Fatty fatty two by four

I indulged my love of pop culture yesterday and skimmed through People at the optometrist's office. I'm glad the doctor was running late, because I got to read about Jessica Simpson's "weight problem".

I'm tired of the hypocrisy in this country. If a female celebrity is too skinny, there are whispers of eating disorders, weird diets, drug use, alcohol abuse, and so on. If she adds a few healthy pounds to her frame, the gossip magazines make note. If she, heaven forbid, bulks up a bit, as us mere mortals do from time to time, she is loudly and publicly derided for being fat. And then the paparazzi are on fat patrol, stalking her, watching what she eats, where she's eating ("Back at In-N-Out Burger, we see!"), who she's eating with, ad nauseum. Or it is decided she is pregnant.

Of course, if male celebrities turn into tubbies (see John Travolta, Alec Baldwin), no one says a thing. But that's another discussion.

This country's obsession with celebrities is ridiculous. It is so much fun to look at their outfits, get glimpses of their kids and houses and favorite vacation spots, see them pushing a grocery cart to their Range Rover. But it has crossed a line. We were voyeurs; now we're stalkers. And mean ones, at that.