Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
What a bizarre tragedy this whole Princess of Wales thing is.
Even more bizarre is the way some people are reacting to it.
George Clooney, for example. Does anybody really care what George Clooney thinks? Did anybody even know who George Clooney was two years ago?
Now, suddenly, he is thrust upon us as as the arbiter of journalism ethics.
Oh, yeah, he sounded real good. Real sincere. He talked about being stalked by the press. He wants laws changed to make it eaiser to sue the press.
And how did he communicate his blather about the press to us? Why, he called a press conference, of course.
Fact is, he and any other celebrity who whines about the press couldn't live without it.
Poetic justice would be if the press declared a moratorium on Clooney. No Clooney photos. No Clooney stories. No Clooney promotions. Then, when everybody had forgotten about Clooney, he could have the private life he so richly deserves, just like all the rest of us working stiffs.
That's what he wants, after all, right?
I love it when film stars complain about a lack of dignity afforded them by the press.
This comes right after the press conference for their new movie in which they - in a most dignified fashion - show us parts of their anatomy they wouldn't show their mom or blow the heads off the bad guys in technicolor.
Yeah, I feel for these movie stars and their lack of privacy and dignity.
Problem with most of them is that they like the publicity if it's favorable. When they call a press conference or show up at the Grammys, the cameras are fine.
But when they get busted for drugs or are involved in a torrid love affair or a drunken brawl it's a different story.
That's not unusual.
Most people want to have their cake and eat it, too.
Difference is, most people realize they can't have their cake and eat it, too.
(That axiom never made sense to me. What else would you do with a cake?)
But not Clooney. He wants all the trappings of a successful film and television career. And he wants to be left alone.
Guess what?
It won't happen.
Unless he undertakes the Gerard solution. It will work, I guarantee.
If I were rich and famous, I would hire a photographer to take pictures of me every day in various activities - candidly and continuously.
I would then send the photos - roll after roll of them - to the tabloids every day. I would make photos of me so commonplace they would be worthless to editors.
The paparazzi would not track me.
The down side of that arrangement is that if anything bad ever happened to me, I wouldn't have anybody to blame but myself.
Let's face it, the press makes a great scapegoat. When all else fails, blame the press.
It may be true that if there were no photographers, there would have been no Mercedes crash.
But there have always been photographers. There always will be photographers. Everywhere the princess went there were photographers.
What made that fateful night different?
A drunken Mercedes driver, perhaps? Can we blame the press for that?
This is not to say, of course, that some writers and photographers do not go too far in their pursuit of a story or photo. No question about it. They do.
And that's where we the people come into the picture. We have an insatiable desire for sex and violence in our entertainment media. And we have a like desire to know details about the lives of those who are rich and famous.
At the time this newspaper hit your doorstep this morning, billions of people were doing just that. They were watching the princess as she was laid to rest.
That's just the way it is. I don't understand it, but that's the way it is.
Know what the largest circulation national newspapers are?
New York Times, USA Today, L.A. Times, Wall Street Journal?
No way. Enquirer, Star, Globe and, my personal favorite, the Weekly World News.
So where does the demand for this brand of journalism come from?
From us. Period. If there were no demand, there would be no product.
Want to know who really killed the Princess of Wales in the prime of her life?
We did.
