Everyday, we see the media publicly bashing a celebrity for their actions done in private. I believe that society forgets that these people are human too, and value the same amount of privacy as we do. I don’t think that any reporter, journalist, or blogger could take the constant criticism that the celebrities they report about, receive everyday. I mean honestly no one wants to here about how they messed up this time, how they looked a mess one day, or improvements that society feels they should make in their own lives. But, this is what we do to celebrities, we leave them with no privacy and no room to fail.
There was a piece from my readings that stated, “… privacy is not a legal right only a moral good.” I mean, that is crazy, we don’t have the legal right to our own privacy. Take a second to think about that.
Professor Thomas Emerson’s summary about privacy is spot on:
“The concept of a right to privacy attempts to draw a line between the individual and the collective, between self and society. It seeks to assure the individual a zone in which to be an individual, not a member of the community. In that zone he can think his own thoughts, have his own secrets, live his own life, reveal only what he wants to the outside world. The right of privacy, in short, establishes an area excluded from the collective life, not governed by the rules of collective living.”
We give celebrities a bubble for them to think and do as they want, but once they step out of that bubble all privacy and morality leaves.
Bruce Jenner is a clear victim of the lack of morality that media and news reporters have today. There has been some speculation that Jenner was slowly making a transition to live his life as a woman; but no one knew it to be completely true.
InTouch magazine takes this speculation and runs with it! They released a photo shopped magazine cover with the headline, “My Life as a Woman.” They photo shopped lipstick on Jenner’s face and scarf more suitable for a woman.
We as the public have no right to know Jenner’s life decisions. If he wants to become a woman, Jesus, let the man be! He will come out to the public and the media when he is good and ready. He deserves privacy and no one seems to respect him.
It was later said that once the magazine surfaced, Jenner was in his car weeping while holding the magazine. This hurts my heart, just because he’s a public figure, doesn’t give InTouch or anyone else of that matter, to ridicule or falsify photo’s of this man.
I believe that if we don’t want it to happen to us, we shouldn’t do it to others. It’s as simple as that. Respect others with the same privacy that you demand.
Citations:
Christians, C., Fackler, M., Richardson, K., Kreshel, P., & Woods Jr., R. (2012). Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning (9th ed., pp. 95-98). Glenview, IL: Pearson Education.
InTouch Run Fake Image Of Bruce Jenner As A Woman, The Internet Responds | MTV UK. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from http://www.mtv.co.uk/bruce-jenner/news/intouch-run-fake-image-of-bruce-jenner-as-a-woman-the-internet-responds
Stanzza Patterson 