do anything and everything to achieve it. How is this our fault? She wanted to be in the spotlight, she had to know what she was getting herself into, she was very much in control of her decisions (whether they be good ones or bad ones), and no one was going to be able to stop her. Blaming America for this one isn’t going to solve anything.

33. bnpuhowacahu December 12th, 2007 9:33 am

    titnykysuzive…

    exnucurysesy…

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