Lately I have been noticing how the rich get richer while the rest of us get addicted to various forms of “entertainment,” and I use that term very loosely!

As football season rolls around again, I can assure you that far too many of us distract ourselves with this gladiator-type pastime. Who cares if these fine young men will eventually end up with traumatic brain injuries or worse? Let the games begin!

If football is not your cup of tea, there is a grand assortment of other ways to distract yourself, so your mind does not stray onto subjects of importance or even revolution.

One of my personal favorites is our addiction to the minutest details of the lives of “TV personalities” or “celebrities.” Sometimes these stories actually make the national “news,” baby bumps anyone?

My usual response is: “And exactly how is this any of my business?” Our obsession with celebrities is much like the Greeks with their gods and goddesses, and look how they ended up! Relax, most celebrities screw up their lives just as quickly and as well as the rest of us, in spite of their million dollar homes and expense accounts.

Next obsession? Our apparent LOVE AFFAIR with our electronic devices where we can enjoy our Internet addiction while pretending we are “working.” Yes, the mainstream media finally found a way to control our minds 24 hours a day instead of the paltry 10 or 12 hours they had back when TV first started out. And as if that wasn’t enough, we now have Facebook and Twitter where we can pretend we finally have “friends.” And don’t forget the endless supply of virtual games like Solitaire and Second Life.

I call all of these addictions and obsessions “diseases of over-consumption” which are certainly no different than the usuals, like consuming massive amounts of sweets, bad carbohydrates, salt, and fat while shopping too much or hoarding. But let us not forget that addiction which I wish I could develop a tiny case of: over-exercising!

What about those who obsess about stopping the natural process of aging. Every time I catch a glimpse of  Cher these days I think, “What an expensive and painful hobby she has going, but I’m sure she will leave such a lovely corpse!”

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