Third Base

A little bit of snark to start our week, I’m afraid.  One thing that continues to amaze me is the absolute vacuousness of much of the programming with which my daughters and their friends spend their time. I get the entire economics thing (Hey! I grew up in the TV business!) and so I have nothing at all against reality programming and even watch some of it. But aren’t some of these folks’ 15 minutes more than up?
The primary exemplar of all that I dislike is your gal and mine, Paris Hilton. Here is someone in the “born on third base, thinks they hit a triple” club. This club, often known as the “Lucky Sperm Program”, features people who think all they’ve managed to achieve (meaning they have a lot of money) is based, as it is with most of the rest of us, on their business smarts or other talents. Lots of these folks own sports teams, others are in real-estate. One could argue that many web personalities, who are great at promotion and offer little else, fall into the same category but I guess they get a bit of a pass for being really skilled at self-promotion.  Many others, unfortunately, turn up in reality shows of one sort or another, where they are famous for being famous in reality shows but have no other talents. Come on – you can name them if you try and if you can’t, go look through People or Entertainment Weekly and you’ll find a good number of them.

Am I jealous?  Maybe.  More sad, actually, since there are so many folks with real smarts and real drive that manage to go to work each day (not shopping, thank you) and keep their families together without relying on Daddy’s money and the head start they were given in life to do so.

When I hire folks, I do ask about jobs they had as a kid and if they worked while in college.  I’m less concerned if they’re suburban rich kids (a group into which, arguably, I fall) than their general mindset.  The ones with the entitlement mindset are not going to work for me.  You’ve met them – they wonder why they’re not VP’s at 24 after 2 years of work experience and speak about going to work for the family business.  Do us all a favor – GO!

There’s nothing wrong with a few empty calories to go with your meal, which is what most of the members of the Third Base Club are.  However, a steady diet confuses you into thinking they’re substance and that’s bad.  Ignore them – maybe they’ll go away!

Am I being too tough here?  Are you as fed up as I am with the Third Base folks thinking they’re special?