It’s one thing to delight in the glee of celebs showing up to events in consistently tacky outfits, becoming divas on the Home Shopping Network, continuing to star in movies that flop or getting caught in ridiculous sex scandals (Seriously, tweeting a crotch photo? Comical, lame and totally worth mocking).

It is a completely other story to take pleasure in another human being’s death. I don’t know what it is about celebrities that makes us forget that they are actual people. Is it the over-the-top lifestyle? Is it the way they live their lives so openly in a way that would mortify most of us? I remember talking to a friend during Charlie Sheen’s meltdown, and I asserted how uncomfortable I was with the way people were idolizing and condoning his ridiculous behavior, especially since he has a history of violence. In response, she said “celebrities don’t count.” But celebrities do count. Their actions have consequences. They don’t exist in a bubble. The way that we choose to contextualize the actions of our celebrities says a lot about our society’s values.

Sheen, the highest paid actor on TV with a long history of domestic violence, goes on some awful rants, complete with some completely unnecessary Anti-Semitism (rants that eventually led to making money), and everyone bows down to the altar of yet another privileged white man who knows how to drum up publicity and make a profit for himself. Chris Brown has still not been forgiven for his attack of Rihanna. He had a fit on the set of Good Morning America and the media was quick to paint him as angry and unstable, and I find it impossible to believe that race doesn’t have anything to do with it. He’s a young black man who sings music that widely appeals to a young black audience — ie: the majority of people are not interested in investing in him or his success. Now, I am not an apologist for violent men. I don’t think it’s hard to avoid hitting women, and I believe both Charlie and Chris should be blacklisted, but the unequal treatment is most certainly not a coincidence.

And when Amy Winehouse dies, her struggle with drugs and alcohol made people feel comfortable enough to express their delight, because they know their marginalization of substance abuse, mental illness and, let’s be totally honest here –women — is acceptable in our society. It’s even been perpetrated on College Candy. Amy Winehouse, despite winning five Grammys in one night, despite having two critically acclaimed albums, despite being a distinguished vocalist and songwriter who has sold several million albums worldwide, is still not considered “worthy” of being part of a morbid club of rock stars who have all died far too young. The impact that she has made in the music industry is undeniable.

To deny the fact that celebrities reflect the ignorant and dysfunctional norms of our culture is to deny the true extent of how deeply our collective racism, misogyny and tendency to devalue people with mental illnesses runs. It’s counterproductive and doesn’t allow our society to evolve to its true potential.

And it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better anytime soon. He’s being enabled by his porn star goddesses, his publicist quit, and he doesn’t think he has a problem. If this was your relative, your parent, your friend, you wouldn’t be laughing. You would be scared. Because whatever is going on with Charlie Sheen is scary. While this is great entertainment for all of us sitting at home, it’s no longer a joking matter. We’re watching the unraveling of a human being happen in front of our eyes…and when something bad happens….which seems inevitable at this point, we’ll all be guilty.

Everyone who is now following him on Twitter will be guilty, everyone who ate up these interviews will be guilty, and the reporters who interviewed him for ratings will be guilty. If this was your friend who suddenly went off the deep end, you wouldn’t be egging her on, you would be uncomfortable and uneasy and you would try to figure out how you can help.

But how can we help Charlie? We’re not the big media companies, we don’t really know him, and we don’t know how to help him. And while I cheered this morning when I heard that his kids were taken away, I still felt uncomfortable knowing that he’s still not getting the help he needs.

So what can we do?

We can stop clicking on the Charlie Sheen links our friends send us, we can turn off the interviews, and we can respond to people saying “he’s crazy, lol” by responding “yes, he’s crazy, he is legitimately mentally ill, and mental illness isn’t funny.”

What do you think of about Charlie Sheen? What do you think about the way mental illness is portrayed in the media?

The Pregnant Man – Thomas Beattie became the sensation of the world in April when he appeared on Oprah to defend his choice to have a child as a transgendered man. Sticking up for your beliefs? Awesome, and definitely commendable. Eventually turning into a fame slut and marketing out your second pregnancy? Not cool. Now pregnant with his second child, Beattie has already cemented a book deal on his experience and been interviewed a second time as a ‘Barbara Walters Exclusive.’ One child is a miracle. A second one immediately afterwards is a marketing scheme.

Batsh** Insane Celebrities Across The Media - Britney, Lindsey, and others: we’re talking to you. 2008 was the year of the mental millionaire, with the world playing a captive audience to the tragic, bizarre, and sometimes just eerie behavior of celebrities. We watched Britney Spears struggle to put her life back together after divorce, Lindsey Lohan battling various addictions, and Scarlett Johansson crossing the borderline into stalker-ish about Barack Obama. Here’s the real scoop: an estimated 57.7 million adults are suffering from a diagnosable mental illness in the United States alone. What makes these celebrities any different from these people who are suffering in private besides their income and the paparazzi that shadow them? Watching people suffer is definitely a trend that shouldn’t cross over into ’09.

“Reality” Dating Shows - Now that Flavor Flav has finally hung up his clock and gone off the air, there are about thirty shows taking his place, and they’re spreading like cockroaches. Tila Tequila, the ‘Ikki Twins,’ and others are taking over Vh1 and MTV mercilessly, swamping our televisions with drunken fights (actually funny to watch), and pointless drama. Who makes their boyfriends/girlfriends eat nasty pig parts and do bizarre things in the name of love? These loveless actors do. Some dating shows range from the creepy (Date My Mom) to the outright postmortem (The Bachelor), but either way, they all need to go.

Political Ignorance/Apathy – In the year of the historical election, political action was awesome and political apathy was absolutely the anti-cool. The worst of the worse were the nonpartisans who were both apathetic and uneducated about the election. Their “why should I bother to vote” statements were both inhibiting to the democratic tradition and simply irritating. Guaranteed to piss off people who were voting, the ‘Not Voting’ demographic drew on fallacies and the platforms that they didn’t really understand to prove why they weren’t going to vote. The election was basically a two horse race, but there were still other entries available as an alternate, so not voting at all was just not cool.

Guys in Girl Jeans – It’s creepy. It’s weird. It’s a guy shopping in the same section as you in PacSun. As you put down the pair of sunglasses you were looking at and openly stare, you realize he’s not just shopping for a shirt to give to his girlfriend. He’s holding three pairs of jeans in his hand, and there’s no girlfriend in sight. As you watch, he takes the jeans and starts walking to the dressing rooms. You are not witnessing a confused shopper. You’re witnessing the Girl Jean Phenomenon, a plague of 2008 pop culture, and a trend that needs to die on December 31st. Guys wearing our jeans is not cool or edgy. It’s just lame and, now, overplayed.

Saturday Night Live – Is it still going? It’s been in the process of becoming painfully unfunny in the years since Will Ferrell left, and now with the exit of Amy Poehler, we just need to euthanize it. A classic sketch show that began in 1975 with genuinely funny people, SNL has run over six hundred episodes of pure comedic bliss continuously for thirty-three years. As with all great series, though, the time has come to put SNL out of its misery before it becomes the kind of joke it used to make.

Churning Out Tween Pop Stars By The Dozen – If child enslavement was defined as being manufactured on a kids’ show and being shoved on the masses, Disney and Nickelodeon would be doing massive amounts of time in jail. The list of sugary sweet music artists includes, but definitely is not limited to The Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, Demi What’s-Her-Name, That Miranda Kid, and a host of others, few if any of whom have actual talent. But you wouldn’t know, because should you approach any method of media that is playing a song by them, you’ll be deafened instantly and hopelessly by the cacophony of shrieking that erupts. The Original Disney Channel Star, Hilary Duff, unfortunately started it all when she split from Disney in 2004 to pursue a solo career (which caused a big fuss, if I remember right). She was an original, at least for the Disney Channel. These cookie cutter kids? About as generic as it gets.

Agree or disagree? Think something else should have made the list? Voice your opinions below, and tell us what you think about the worst pop culture in 2008!

Before paralyzing you, my dear reader, with my cheekiness, I’ll check my sarcasm at the door. While the experience of college is truly a gift, i.e. if one is open to education, willing to forge new friendships, and eager to learn something from their lovers, it is also a tumultuous period in one’s young adult life. Suffice to say, depression is common, and most college students experience varying degrees of this mental illness.

To be sure, the term is overly-used and problematic, just as the term melancholy was exhausted during the 19th century. Nevertheless, that’s not to say depression isn’t real – it most certainly is, and I know a handful of people who thought its symptoms so real, they are no longer alive (incidentally three of them were in college, and one of them shot himself in the library’s bathroom at my school, while I wrote a final paper at my carrel).

There are a lot complicated reasons why college students are susceptible to depression. In order to clarify the complexity of this issue, my first few discussions address environmental forms of depression, which are just as serious as chemical ones.

For starters, if you’re a competitive student and an outgoing person, college can be overwhelmingly demanding. I’m not just talking about your coursework or – if you’re a dork like me – worrying abut your professor, wondering if s/he is enjoying your term paper as you read this blog (but trust me, don’t fret about it – you’re off their radar, unless you’re standing in front of them (impossible since you’re reading my blog, right?)0 Let’s get beyond the mundane, and delve into the meaty stuff.

Let’s face it, you are being pushed hard, challenged to think in new ways, and, therefore, intellectually burdened (that’s not a bad thing). You find yourself reevaluating many beliefs that you’d been raised to think were just plain true. (Unless you were born into an academic family – and that’s not a guarantee either – you’ll most certainly experience these emotional and intellectual tensions). Moreover, if you’ve ventured off into “deconstructionist land,” your head is churning like a Dairy Queen malt-maker, and you find yourself up at night “realizing” that truth does not exist, I have words for you, à la Tony Soprano: “a’ take it eas-eee!.”

Step back from your Derridean texts for a moment, or just your plain ol’ science book, and understand that these sorts of brainy somersaults are a good thing. Sure, it’s scary, uncomfortable, and just weird to push your thoughts in different directions when reading. Plus, it’s also hard to consider someone else’s point of view during a classroom discussion, particularly when you think that the person, who espousing such contrary views, is an idiot, stinky, odd, or simply annoying. But listening to your classmates, regardless of what you think about how they look, how offensive you find their aroma, or whatever, well . . . that’s the “stuff” that makes college worth it.

There are, however, other factors that aren’t directly related to your academics. We’ll investigate those next.

In the meantime, do any of you relate? If so, please share!