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I live near Rhinecliff, NY. Not too near but close enough. In case you haven't heard (like you're off camping with no TV, newspaper, or radio) Chelsea Clinton is getting married there today.
Now I have nothing against Chelsea, I even feel a bit sorry for her since she was often publicly picked on for her appearance when she was a teenager in the White House (imagine being a teenager and having people call you unattractive on national TV). I hope her and her husband-to-be, Marc something or another, have a nice wedding (even though he's a hedge fund weasel and they're spending an truly obscene amount - several million dollars - on the grand extravaganza).
Anyway, the local, national, and international press has been crawling all over Rhinebeck, interviewing anyone and everyone walking down Main Street, and fawning over this "Wedding of the Century." I've even heard the phrase "American Royalty" (how'd that work out for the Kennedy family, by the way?).
Give me a break.
Maybe it's just me, but I have a hard time understanding why anyone cares about this (or about Lindsay Lohan's legal problems or some clown named "Snookie" whose show I've never seen but see referenced everywhere). Are people's lives that empty that they have to care so deeply about the lives of celebrities? I can understand getting excited over a friend or relative's wedding, but why care about someone who'd like the Secret Service to shoot you if you got too close to hers? Chelsea's famous because her father was president, not for anything she's ever accomplished.
Do people really want "American Royalty" or is it only the press? Judging by the swooning in Rhinecliff, I do think some people want to worship the ground famous people walk on. The whole concept of royalty - that people are better than you because of who their daddy is - seems morally reprehensible to me. I'm afraid I could never meet people like the Queen of England (like there's a chance of that ever happening!). While I'm happy to meet people, shake their hands, and make small talk, I'd never bow and scrape or call someone "your majesty." That's why we picked up arms back in 1776!
So, have a nice wedding Chelsea but don't start thinking you're a royal princess even if some people would like you to play that role. Although given that you're spending more on this wedding than many Rhinecliff residents earn in their lifetime suggests that fame has already gone to your head. Too bad.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
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As someone who had a wonderful but very inexpensive wedding 31 years ago on a shoestring (20 guests--we all fit comfortably into a nice private room in a Szechuan restaurant--ironically it was located right across the street from the White House!), I share your misgivings about spending extravagant quantities of money on a wedding.
ReplyDeleteHowever, at least the fancy Rhinecliff wedding is stimulating the upstate NY economy at a time when it is certainly needed!
In any case, it is surely not Chelsea herself who is spending all that money. She is a grad student in health policy at the moment. She did work for a few years as a consultant, but it is unlikely that she earned enough money to contribute more than a token share of the costs of the wedding.
I presume it's not Chelsea, but rather her parents who are spending all that money, and presumably they got it from a public that is eager to buy copies of their books and pay large fees to book her father as a speaker.
It sounds to me as though Chelsea's mother may be far more invested in the wedding than she is, since press reports four weeks ago quoted Secretary of State Clinton saying that the wedding "truly is the most important thing in my life right now."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/03/clinton-wedding-truly-is-the-most-important-thing-in-my-life/?fbid=OtHsfN0oVgS#more-111770
We picked up arms in 1775.
ReplyDeleteOK, now we're nitpicking. You know what I mean!
DeleteSorry. We all have our nerdy areas of interest.
ReplyDeleteAlex