The Bloggomist: The Local Boy
Political Opinion

Some say any press is good press.  But after an incident that’s eclipsed the visit of an Indian prime minister, embarrassed the Secret Service, and generally shocked the American public it looks like it could be time to reassess the claim.  Apparently no one informed the Salahis that fame–or perhaps notoriety–comes at a price.  The spotlight means scrutiny under the public, and in a short span of time it seems the greedy hands of the media are digging up more authentic dirt than the tabloids could ever hope to fabricate.

By now most of you have already heard about how Tareq and Michaele Salahi gatecrashed a state dinner at the White House, where President Obama hosted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.  The event itself was less than remarkable; the circumstances surrounding the occurrence are what really started the fire, which doesn’t show any sign of waning as rumors of possible criminal charges float around the daily news.  I could only cringe when I heard the story, bracing myself for a line of reporting that threatens to continue me on my path to completely losing faith in American couples.  Face it: we’re already tired of the constant updates on Jon & Kate Plus Domestic Dispute (let’s be honest, “8″ got cut out of the picture awhile ago).  The Brangelina Project is getting predictable and we are still recovering from a Rihanna-Chris Brown combustion.  American couples are bad news and the more we learn about the Salahis the more we realize we’ve been sucked into not just a gatecrash but a crash course on self-promotion gone horribly wrong.

People want to be noticed and today’s technology allows us to achieve this in unprecedented ways.  We blog, we tweet, we track each others’ locations à la Enemy of the State with our iPhones.  The Internet is an attention-monger’s dream and we are all its victim.  Real-time transparency is no longer a trend, but a lifestyle, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  But sometimes people go a little too far.  Cue case study Salahi.

It seems fitting, then, that the White House first caught wind of their “mistake” through Facebook, when the couple posted pictures of them getting up-close and personal with Mr. President.  It’s safe to say show-and-tell was over once the Secret Service was perusing their albums.  The story doesn’t get better with rumors that Michaele was allegedly a The Real Housewives of D.C. hopeful and that a cameraman shot the couple preparing for the event and followed them to the White House.  People obviously watch The Real Housewives series for theatrics but this one takes the cake, perhaps much like the 8-foot wedding cake the couple enjoyed at their 2003 wedding which featured 28 bridesmaids, 28 groomsmen, 46 chefs in a 46,000 square-foot tent, and a 30-minute-long firework display to cap off the night.  And the hits just keep on coming.  Responding to claims by Michaele that she was once a Washington Redskins cheerleader and Victoria’s Secret model, both organizations have come out publicly stating that she was neither.  Tareq is currently not only known for his championship-winning winery, but for multiple civil suits brought against him and his wife involving hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to various individuals and organizations.  The world is now connected and privy to even the most intimate information instantly broadcast from an innumerable variety of outlets. Once the public eye is caught it seems impossible to hide one’s skeletons in what has become a glass closet.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be known.  Nearly all of us have the inherent desire to be great or do great and be recognized.  The problem is that Hollywood and the media have created an illusion that fame and greatness comes from your company.  Anyone who’s lived in L.A. or New York for more than three months knows that’s a lie.  90 percent of the aspiring actor/writer/musician population party consistently with names that they could drop until you’re dead.  And still people try to tout their worth by what A-Lister they’re on first name basis with (which you also discover rarely means anything), instead of by what they’ve built with their own two hands.

The Salahis’ blunder may have started with picking the wrong party to crash.  But ultimately it all comes down to the oldest universal Facebook law in the book most of us learned in high school:

Don’t post party pictures you might get in trouble for.  Even if it’s with the president.

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To see more from Caleb Lin, visit http://evilmonito.com/author/caleb/

via Caleb, 30 November 2009 7:11pm | |