It’s over. It’s got to be over. With the near-death of Lamar Odom, the undeserved aura that trails each high-heeled step of any one of the Kardashians’ lives must be dimmed. Or put out.
The Kardashian family is toxic. They’ve been toxic since their first minute of screen-time, during which they began their crusade of irresponsibility (and pathetically immense cultural influence).
They tricked the public. They told us theirs was a “reality” show. As if it was real. They wanted their lives to appear tangible, within the grasp of the Everyman. Thus, the Kardashians forcefully integrated their lives of fantastical glamour into the non-televised world the rest of us inhabit, sucking in and spitting out unfortunate civilians who chose to treat the Kardashians as regular people. These unlucky folks didn’t seek the fame and attention; they are people like Lamar Odom. People who, I believe, hoped to build their own realities within the facade.
But the Kardashians were miles, light-years ahead of these people, of Lamar Odom. The foundations (such as they are) of their facades were built with the consideration of only themselves; their plan doesn’t include the realities of other people.
For “reality” stars, nothing is real to them. They don’t care about anyone real. They’re not quite human.
And yet, this seemingly unreal family had the tragically real effect of almost killing Lamar Odom. Their narcissistic disregard for others, their irresponsible pursuit of divine attention, their disdainful corruption of the lives of others—it almost took its toll with the worst possible cost: a real-life death.
It has to stop.
For years, American culture has failed to establish boundaries between the false realities of reality television and the real lives of those who consume it. Reality television, as well as “news” as it’s reported by TMZ, E! and even other more traditional news outlets, have given us access to what is purported to be the daily lives of these television stars, leading the public to believe that these people are not only real folks like us, but they and their lifestyle are embedded within our own reality. So when people from a different world, like Odom, are brought into the family, the Kardashians have already given the public tacit and explicit permission to raid their lives with unwanted attention and judgment, an evil tactic to increase “likes” and “followers” that the Kardashians feed on through their television show, blogs, social media accounts and their willingness to live lives exposed.
This leaves the family, and everyone involved, in a strange state between fantasy and reality. The Kardashian zone.
Even though Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom had cut contact, according to reports (ironically, even the absence of communication is worthy of being communicated), she never allowed him to leave the show. Their phone calls and her false portrayal of concern (which was not even followed by any evidence of actual concern) were put on display for the world, making a mockery of the man. Even with Odom’s life hanging in the balance, the Kardashians sought to advance their televised, streamed, blogged and Tweeted plot, seamlessly blending their storyline into his harsh reality: Khloe Kardashian, we’re told, was given the responsibility of making medical decisions while Odom lay in a coma.
And, to top it all off, Kris Jenner started a social media campaign, for Christ’s sake. (Or, more to the self-serving nature of such a campaign, “for Kris’ sake.”) With a hashtag, #ourfighter, Kendall Jenner tweeted, “please don’t go,” in the solipsistic voice of a sad teenager on Tumblr looking for attention, leading to over 35,000 retweets and an abundance of new followers. All of this as Odom lay dying. “Finally, the Kardashians break their silence,” were the headlines. WHO CARES? There is a real human being’s life on the line, and all we’re supposed to worry about is what the Kardashians have to say about it?
It’s sick.
In the aftermath, the public will be tempted to give empathy to the Kardashians, just as society does with anyone who has experienced the near-death of a loved one. But our empathy will only lead to more hashtags and tweets, to more Instagrams and followers, to more one-hour special episodes of their “reality show,” to more Kardashian mania.
It has to stop.
The Kardashians take our emotions, our attention, our hope, our optimism, our trust and our care and turn it all around for their own personal gain. And with this as the guaranteed, self-serving end-result of our sympathy, we cannot truly feel bad for the Kardashians.
They almost killed Lamar Odom, and I don’t think they really care. Let us do right by Lamar Odom, properly giving him the privacy and the respect he deserves. Let’s leave the Kardashians out of it. All of it.
Jackson Prince is a Trinity freshman.
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