Tabloid obsession leaves sour taste

In this week's reader's article, IT systems designer Gordon Brown - who hails from Kilmarnock but now lives in London - says a diet of celebrity gossip leaves a bad taste in his mouth. To read your views on this topic, see below.

FEEDING FROM THE TABLOID TROUGH

I'm standing in Glasgow's Central Station waiting on Dougy, an old pal of mine from Glasgow Tech, to make an appearance.

Is the public hungry for celebrity news?

When I stepped off the plane at the airport an hour ago I overdosed on oxygen. It didn't last.

The shuttle dropped me in Bothy Street, where the airborne poison wafting its way from the Hope Street drag was all too familiar. Still, it's great to be back.

I'm noticing for the first time what a fantastic interior the station has. If only I'd looked upwards on my way home every night all those years ago.

I glance over my shoulder to a different fluorescent interior - WH Smith. I'm struck then by something so obvious but it still takes me a moment to register the grip of it. Why is there so much tabloid Shod On the Shelves?

A line of ladies are particularly engrossed. They seem to be franticly searching through the pages for the answer to life itself whilst beside and in-between them a host of other customers are feeding from the trough.

Peeping in public

What is this fascination, this particularly British trait, for such mass consumption and digestion of tabloid pap? It seems to be a binge diet taken to extremes.

I feel sick just contemplating it.

I must be staring now in disbelief (perhaps my head is shaking slightly from side to side), for an OK customer has clocked my gaze and looks back indignantly in disgust, about to report me for peeping in a public place! Mercy me, what have I become?

I also believe that the effect of such mediocrity on society might be a wound that never heals

Within These Pages. A potent mix of glam and gossip, who's in and who's out, what's lacking in your life, a diet rich in the equivalent of saturated fat and MSGs so beloved by the Feed Me Now generation.

Is this tabloid obesity simply a reflection of the celebratory-hungry market that the public craves?

A market saturated in mediocrity, masquerading as a positive contribution to society? Is this really what everyone wants?

Is it just an extension of the 24/7 entertain me revolution?

Too many questions G. Aye, ah know. And no, I don't have concrete answers.

Values and traditions

It does seem to me, however, that the media doesn't just influence and steer, it creates culture.

I also believe that the effect of such mediocrity on society might be a wound that never heals.

Day by day our values and traditions seem to be getting diluted ever further. Ask any veteran of either war what they think of society now and the response will probably not be surprising.

Tabloid wares are on sale at Glasgow's Central Station

I often lament the fact that Bill Hicks is gone, whose like we may never see again in our own lifetime.

In these liberally accepting times, perhaps his incendiary material and voice should be required learning in the national curriculum.

I offer no solution other than an impassioned plea to the BBC, perhaps the last bastion of hope in the sea of despair.

Culture does not need to be "the curse of the thinking class". We can achieve balance and equality by the dissemination of information and knowledge that will benefit all, and do it in an entertaining way that adds true value and meaning to people's daily lives.

We need a sea-shift change in attitude through education - beamed in through the daytime TV conduit. Only then might the Ship of Souls be saved, and the Shod taken off the shelves.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and are not endorsed by the BBC.

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Your views on Gordon Brown's article.

It's good to see that people are still kicking against the slow decline into an Orwellian like consumerist culture. I for many years have been seemingly yelling to a room full of deaf people about how tabloids are stunting our intellect and we are unwittingly surrendering to their control of our minds. The excuse of "oh but people like it" or "some light-hearted relief from all the war, pain and badness in the world that we hear more and more about nowadays because of the media." Wake and smell the bacon for God's sake. Live in the real world. You are thus intentionally shunning reality in favour of a tabloid created "reality". The first step down the road to 1984 where the Thought Police rule not through fear, but by destroying our motivation to live in the real world, where we live reading the dross they produce, just mindlessly consuming it. Like Rob I do believe that people believe they are "cultured" because the drink Starbucks coffee and read the Independent. Listen to a song called "Starbucks Schmuck" for a scathing examination of this mindset.
Gordon Aitken, Arbroath

Gordon is highly accurate in his description of our media-driven, shallow, celeb-obsessed country. Our European neighbours do, indeed, look at what passes for popular culture in Britain with a degree of contempt. I share that contempt. But what is more worrying is the issue that Rob brought up which is level of manipulation that is going on. What pleases an authoritarian government more than a supine, junk-media, junk-food and booze addicted population sleepwalking its way to dictatorship.
Eleanor, Glasgow, Scotland

Do you remember the days before celebrity? We still had film stars, musicians and sports heroes, but they were people who had achieved something real through their talent and were good role models for the rest of us. The rise of those who are famous for no other reason than being famous is linked to the general dumbing down of our society and the stupid pseudo-democratic attitude that we are all potentially talented, interesting and worthy of attention for doing everyday things like arguing or flirting. Big Brother is this taken to the extreme (ordinarily inadequate attention seeking people in a house), but it permeates the whole of society and includes students being given credits for "life experience" and BBC website soliciting comments from people like me who have no special insight into the issues or anything which makes our views important.
Tim, Glossop, England

The same can be said about people here in the States but, unlike Brits, most are too lazy to read and get their celebrity gossip from TV. I can only take solace in the fact that I don't waste my life on that mindless drivel.
Carl, St. Louis, US

All I can say is that I agree with you on how the media devotes so much attention to today's so-called "stars". What I don't understand is why people care about what they do or how they live. It makes me sick that the tabloids take pleasure in reporting how much money a star spends on their home or how much they pay for their drinks. Most entertainers are egotistical and selfish and when it comes right down to it, whiners. A law should be passed to limit what they get paid because the more they earn, the more they think they are special, and as far as star treatment goes, cut them off, most do not deserve it....
Lloyd Albert, Holbrook, Arizona, United States

Has anyone who agrees with this article ever considered that the love of celebrity gossip is a symptom of our society instead of the creation of a worse one? We read the gossip columns every day for some light-hearted relief from all the war, pain and badness in the world that we hear more and more about nowadays because of the media.
Caroline, Coatbridge, Scotland

Well said Gordon, I especially agree with the bit about the media driving culture. However, am I the only one turned off by broadsheet/Berliner newspapers? They seem full of opinion and I struggle to get at the facts. I still can't comprehend the fact that they are politically aligned. Now that some are owned by large media organisations whose owners have politically agendas I am even less likely to trust them. I read somewhere recently, that in the US this has been the worst year for printed media since the 40's. Not surprising in my opinion.
Rob, Larne, N Ireland

Too right Gordon. The celebrity magazines and tabloids are mainly to blame for feeding this bloated cult, but the curious thing is that when you ask why people buy them you're met with an almost universal denial of having done so! If nobody bought them, then how would they remain in business? Sales to dentists and doctors' waiting rooms alone certainly couldn't keep them going. It's time we had a positive, organised campaign to discourage sales of this bilge. Instead of disapproving shakes of the head towards people reading them, public derision and humiliation would be more effective.
Anne Roberts, Cardiff, Wales (in exile from Glasgow)

I agree with Nick from Ealing - if we make a positive effort not to buy magazines with celebrity articles in, the publishers will (hopefully) soon get the message that there is more to life than the shallow celebrity that fame brings. We should also stop watching so-called celebrity programmes on TV too. I can't see the appeal of programmes with these Z-list wannabes making utter fools of themselves in front of the nation. Put them out of their misery - use the "amazing off button" - or just change channels!
Fiona, Livingston, Scotland

Although I agree that recently things have gone crazy with celebrity culture's never ending spiral into young and old minds alike I think that it's extreme snobbery that says that the lady reading OK and that kids downloading the latest Pop Idol single are all culturally void. Who's to say like me they can enjoy life and leisure on different levels just like switching channels. I watch BBC 2 but flick to C5 when the mood takes me. I enjoy a good food and can go head to head with anyone on politics but think Jordan is a living day Valley of the Dolls kinda gal. Gordon and others should not judge books or zine readers by their covers.
Jamie Jackson, Manchester (Glaswegian)

Why has everyone got such a problem with what everyone else is doing? Now I am not a fan of Peter Andre and neither am I fan any of any other specific 'pop group' but I, like everyone else, have no right nor reason to pass judgment on people who do. It's their choice just as it is the choice of someone who is interested in different cultures or history. If everyone just minded their own business and got on with their own interests the UK, if not the world, would be a better place. It almost sounds like you are jealous of these celebrities and therefore denying you care they exist is a cure. I doubt there is anyone who can stand here and say they haven't bought a tabloid or watched a documentary about a celebrity, ie Princess Diana. Speak about hypocrisy! Anyway the media will continue to grow as long as the independent public choose to spend their money on it and that is the choice of the customer. The green monster should go back into its cave.
Laura, Aberdeen

You only have to look at the new line up for the next series of I'm a Celebrity.... to realise the depths to which we have plummeted. A bunch of Z-list has-beens but people will still tune in in their millions to watch the humiliation.
Louise, Zurich: ex Scotland

I blame all the years that Neighbours and the like has been on TV - from school age onwards all we get is rubbish rubbish rubbish - more and more magazine mush and trans Atlantic muck!
MW, Renfrew

Any time you pick up a British tabloid there is more space awarded to what an overpaid underworked football "star" had for lunch than "real" news. It is typical of how general standards in the UK have fallen in the last 30 years, we lack so much in the way of respect it is no wonder we are looked down upon by other Europeans. Once we start to take an interest in our own health, education, environment, social problems, etc instead of some third-rate "star's" wonder-diet then society on this island may just reverse the trend of uniform decline.
Doug Bell, Konstanz, Germany

The mere existence of this article proves all is not lost, but the sad lack of any kind of depth that the majority of this country have will eventually have catastrophic effects for this country's culture and how we are viewed by others. In a few years we will be the new Americans, bloated on a diet of tabloid diatribe, junk food politicians and media creations that reality television throws up. There is no substance to any of this and like the author says, some of the survivors of the world wars must now really wondered why they bothered, when they see the state of the useless, shallow state of the population that feeds off David Beckham's haircut and Simon Cowell's every word. These people are being manipulated and are too stupid to realise it. This country has come to epitomise the cult of the idiot under the guise of intellect that exists within US-based coffee houses and sandwich shops, with their scattered copies of the Independent. When you hear people at work coming out with, "oh but they make great sandwiches" or "their lattes are delicious", ask them really how great can a sandwich and a cup of coffee be? And how stupid is someone who can't make their own coffee and sandwiches? This country used to have people of substance now we can't make our own lunches. Thanks Gordon, keep kicking against them!
Rob, Glasgow

As long as there are those of us out there who shun the tabloids and magazines for a good book, there will be hope! Knowledge is power so the free-minded in search of the truth should inevitably rise out of the dirge created by the current materialistic, vacuous, celebrity-loving generation and help society get back on the right track. Fingers crossed. As a standard every person should read the late, great Bills Hicks' book 'Love All The People' to assist their journey.
Jay Neil, Maidstone (but from Glasgow)

This really needs saying. The dumbing down move to averageness is all around us. Even the government is expanding the opportunity to booze and taking away our history, the inspiration from which futures begin. It is about time that religion in schools, another dumbing down, is replaced with classes relevant to being a positive person in society, with all the advice that needs. We also need to see teachers that again inspire - where are the ones that I remember, the ones who you held you in their spell for hours. I never hear mention of these professionals today. But, at least people are reading!
Lindsay Craik, Edinburgh

There is no doubt that the UK has become a very shallow society, probably the most shallow society in Europe and my European friends gasp in horror at the things us Brits look up to. Only a society devoid of any depth and real meaning could possibly look up to the likes of the Beckhams and allow someone like Peter Andre to reach number one.
Kevin, Aberdeen

How true. I berate my wife sometimes for reading all this sad pap. She (a teacher) still buys it though. The media machine have a lot to answer for here. Their glib answer of that's what people want is not good enough. The best thing is to make a positive effort to not buy/watch this stuff. Look at a French newsstand and you will see far more "culture" based media on display. I'd like to see it in the UK. First thing I'm going to do when I get home is to throw "Hello" in the bin... why don't you all do the same?
Nick, Ealing, UK

Too late Gordon. Many people, seemingly, already have the attention span of a gnat and the independence of a sheep. You only have to look at the numbers of fans for so-called pop groups or the amount of "celeb" gossip in everyday media. We are a bunch of hypocrites. We complain about the popularity of some mediocre person and yet we read about someone else who is just as mediocre and claim them to be "superior".
Dan, Glasgow, Scotland