Another day another drama...
I've been stating that I would make an update like this for, oh, the better part of a year now, but here it is, finally.
So I suppose I should preface this by saying that I've been a fan of Britney Spears since I was in the 6th grade. That's kind of a long time. People have always asked me why I like the girl so much, and truth be told, I'm not even sure myself. I think her music is incredibly catchy, light and fun. I've always thought her music videos were mesmerizing and (generally) of high calibre. I've always thought that the girl could put on a stellar show from the concert footage I've seen. And I've always thought that overall, she seemed like a really sweet, nice, and (formally) attractive girl. Perhaps growing up with only Magic 93 and no cable at home, I got used to bland adult top 40, so when Britney showed up perhaps it was my own way of thinking "Ohhhh, I'm so badass for listening to her." In any event, me = fan. The weird thing is that at times it feels like I almost know her because I grew up with her. I know I don't actually know her, but growing up with her and everything that encompasses the Britney machine, it feels like I do. In any event, I don't know her. And neither do you. In reality, very few people know the girl, but as of late, people seem to constantly be passing opinion on her as if they do know her.
I always hear people say things like "she does it for attention" or "she's a trainwreck" or "she's not very professional" (re: VMA performance) or "she's gotten fat" and I think that all these comments are slightly unfounded. Yes, she's been going on a somewhat downward spiral for the better part of a year and a half, but people seem to forget that through the head shaving, through the custody battles, through the lacklustre performances, through the media circus that surrounds her, she's still one of us. She's still a human being. Just because someone will never know that you specifically called them fat or a bad mom doesn't make it any less rude. Just because everyone else thinks that someone has turned into a trainwreck doesn't make it right to point, mock and ridicule. For people to honestly wish for her to commit suicide is a rude, ignorant and insulting thing to say.
Furthermore, people always seem to forget that, generally, we don't know the complete truth about any given situation and any given time - whether it's about Britney or the state of Iraq or the death of someone like Heath Ledger. For instance - when she shaved her head in February last year? Yeah, not many people know that when she went into the shop she kept screaming out "NOBODY TOUCH ME! I'M TIRED OF PEOPLE TOUCHING ME!" or that shortly before she did that, her aunt passed away after losing a fight to cancer. I've heard people tell me that she did it for attention, but really, people don't normally do things like that for attention. Perhaps we should examine the variables in her life leading up to that point and the circumstances which she found herself in that evening. Perhaps we should look at the fact that Lynne has borderline exploited her daughter since the age of 12 by forcing her to work nonstop. Perhaps we should look at the fact that for the better part of her 26 years she was being told everything from how to dress, to what to say and how to behave. Is it any wonder that she doesn't want to be told how to do anything now? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's OK for her to not want to be told what to do (re: violating court orders) but perhaps we should look at why she's doing this.
My opinion on her and her situation? I think she needs help. She's moved past the "get your shit together" phase and is in need of someone to help her, both medically and otherwise. The people she surrounds herself with allow her to continue carrying on in the same manner she's been going in. She needs the paparazzi to leave her to herself. She got sent to the hospital again last night, and reports are pouring in that she had over 60 paparazzi's following her. That's on top of 5 police cars, 1 ambulance and 2 helicopters. Everything she does and everywhere she goes turns into an absolute media gong show. Thankfully, she is in the hospital again and maybe this time she'll get the help she needs. For the most part, she's already lost full physical custody of her children since no court would ever give them back to her, but she needs to take care of herself and then become a full fledge mother to her children. Does she care for her kids? Most likely. But she has a funny way of showing it when she doesn't follow through with court orders in an attempt to regain them. She can't keep going on 3 days with no sleep and living off Red Bull. She needed help after she gave birth the first time. I honestly think she went through post-partum depression, but instead of anyone doing anything about it, we gobbled up as much information as we could. And really, who can blame people for writing about her and taking pictures of her and swarming around her? A report recently released stated that in total, Britney has generated between 110 and 120 million dollars in revenue this past year for photographers, magazines, television shows and everyone else in between. Did you know that a magazine with her on the cover sells 33% more copies than one that doesn't? People continue to make money off her (re: Dr.Phil, Adnan, etc etc) and guess what? We're all to blame. I'm to blame and you're to blame. As long as there's a market for it, then people will always follow her around, preventing her from having a normal life. As long as I go out and find out the latest Britney gossip and look at the latest pictures of her, I'm contributing to the problem.
I don't really think I've made much of a point/argument in this long post that no one has bothered to read, but in conclusion, the girl needs help, and people being rude about it, is not helping. What "help" constitutes, that I cannot say. It would involve everything from her doing her part, to her family and friends forcing her to stay in line, to us forming a recession in the market for Britney news. People forget that she's still a human, nothing more and nothing less, and as such she should still be treated like one, not an animal at the zoo for all to gawk at.
