The Age of the Infamous - AKA: does this make me sound old??

by E. Nina Rothe

It used to be, not too long ago, that a person would become famous through special merits, extraordinary talents, diplomatic conduct or even otherworldly beauty. I remember a time as a little girl when I was enthralled by musicians like The Police, cool looking, super-talented Rockstars who were talked about little beyond their music. While in Junior High I read teen magazines like Tiger Beat and found Ralph Macchio dreamy because of his good-boy image and behavior. The pages of teen rags then were

full of boys and girls that one could have taken home to Mom.

Fast forward to 2010 and it's not longer cool to

be kind, talented, intelligent or diplomatic. Or even pretty, by the looks of 99% of the people in NYC. But that's a whole other piece onto itself. The one rule that goes these days is what my actor ex boyfriend once shared with me: "The only bad press is no press at all". Today's stars would rather be talked about for their lack of underwear, their crass outbursts, their drug rehab stints or their drunk-driving charges than get lost within the cracks of TMZ or People magazine.

To prove my point I don't even have to name names, but ask where are the celebrities of the moment? In jail from breaking a drug charge parole, under sedation for his paranoid outbursts, wearing her underwear to a baseball game and... OK, so Ryan Seacrest is in the news for having dropped a 10K dollar tip, but that's where the positive celebrity headlines end. Sad but true.

Now, it would be silly of me to blame the celebs for this new trend, since I am actually seeing it more and more in the real world too. I went out with a guy a few weeks ago, a less than prolific filmmaker, who first tried to ask me for money to make his new film, then when that didn't work out for him - hum, I wonder why?! - he texted me to insult my femininity. A "friend" recently sent me a drunken vent message on FB, in the middle of the night, to tell me all that he found wrong with me. His reasoning? That I had been distant - read: not paying attention to the chap - lately. I mean, if you can't get your friend's attention any other way, why not try insulting them for a change... And even our NY City's finest aren't being left out of this horrible trend. Lately, I've been nearly run over half a dozen times by NYPD cars that roll through a red light, without a siren, while the cops inside are cluelessly on their cell phones. Eh hum... I thought to uphold the laws you actually had follow them yourself. Silly girl.

In this age of headbutts during sporting events, table tossing in reality shows and people marrying and divorcing as quickly as I change underwear - which BTW I keep hidden inside my clothes, thank you very much! - I ask myself what the future generations are learning. It used to be that one could say to one's child "Don't do drugs. Why not? Because I don't" or "Don't yell, because I don't". It's not like that anymore and I wonder what message we are passing down for the boys and girls of tomorrow... We'll certainly have a lot of panty-less, drunken, prescription drug addicted, jailed, mean, inappropriately dressed, paranoid people on our hands... But one thing is guaranteed: they will know how to use a cellphone, screaming into it while sitting right behind you on that Ethanol-powered bus, for sure!

p.s. My own personal bad behavior includes not having stopped by the blog this whole month! Sorry, my fellow Divas. I promise to be better in August...

Images courtesy of The Police, Bravo magazine, Ryan Seacrest and Bravo