Tabloid Taboo

Walking by the stores in the airport, I couldn't help but notice how many people were purchasing tabloid magazines to read on their flight. Aside from the tabloids though, there wasn't much else for customers to purchase. Of the dozen or so magazines typically offered, over half are magazines the likes of People, The Enquirer, Star, etc. This led me to wonder what fuels the desire for tabloids. Given the incredible boom of the tabloid media, I wonder if their popularity is reflective of the desires of the public, or if tabloids are just jammed down our throat.

Do people really want to read about Brad Pitt's facial hair or Paris Hilton's latest arrest? Are we as a society that uneducated that we must read such petty drivel?

I believe that, for the most part, people read tabloids to escape the harsh realities of the real world.  Reading a real magazine, such as TIME, provides readers with news of current events that matter.  However, they are mostly depressing and do nothing but remind the reader of the cruelties in the world today.The worst thing one can read about in the tabloids is that Spencer Pratt shaved his beard, or Angelina and Brad got in a fight. In TIME magazine, the articles describe war zones and impoverished countries. People do not want to be reminded of how fortunate they are to have drinking water or a roof over their head. This is why I don't watch the news at night- there is nothing positive about it. Magazines generally do not write articles about how great of a job the President is doing or how well the economy is progressing. Everything in the news revolves around negativity and pessimism.

Similarly, tabloids focus on pessimism, but in a different way. Rather than focusing on the negative things that matter, such as our national deficit and unemployment rate, tabloids focus on the shortcomings and failures of individual people who are already successful and set for life. Reading about Lindsay Lohan's recent drug bust makes people feel better about who they are and where they are in their life. Contrastingly, reading about starving children in Africa only makes people feel worthless and guilty for not contributing enough. This is why I believe people love tabloids and their popularity is a reflection of the desires of society.