What's that line, keep your friends close but your enemies closer?
Well it seems to me that little ditty doesn't stop anyone, friends or enemies, from exposing all sorts of deep and dark secrets, and cashing in, to boot. Think "Mommy Dearest." Hmmm, probably most celebrities' children have written something pretty trashy. The children of famous authors seems to breed scandalous information about what their growing up years in the household of …………. Pulitzer prize winner, notwithstanding.
And why do I take such incredible interest in knowing the trials and tribulations of others?
Don't know, but I do. Clearly, doesn't take much for a tad bit of gossip to engage me.
I seem drawn to the book editorials that titillate me with bits and pieces of the family scandals, drug addictions, infidelities, that the "tell all" author is revealing. I don't actually buy the book, or care to. I am, apparently, sated with just the bit of the behind closed door comments.
So, to that end, it is clear that living an anonymous life has its upsides. If the life we lead is fraught with failures, disasters, scandals and the like, it might be chronicled in a personal diary, a Tweet on Twitter, but won't ever make the best seller list.
And that's a good thing.
One Response
Speaking of growing up years…what about those recollections that one’s siblings have of events in a shared childhood that bear no resemblence to our own recollections of the same event. Out of the blue one is chastised for profound cruelty 50 years ago for betraying a younger brother’s secret crush resulting in a permanent dent in his self-esteem – an event that will surely appear in any tell-all book that he may subsequently write. All the while we are scratching our heads in disbelief, with no idea of what he is talking about and wondering whether we actually shared the same childhood.