The world has all but gone to hell, and it's all the media's fault. No more hellish than the treatment of "troubled" artists such as Amy Winehouse and Pete Docherty. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of either but I'm very aware of their status in the UK, but one of the main reasons why they are where they are is not purely on talent alone, but on sensationalist reporting of their off-stage antics. In the case of Amy Winehouse, I'll freely admit that she's clearly talented, but for me, the sensationalism turns me off. That and the black frightwig. I think that people truck far too much with gossip (a future blog will no doubt be critical of warmth generating fish & chip wrapper, "Heat") and there is a lot of information in this world that we do not have any right to know. I frankly could not care less if a rock/pop star is injecting themselves with heroin or drinking themselves into oblivion, fuck them, if they die it leaves a space for my bands. Joking aside, I know I'm in a minority, because Pete and Amy's lives are pretty-much public domain. Surely that's wrong, isn't it?

Now, here's the thing. Would they lead such licentious lives in the public eye if nobody reported on them? There is certainly a school of thought which says all publicity is good publicity. Well, maybe it's not as simple as that, but I'm willing to bet that Joe Newspapereditor would be pretty pissed if one or both had cleaned up their act. I mean what's newsworthy about that, eh? Well, nothing. This is the one of the many reasons that the world is going to hell, we love this stuff! However, my campaign to have not only these people left alone, but Britney Spears and anyone else whose lives have hit the skids, because if they are left to work their shit out, then that is a faster track to being clean and sober, than it is if they're in the papers everyday.

So to sum up, these people are ill, and they're not going to get well unless aspects of their personal lives are left to be just that. Personal. What is the world coming to when all we care about are the antics of a few unimportant celebrities? We should stop it, stop it now.

If newspapers cared more about the people they were reporting on, they could actually make a concerted effort to help these people out. Surely a motivation for Amy, Pete, and Britney to clean up their acts would be, if they were ignored UNTIL they got themselves sorted out? That is the motivation that these people need. "We won't write about you or your product unless you get yourself sorted out"...

...it's a thought.