Infatuations with Train Wrecks

Americans are infatuated with train wrecks of any kind.  Whether it be an actual wreck (not having to be of a train) or a metaphorical wreck, controversy, insanity, and failure capture the American viewer.  For many of the things I have found in the news on here, this is a crucial topic.  Whether its the insanity surrounding the Casey Anthony trial or the controversy around Anthony Wiener, the "news of the weird" is what gets us to turn on.  Sometimes when controversy isn't there, the media creates it and actively finds train wrecks to shove into the viewer's face.




The big thing that sparked me to think about this was a video I found on Hulu.  I saw that there was a video for Rebecca Black being on America's Got Talent and I kinda did a double take.  I thought "the same Rebecca Black"?  It turns out, it was.  Generally, America's Got Talent focuses on finding people who are talented but unknown, whereas Black isn't that talented but is well known.  She is actually well known by many for not having all that amazing of talent.  If you haven't heard the story, her parents paid some money for a company to produce a music video for her and it became popular on the internet because people thought she wasn't that talented and the song was not very good.  I kinda agree with them, but also think some of the dislike and hate towards Black was way uncalled for.

The point of this is not to rag on Rebecca Black but to show the ridiculous way people become famous over virtually nothing and then media sources pound them into our consciousness to the point where it hurts our brains.  Its twofold: Americans are obsessed with train wrecks and the media has no shame in exploiting those wrecks.  Lets take another example from game shows, William Hung.  He was flat out awful on American Idol, but because people were obsessed with his train wreck (such a bad singer, he is funny), he got a record deal and released 3 records.  Its hard for talented bands to get a record deal which makes it a bit ridiculous that people who lack the talent get them.  I do not blame Hung or Black.  They are making a living and finding a way to do that, something we all are doing.  However, the problem lies with the exploitation of train wrecks by the media who seem sometimes like they would rather favor an awful talent than a pretty good one.

The last example I will give is Bristol Palin.  Now, she isn't as bad of a train wreck, but a lot of her fame is just from being famous.  Well, that's not all she is the famous (somewhat) train wreck daughter of a famous train wreck.  Curiously, I looked up her wikipedia page and picked a random public official (turned out to be Sherrod Brown) and she had more information on her wikipedia page.  It is a sad state of affairs in our country when a teen mom has more information on their wikipedia page (which is user edited) than a well-respected Senator.  Its because of this public infatuation with her that led to her being in 3rd place on Dancing With the Stars (the judges weren't fond of her performances) and led to me finding her on the "Bestsellers" rack when I went to a Borders closeout sale.