Few
other cultural stories than the ongoing saga of television personality Kim
Kardashian demonstrate more aptly the biblical principle: “For my thoughts are
not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8)
The
media, fueled by a paying public and gossip hounding society, have chronicled
Kardashian’s rise from somewhat sheltered biological daughter of Robert
Kardashian -- who served as defense counsel to O.J. Simpson during his 1994
murder trial -- to internationally known celebrity by 2007.
Her
biological mother, Kris, has been remarried to U.S. Olympics champion and darling
of the 1970s Wheaties box, Bruce Jenner, since 1991.
By
2004, Kim was serving as a stylist to celebrities. A short two years later, she
launched a luxury California clothing business, D-A-S-H, with sisters Khloe and
Kourtney.
But
Kardashian’s true rocket to fame? Huffington Post puts it best.
“Kim
Kardashian owes a large part of her fame to the release of her sex tape with
then-boyfriend Ray J,” the site reports, in a Nov. 2 story.
In
2007, Kardashian won a $5 million settlement from the company that released her
sex video. That same year, the entire family cashed in with a television
reality series, Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Fast-forward to 2012, and the
series has entered its seventh season.
We’ve
been treated to play-by-play coverage of NBA’s Kris Humphries’ courting of Kim,
his posh, multi-million dollar wedding to Kim – and his subsequent, and nearly
immediate, separation from Kim. And in between, Kim and her sisters have been
treated like royalty by a complimentary press. Even family-friendly Fox host
Gretchen Carlson, normally sensitive to equality issues between men and women,
appeared to fawn during a morning visit with the three Kardashian sisters to
discuss their entrepreneurial achievements in Nov. 2010, and again with an
interview with Khloe and Kourtney in July of 2011. Following the latter, social
media sites exploded with gossip of Khloe’s tactless display of body parts.
And
now the latest: The still married Kardashian is now pregnant with rapper Kanye
West’s baby.
Once
again, Huffington Post provides some much needed perspective:
“Kardashian’s
first sex tape with Ray J was shot in 2003 and released in 2007. Since then,
the brunette beauty and her family have gone on to dominate the world of
reality TV and beyond. Most recently, there have been reports that the singer’s
boyfriend Kanye West had a couple of his own sex tapes being shopped around –
one of which was said to feature a Kardashian look alike,” the Nov. 2 story
continues.
The
culture of Kardashian: Selfish, self-centered, materialistic, adulterous, voyeuristic,
immoral, petty, self-indulgent.
And
yet -- revered, respected, held in high esteem by press and public alike. How
far we have strayed from our Judeo-Christian roots.
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