Jessica Schneider on Blondes

B617-JAS6

Is It The Blondes Or The Culture That Is Dumb?

So I saw something recently on CNN that was addressing the tired question of whether or not blondes were dumber than people with darker hair colors. Even Paris Hilton made the point that every decade there is at least one blonde that the culture fusses over, and now she is that blonde. Just where does this stereotype stem? From Paris to Anna Nicole, to Pam Anderson, to Britney Spears, to Marilyn Monroe, all have exuded that ‘dumbness’ quality in some way or other, which leads me to ask, what came first? The dumb blonde or the culture saying the blonde is supposed to be dumb? Or is the culture just repeating the stereotype it has seen? Or is one a ‘blonde’ for asking? The article also mentioned that the reason people associate blondes as being dumber than those with other hair colors is because blondeness is attributed with youth and naiveté. Many children are born blondes but most grow out of it once they reach adulthood.

So why the public’s obsession over Paris Hilton? How does this woman gain ‘fans’ anyway? For one to have fans, one must first do something to earn those fans, no? How does someone with no talent and no real reason for being famous become famous? I also read in an article about Tina Brown, author of The Diana Chronicles, where she mentioned how many of the famous people nowadays are uninteresting. I think she’s right.

Perhaps though, I am only adding to the problem by talking about her. Paris that is. The media is something that feeds on itself. The more articles that are written, the more the general public wants. And the more that the general public wants, the more they get. Tabloids then, begin to compete with one another, trying to see who can capture the Ms. Hilton when she is looking the most distraught. Oh look, here she is while using the toilet in her jail cell!

They only wish. And apparently, the night of the MTV Video Music Awards, when it was announced that the next day she was being shuffled off to jail, the audience applauded. How’s that for her ‘fans’?

I really think that Paris Hilton is just one of those people the public needs to laugh at. No one that I’ve ever spoken with has ever expressed a liking or admiration for her, let alone claims to be a ‘fan’. Personally, I never cared about her one way or the other. I just wish there weren’t so many young women out there trying to emulate her. From other celebrities like Britney Spears to Lindsay Lohan, all have been rewarded for being willing to make fools of themselves. No one takes Britney Spears seriously as a singer anymore than they take Lindsay Lohan seriously as an actress. But if one of them is found passed out on the floor after a night of drinking, you can bet we’re gonna hear about it. In fact, the public revels in their foolish acts and seems to find it amusing that they are talentless and yet obsessed over. And then we talk about them, and want to know more about them, so more is printed, and more gets talked about. Then tabloids make the money off our interest. What are we really getting in return? Fame is fleeting. That should be obvious. But do we realize that as we pull that tabloid off the shelf and go to pay for it (in more ways than just our cash), or are we just the ‘blondes’ here for not realizing how stupid we’ve become?

[An expurgated version of this article originally appeared on the Van Der Galien Gazette.]

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