Lifeblood of the community
Did you hear, did you hear? Tell me everything my dear! is the cry and response from my favourite off-Broadway musical. The gang from Avonlea are as much a model of society as anything else. After all, when was the last time you covered your ears and ran from those juicy tidbits of news that someone else was offering for the price of your attention?
Gossip: the lifeblood of the community, responsible for much of the positive and much of the negative. Universal. Can’t live with it; can’t live without it. Love it or hate it. Take your pick; if you put two people together, the result will be…
A recent court case for infringement of intellectual property rights has my interest. It seems that the author of a popular blog known as Perezhilton.com has managed to tweak the chin whiskers of a fellow “public relations firm” (paparazzi). Sharing their wealth, so to speak. The litigation involves use of photographs that are produced for their newsworthyness, but edited under the shield of fair use for parody. In simple terms, he takes their pictures, marks on them and then reproduces the content on a website. No money has exchanged hands, so somebody is feeling a little bit abused.
I say, you go, boy! Everybody needs a little bit more Britney in their lives. Why should I wait for somebody else to purchase a copy of People magazine and then leave it loose on the waiting room table? I can just check out the website. After all, gossip should be free!
Seriously though, if people weren’t “curious”, the whole industry of paparazzi would disappear. We love those scurrilous images. After all, how can someone become famous if nobody else cares? This is just yellow journalism with a rinse and shine.
