TABLOIDS AND THE TRUTH

````` One good thing about not being rich and famous is that there's nobody willing to sell a person out for profit to some tabloid. I just read the paper and came upon a story wherein a boxer apologized after being secretly filmed doing cocaine. This comes right after revelations by hookers of other sports stars partying with them. A few years ago, most of us can probably recall how Kate Moss was filmed doing drugs by a friend, as was Pete Doherty. Ah, the joys of fame.

`````I would hate to think of what hidden cameras would capture me doing around my house. First of all, I should be cleaning and I'm not; the place is a mess. I'd probably be stuck on an episode of "Hoarders." I used to be really anal about this sort of thing, but I'm in a very down mood. Sometimes I walk around the house in very unfashionable ensembles....oh, the horror. Glamour Magazine would place one of those black electrical tape-like things across my head and I would definitely be a "don't." On other occasions, I place the headphones on my skull and what comes out of my mouth could get me charged for animal cruelty, as the poor cats scurry off to escape the noise. They should have used me to sing out of the helicopter on "Apocalypse Now" in their attempts to scare the denizens of the jungle; it would have been much more effective then Jimmy Hendrix or whatever it was that they played. They probably wouldn't have had to fire a shot. They'd have committed suicide themselves just to escape the torture. But, all joking aside, who hasn't danced around their house or done something embarrassing? Now, what if somebody were to set up a camera and sell it? That's what some famous people are facing.

`````I have written previously of those who are stupid enough to allow others to film them naked. If they don't think they'll share it when they break up, they have another thing coming. The same thing goes for the people who text racy photos of themselves to guys they don't know well. If you want to contribute to your own demise, go for it. I have a problem when it's done without your knowledge, however. That needs to be against the law.

`````There are people who sometimes try to make a huge issue out of a nonevent; the fact that two people might have known each other hardly makes a conspiracy. I recall during the last election that there were several attempts to suggest that President Obama and Bill Ayres had a relationship that was unprofessional, given Ayres' background with the Weathermen. Obama would have been a child when all of this took place, and Ayres is now an instructor. Unless those same people are going to say that every student in that man's classroom is also a terrorist by virtue of the same contact, it's an inappropriate arguement.

`````It is scary to think how a person could swing any contact I might have had in the past to look bad. There are already records of what we check on-line. Sometimes I Google some very odd topics and my reading choices are all over the map. I'm sure some profiler could come up with something scary if they opted to do so.

`````Many years ago, I knew somebody who had nothing but bad luck with roommates. She wasn't making a lot of money, so she had to share. In her first choice, she lived with a male (platonic), who ran up the phone bill, took a bunch of MDA one night, then jumped out the window. She hardly knew the guy; he was younger then her and they rarely crossed paths. But, now she had to somehow explain his death. She also had to pay off the bills and her credit was bad for a while as the rental had been in her name. Another time, she shared with a guy who she knew a bit. For some reason, I always had an odd feeling when I talked to her on the phone and I used to tell her that I felt like somebody was listening. Sure enough, one day the cops showed up with a warrant. He was under suspicion for several robberies and dealing. She'd had no idea again. So, our phone conversations probably had been listened to. As it turns out, there was nothing to substantiate the charges, but she was ridden with nerves for a while. I used to joke with her that I always hoped that if she ever married that she'd pick her husband better then she picked her roommates. Like it or not, she was labelled by people she really didn't know but with whom she had chance encounters. She was young then. But, let's say she were now to run for office or become famous. How could this look? It would be on the front page as a scandal from her past.

`````I guess it's because of this that I do not necessarily believe gossip when I hear it. I always think that one needs to dig deeper as well. It is possible to set people up. For instance, somebody can snap a photograph of some bimbo hanging off of an individual, but it doesn't mean that they were together. She may have approached him at a party, chatted him up, then asked for a photo for Facebook. Next thing you know, he's being accused of cheating. It's all well and good to appreciate those tabloids as the escapist entertainment that they are, but we mustn't believe them. After all, everybody has things going on that could "look bad."