"I'm a serious businesswoman!"
Reality television has weirdly pervaded TheGloss this week, what with the Today Show refraining from observing 9/11 and instead opting to let Kris Jenner talk about her breast implants or Jersey Shore’s Sammi Sweetheart designing a collection of sweatpants. This has led to a lot of office conversation about reality television personalities and how objectionable we find them. But can we actually parse out why? Well, besides Kim Kardashian comparing her publicity stunt marriage to pediatric cancer…
Ashley: Okay, sometimes I think to myself, “Kim Kardashian/the Kardashians are the worst people alive.” Then, in moments of self-awareness, I go, “That is preposterous. The Kardashians are, at worst, the symptom of sick culture. Alternatively, there are murderers, dictators and warlords all over the planet that are much worse.” Sometimes, though, I’ll have this thought and then I’ll pause again and think, “No, it is all just evil manifesting itself differently.”
Jennifer: Nice piggyback on that heart of darkness piece, buddy! Please go on, and tell me about evil. Usually I think evil is when people are mean to waiters. Is that correct?
Ashley: Yes. That is a kind of evil! Also, if any of you reading this are ever mean to waiters: seriously, fuck you. You’re horrible.
Jennifer: No one thinks they’re the kind of person that is mean to waiters, though. That’s why you have to be so careful. Every time you see a waiter, you should compliment any buttons they happen to be wearing and tell them that you will vote for a political candidate of their choosing this November.
Ashley: It’s true, a lot of people don’t realize they’re horrible assholes and that’s why they persist in their behavior. I think the Kardashians realize that they’re horrible assholes, they just define “horrible asshole” differently. I think Kim Kardashian genuinely believes she is a “strong woman” and “serious businesswoman.”
She can even make duckface with her tongue out!
Jennifer: Why is she not? Look, I’m not overly familiar with the show. The worst thing I can say is that they do not strike me as witty – they actually strike me as being proudly anti-intellectual – and I think her manner of dress is pretty obvious. But then, that’s quite different from being “evil.” Insofar as it seems like I have different taste than her, but she does not do anything to hurt me.
Ashley: Well, come on. People get pissed off at things that have no real affect on them all the time; we work on the internet, we trade in being outraged over things that don’t really matter. And, sorry to go all bleeding heart on you, but the obvious argument for actual evil is her having made a fortune off selling clothes made in sweatshops. By children. So, you can add “profiting off the abuse of human rights” to being venal and having bad taste.
