That said, It has been bugging me for a while. As I get older words and grammar and indeed the corruption of my language has started to bother me. The irony of this is not lost on one who basically failed C.S.E. English at school and refuses to capitalise some words through personal choice, for instance; christian - or any other religious group name. I would not say that I'm a 'Grammar Nazi' exactly, I try where possible to keep my little annoyances about that sort of thing to myself unless its major - or proof positive of the mentally restricted growth of an individual through sheer laziness (otherwise known as a moron).
However, and here I get to the point; there is one phrase that has always got on nerves and recently it has got to a pinnacle of hatred.
The definition of the word 'Star' seems to have got blurred over the last few years. Now obviously I'm not talking about a heavenly body (hmm? maybe a poor choice of words) or interstellar object. But an icon in the eyes of the public at large.
A Hollywood Star
A Movie Star
A Rock Star
A Pop Star (at a pinch)
These people worked hard and have copious amounts of talent (mostly) and have therefore earned the right to be called 'Stars'.
So, how then can we have anyone called a 'Reality TV Star'? talent-less morons willing to be exploited for the financial gain of multi-national TV corporations. In my day job recently I came across a 'talent' show flop using his ejection from the show as an act! 30 seconds of fame (fame! are you kidding me). But even this talent-less person is referred to as a 'Reality TV Star'
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArrrggghhhhh!
It makes me so mad!
It dilutes the work and talent of the people who have 'made it' and are genuine stars.
Yes, yes some of you are going to argue that its ironic, and oh so cleaver to call these people Stars because they are so obviously not!
Bollocks!
It's not cleaver and it's not cute!
I thought of a word, a word that was perfect to describe these people. Just to be safe I looked up the word in various on-line dictionary's and was a little surprised to find that my internal definition was not 100% accurate. Mainly this word is a north american word to describe the lame or infirm. It seems that my definition was derived mainly from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction movie. Yes the S&M guy in the suit, maybe it's an urban term.
It seem to me to mean someone who is exploited for the pleasure of their master and to a degree themselves. well all this is true of the people we call 'Reality TV Stars'
There can be no argument that they are exploited for the pleasure of the production companies that bring us these horrible shows. The pleasure of great financial return for a very little outlay. I could be argued that they exploit the viewers almost as much, but the public watching are not called 'Stars'.
So after all this what is the word? As if you haven't guessed from the title of this little rant of a blog.
Reality TV Gimp!
Try it out, say it out loud now see how it feels - doesn't it feel good?Now....
Go on - use it, pass it around tell the world what you think, let us no longer empower these fools who fill our screens with meaningless drivel.
Say it loud and say it clear they are not stars, stars have talent, stars work hard to get where they are!
