Why do (the collective) we find Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin and family

[cali]

Ann Coulter, etc so endlessly fascinating? I get that the MSM pushes these folks, but I don't get why that get so much attention on DU. Maybe it's just easier to talk about these media creations than to discuss other, more difficult and painful things. Maybe it's what an antropology prof of mine once said, that gossip is the human equivalent of picking nits off of each other.

[RB TexLa]

1. It's like watching a drunk trash couple having a fight on a 7-11 parking lot on a Friday night

you can't turn away.

[meegbear]

2. We don't ...

they scream like babies when they don't get the attention they crave and then scream like babies when they don't get the "coverage" they want.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

3. Everyone loves a trainwreck.

In a morbid fascination kind of way.

[glowing]

Remeber watching Jerry Springer.. The most senseless "talk" show.

Talk I use lightly: it was an all out blood bath. People naked, people throwing shoes, people cussing, and people taking down the security guards. But I remeber watching it all the time during college. It was the only thing you could here at 10am in the dorm rooms, Kind of like South Park on Weds. (it was new then). We have a facination with strange, out there, freak-ish people.

[glowing]

4. hiccup

Talk I use lightly: it was an all out blood bath. People naked, people throwing shoes, people cussing, and people taking down the security guards. But I remeber watching it all the time during college. It was the only thing you could here at 10am in the dorm rooms, Kind of like South Park on Weds. (it was new then). We have a facination with strange, out there, freak-ish people.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. I wouldn't lump Coulter in with the other two.

She gets paid to be incendiary and piss people off. I personally don't find her fascinating at all. Palin and "Joe" on the other hand I find very fascinating, as they represent two of the worst cases in recent memory of the glorification of ignorance for political gain.

[dionysus]

6. a part of the dumbing down of america perhaps.

or that as a people we value infotainment over actual news and current events.

[napi21]

7. I think because all the people you mentioned are so bazaar!

They are too strange, even for Pubs! ie: Joe the Plumber is now a war correspondent????? Sarah couldn't name any newspapers she read????? I don't even have to mention anything that comes out of the 3rd one's mouth!

All of them arecreatures like we've never met or heard of before!

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. It's like sneaking into the side show at the carnival.

You never know what kind of tantalizing sights you'll see when you slip into the tent.

[stillcool]

9. the tv decides what the topic of the day is.

[tpsbmam]

10. They're great exemplars of how screwed up our society is.....

Joe the idiot going to Israel as a correspondent (in addition to all of the other asinine things he's done & his following + media attention) & the Palin ongoing sagas are great examples of how we elevate the mediocre and below mediocre to celebrity status. Sarah Palin is a little different because of her vp run, but still....she's an ongoing train wreck and a fabulous example of how fucked up the Reps are, particularly given her potential presidential run poll numbers. And they're great examples of how low the corporate media have sunk.

(Edit for typo.)