Palin Has Bright Future as Over-Hyped, Under-Talented Celebrity

The adage "life isn't fair" applies to many social inequities, but few are as glaringly apparent -- and totally preventable -- as celebrity.

According to Forbes magazine, Paris Hilton made over $15M dollars from 2003-2006. The nearly talent-free Tila Nguyen earned a reported $125,000 per episode for her MTV show, "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila". Shock jock Howard Stern, famous for assailing guests with questions about anal sex, received a $500M contract with Sirius XM radio in 2006. On the other side of the spectrum, the ever-changeable Dr. Laura -- I support gays, now I don't, I'm an Orthodox Jew, now I'm not, I never posed nude, okay I did -- signed away the rights to her radio show for a cool $71M.

During this election season, there's been a lot of buzz about Sarah Palin's future as both a political candidate and a celebrity. Palin is riding into fame much the same way that George W. Bush rode into the Presidency, as a bumbling Clampett-like character with a minor record of accomplishments, an entrenched set of dogmatic beliefs, and plenty of supporters in the neo-con hierarchy.

While author Bob Cesca, among others, have urged Americans to reject Palin's politics of fear, there is another issue at stake, and that's allowing the Governor of Alaska to become America's next decadent media darling.

Whether defined either as a state of ethical decline, artistic decay, or self-indulgence, decadence experienced a boon while Bush was at America's helm. Besides a surge of corruption in Washington politics, and a swell of white-collar criminals, the media has inundated us with increasingly tasteless characters and lowbrow programming.

I don't find it entirely coincidental that the worst of reality television came to its zenith during Bush's reign. Money doesn't trickle down nearly as well or as quickly as cultural decadence does. In the late nineties, when the Jerry Springer Show traded social commentary for bare-breasted fistfights and toothless would-be daddies, it was shocking, but by 2000, 50 women were willing to appear on television and strut their stuff for the chance to marry a faceless millionaire. By 2001, contestants on the Fear Factor were eating boiled animal testicles for a few thousand dollars and the proverbial 15 minutes of fame. 2002 brought the slurring train wreck of Anna Nicole Smith into American living rooms, and on it went, with D-list celebrities like Ron Jeremy and Tammy Faye cohabiting for the cameras, a drunken Verne Troyer peeing in the corner of a living room, and seven-time father (by five different women) Flava-Flav being courted by girls half his age.

The early 2000's also gave birth to tabloid shows operating under the guise of objective legal analysis or news. The Nancy Grace Show and On the Road with Greta Van Susteren were just two of the more popular programs that trafficked in sensationalizing current events. Heads, like those belonging to the Duke University lacrosse players, were put on platters and guilt was loudly proclaimed or insinuated, as if CNN or Fox News had no responsibility to the tenets of journalism, their subjects, or their audiences. Ratings trumped all.

Investigative journalism itself took a nosedive during the Bush years, when his administration attempted to render the fourth estate impotent, including limiting press access to records, withholding information, and threatening reporters with jail for refusing to disclose conversations with sources that never even made their way into print. As Eric Alterman reported in The Nation, Bush's war on the press was aggressive, with the Administration refusing to recognize the constitutional role of journalists. Fueled by a vainglorious ideology that bordered on theocracy, the Bush administration sought to become an unimpeachable god, answerable to no news outlet except those they hand-picked due to their favorable treatment.

And now we've got Sarah Palin. Standing in line, waiting for her turn at either the pulpit of politics or the stage of celebrity. If she fails in politics, pundits and producers say, there's a place for her as a news personality or talk show host. Like Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who went from Survivor contestant to talk show host, there are people waiting in the wings to market Palin as a right-wing Ellie Mae of political news or social commentary.
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There have always been people of little or dubious talent who make it into the rarefied life of the rich and famous by virtue of charisma, connections, plain dumb luck, or some other stroke of fortune. There has been no deficit of outrageous talk show hosts, silicone blonds, scandal-plagued starlets, or super-rich kids. The intrigue of the star-making machine is its utter fickleness. It can bring us the emotional depth of Meryl Streep, or the backside of Kim Kardashian. It can shine a light on the well-researched works of Naomi Wolff, or fill the airwaves with the hateful hyperbole of Ann Coulter.

Life truly isn't fair, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to make it fairer. In an era that is aching for positive change, common sense solutions, and social justice, one of the ways we can do this is by rejecting the decadence of over-hyped, over-paid, and under-talented celebrity. We can bid farewell to Warhol's "15 minutes of fame" concept and instead usher in a new age of media -- one that places substance above fluff, talent above spectacle, and integrity above sensationalism.

We can just say no to the continued celebrity of Tila Tequila and Sarah Palin, and in my opinion we should.

Follow Jane Devin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/janedevin

Comments

[katemclaughlin]

Your bottom line is spot on, Jane. It's time to "just say no." (Quote attributed to Nancy Reagan...don't want to be accused of being a shoddy journalist!>

[tiajudita]

Maybe she could go on Dancing With The Stars

[annebonney]

"...a bumbling Clampett-like character..." HA! BEYOND worthiness, that is!

Jane, aside from all the totally salient points you make, as you are so laser-targeted wont to do, this is the most insightful description of what's brought America to the edge of the abyss.

Your words are priceless, your thoughts leave collateral damage in their wake. It's about time that any collateral damage is done bloodlessly and includes collateral that we never should have amassed.

Keep it comin', Jane!

[jennytaylia]

Better a celebrity than a VP...............................

[Greg285]

Is this not what this country has come too? Over-hyped, untalented people getting more than their allotted 15 minutes of FAME! That’s why we have Gov. Palin and Joe the plumber getting all this media attention...What’s next, a secret video tape?

[OmnesOmnibus]

The irony is the McCain people compared Obama to Paris Hilton and then went on to appoint their own Paris Hilton - Sarah Palin, who has, if possible, less substance than the original vapid Paris..

[Deus Angelus]

Great post!!! You are right, it is up to us to challenge the media to produce better talent and shows that are worthy of our time.

[Doorbell]

It's writing like this that keeps me coming back to Huffington. Well done!

[Hepcat62]

HuffPost's Pick

I see "Wife Swap" with the Palin family. Sarah Palin trades places with some Blue-state, ultra-liberal, two PHD, vegetarian family whose mom is a stay at home mom, and whose two children are good students, members of their school mock-trial team, talented musicians, and atheletes. This "liberal elite" family will introduce Sarah to the joys of reading, the arts, spending lots of one-on-one time with your children; they will share their respect for the environment and love of nature and God's creatures with her, and show her the importance of education and being involved with your childrens schooling. She will react to them with sarcasm and defensiveness, but eventually see the light.

Meanwhile, the poor Blue-state mom will be overwhelmed by the chaos of the Palin family home, and question why Todd gets to spend so much time on his "hobbies", (snowmobiling, hunting, fishing), when he has five kids who clearly need parenting. Blue-state mom will be traumatized, when Todd shoots a moose, and insists she field dress it for him, so ge can spend the afternoon snowmobiling with some drinking buddies. Blue state mom will try to show the Palin kids that a college education is attainable for them, and try to get them to attend school once again.

Ratings will go through the roof.

[sophiej]

She can do anything she wants, just so long as it's in some little niche that I don't have to look at or listen to. I'm longing for the day when it's safe to turn on the news again.

[GaiaTerra7]

Well said!

[kris D]

can we get an Amen, sister?

well spoken, Jane....as always....

your time is coming, my friend. YOU are going to be the next big thing.

:)

[mccainsupport]

Jane, relax there are some people that get lucky and then some of them work very hard to get where their going. You act as if life is suppose to be peachy for everybody when there is no such Utopia. I understand where you are pointing out that American television "Hollywood" is getting very sick and negative. We can only blame this on ourselves as Americans. We always contridict ourselves when it comes to what we want for example: Its not alright for a parent in America is not responsible enough to spank their child without calling it abuse, yet it is acceptable for producers of television shows to put all of this dis-tasteful stuff on television like sex, fighting, deliquent parents, domestic terrorist, dead beat fathers, incest, and dont forget sex again. I have seen some of this stuff you talk about and it is not socialy acceptable to me. We need to look at the bigger picture on who and what we want our future children to model their lives after. Sarah Palin is probably the last thing on a child list to watch on television, "Boring". Im not saying you dont have a point but I think you are picking on the wrong people. I dont think Sarah Palin is trying to corrupt Americas future like this, Do you?

[Jane Devin - Huffpost Blogger]

I think you missed my point, mccainsupport, which is that in seeking changes for a better culture, one should look at whom they choose to make a celebrity, and why. It's not all about what the kids see, or how much sex is on tv....it's about how America degrades itself and its principles with the whole "15 minutes" concept.

There are, for instance, people who have made a life's work out of journalism that will be bypassed for a show so that some flavor-of-the-day can take it. The public does not, by and large, create the flavors -- the media does. And we have allowed them to replace genuine talent with their own propped-up and promoted icons.

[magen]

Her celebrity has ALREADY faded, bro.

Remember when she hit the scene and the whirlwind of positive attention that she had?

Its gone now. In a flash.

If she was a person of substance, and not just a person of talking points that she can't back up when questioned about them, people would still be interested in her.

The same will happen if she gets on a news show.

Rachel Maddow has substance and has skyrocketed to the top in a few months.

With Palin-not 'gon happen. She's a national joke.

[LTCKal]

I think the whole thing started when George HW Bush nominated Dan Quayle for his VP. From that point on "stupid-is-ok in positions of serious responsibility" somehow became acceptable in American culture. The high point of this movement was the election of junior Bush for two terms and the most recent outcomes are Sarah and Joe the P, the latter having no clue about anything, but still drawing a crowd. Maybe it's Ohio, I don't know. Here we had a rabid middle-aged Ohio State fan who called himself the "Neutron Man," dressed himself up in necklaces of buckeyes and made a spectacle of himself dancing around during every home game (the band actually aimed a song at him) while students waited eagerly for him to have a stroke in mid-dance. At each tailgate party after the game, he paraded himself around as a celebrity. He's no longer with us, but two new characters have taken his place, and they get their moments of fame when the t.v. pans for weird-looking people Joe the P and Sarah are closer to these people than they are to statesmen and leaders.

[08politicaljunkie]

Well stated. Palin's the political equivalent of the video pop star, cute but can't sing a lick.