The Kardashians: And Now For Something Completely Different

Amid all the hoopla, the personal assistants, the bodyguards and the paparazzi surrounding the recent visit of the , I sought a moment of clarity. Who in God’s name are these people?  

I was surprised—no, stunned—that no one could really answer that question to my satisfaction. The most common answer given was that they are famous for being famous. Excuse me, but that sounds like a line straight out of Monty Python.

Absent of any credible reason to idol worship, I decided to apply my usual litmus test to the situation. Would I want to be stranded on a deserted island with these people?  On first blush, well yes. But seriously think about it. These women, stripped of their pa's, helping to fend off animals, survive the elements, forage for food, build shelter, etc., etc. No, I would rather not, thank you. Even sending one of these super-model sized women to gather food for our survival seemed a task fraught with disappointment.

I put the question to bed and stuck with my answer. It was then I thought, how shallow of me to judge them solely on their appearance. I decided to find an episode of "Keeping up with the Kardashians," to more thoroughly base my opinion of them.

I had a very low bar for the reality show, which is based on their day-to-day struggles. While the show lived up to my expectations, I took issue more with its reality premise. I had the overwhelming sense that its stars are mere handmaidens to the impetuous whims of their producers in what could best be described as a quixotic format. I personally found the last episode of "Two and a half men" to be steeped in a greater sense of reality.

Its true, the cult of personality is a bewildering beast. A paradox of modern society. We often puzzle at how man, in antiquity, adorned his saints in such a fashion yet we continue to do the same with these secular contemporaries. What we stand to gain as a society from watching and promoting this sort of vacuous elitism is anyone’s guess.