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Media Matters
Who Are Jon and Kate?
Recently I began noticing on tabloid covers and website homepages frequent stories involving two people named Jon and Kate. I don't know who they are. The brief headlines and teasers I've seen don't identify them, as in, "Former Olympians Jon and Kate" or "Philanthropic power couple Jon and Kate" or "TV watchers and squabbling lovers Jon and Kate," for example. They seem to be having some kind of marital trouble, one of those celebrity divorces in the making, complete with lurid hints of bad behavior. Or the divorce itself has made them celebrities; or they're not married but just "breaking up," since getting married today is not worth the bother.
Such stories are always tabloid staples, but Jon and Kate won't go away. They've been in the headlines for what seems like weeks. At some point, "Jon and Kate" reached critical mass in my mind and I became conscious that I still didn't know who they were. My hand glided over the mouse to click on a story and find out, but then I stopped myself. As the days passed and I refused to click links or read home-page teasers -- only headlines, which are unavoidable -- my ignorance remained unsoiled.
Now it has become a project: I will strive not to discover who Jon and Kate are, though there are limitless opportunities for finding out involuntarily -- whether through a random television playing in the next room, my car radio, or an Internet headline that gives the game away before I can avert my gaze. But so far, I have been successful.
Obviously it is not important to know anything about Jon and Kate beyond this: they are evidently the latest sorry fools to feed their lives into the maw of 24/7 media culture. As tabloid subjects, they are contemptible by definition, so knowing how they came to be contemptible is purely incidental.
The Jon and Kate story interests me only in how it illustrates the conscious effort one has to take to avoid absorbing, even unconsciously, whatever pablum the ubiquitous media machinery chooses to shovel out. Now, don't get me wrong: I, like all proper-thinking people, bow my head in thanks each day for this wonderful machinery, with its proliferation of choices and channels -- the Internet, cable TV, email, tabloids, talk radio, cell phones, iPods -- that allow us to customize our lives and guard against the scourge of silence that so haunted less fortunate Americans in earlier times. It is truly the liberation of the republic and I agree with all of the proper-thinking technologists that the machinery is Madisonian in its diffusion of faction and Jeffersonian in its decentralization and Lincolnian in its determination never to perish. And I am old enough to remember those gray days of the old regime, when citizens were left unplugged to think their own thoughts.
So it is with sadness that I oppose the great machinery, though I cannot hope to prevail in any meaningful way. Such is the state of the mismatch that continued ignorance about Jon and Kate counts as a kind of victory. It's one of my great achievements, in fact. But it will be temporary. The machinery wants me to know who Jon and Kate are, and sooner or later it will teach me. And I'll be grateful, as I should have been all along. I'll have won the victory over myself. I'll love Jon and Kate.
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Appleby| 6.12.09 @ 6:43AM
Personally I do not want to hear the sordid details of life of the people with whom I work, much less those of random *celebrities* who are famous for being vulgar. In the lunchroom every day I hear vulgar and nasty commentary with loud laughter (and thanks to the habit of jamming wires in their ears and cranking the volume up to Eleven, todays generation of young women is LOUD in the way a jet aircraft no longer is), including the most rapacious details of see-through dresses and thong underwear and wide-spread knees. The only way to escape the shrieking of vulgarity in everyday life is to keep away from the people that roll in the muck and spew the swill. This is getting harder to do every day, as Generation Deaf and Dumb continue to raise the decibel level and lower the tone of the room.
Lord knows there have always been vapid and vulgar people in the world. What I want to know is when they became the norm.
Kitty| 6.12.09 @ 7:03AM
Until today, TAS was Jon-and-Kate free.
...
SLG| 6.12.09 @ 7:15AM
What an astute observation! And, making me smile (but, very little), I've also seen the plethora of those silly (I suppose, never have bought one or read 'em...) "Star," "Globe," et al.
I shrug at the presumption that (1) I actually care, (2) know who they're talking about, and (3) am expected to part with my cash in order to find out stuff I really don't care about? At all.
Like, who is the "Jen" who always seems to be having problems? (see, I've been to the store fairly often and have seen lots of earlier copies too, as I advance in Krogers' line)
Asked the guy behind me. He didn't know; the woman behind him (it was an express line) indicated that she had been on TV.....
Okay.
Yet, equally confusing is how these magazines, periodicals, whatever, stay in business -- only once have I ever seen a person purchase one...
And, no, I don't know who Jon and Kate are either. Nor do I particularly care.
emo| 6.12.09 @ 7:31AM
I identify with the author 100%. I could have written this piece.
Bram| 6.12.09 @ 8:00AM
I grew up watching old-school professional wrestling. They took breaks in the fake action to make up what they hoped to be interesting storylines.
“Reality” TV has the adopted the same formula – fake action and fake storylines. They use the grocery store rags to push the storylines. I don’t watch reality TV and don’t read the rags – but when I see them I can’t help but wonder which stories are “works.” If it was Sgt. Slaughter and Kate plus 8 I would be very tempted.
Paul D| 6.12.09 @ 8:22AM
I never heard of them until you wrote about them.
So I don't know who they are either.
And I also don't care to find out.
Cheers, Paul
Wicked Dickie--Virginia| 6.12.09 @ 8:24AM
Whew, what a relief. I thought I was just being an old fogey for not knowing or caring who they are. Creigh who?
WZS| 6.12.09 @ 8:47AM
Well said. I can add a few other names I would rather not know anything about: Letterman, Jon Voight, anyone who earns his living imitating life and having recorded to sell for entertainment.
frost| 6.12.09 @ 9:13AM
Please, watch whatcha say, Bram... as a former ring announcer for pro-wrestling, how dare you cast aspersions as to the integrity of that terrific "sport."
Seriously, they (promoter Clint Starr in Phoenix 40-some years ago) paid me copious quantities of cash for a "job" I'd've done gratis, it was so much fun! Ted DiBiase's grandfather, Iron Mike, was the greatest "heel" ever! Booker Huffman was proud of an eight minute entrance, a truly terrific piece'o'work -- but no one (repeat, NoOne!) could top the hate generated by the "fans" toward Iron Mike DiBiase (even the uber-left's hate of Dubya and Chaney pales in comparrison). Superstar Billy Graham, the late Freddie Blassie, among others - - what fun.
Jeannine| 6.12.09 @ 9:32AM
For all you "intellectual" heavyweights out there:
Yes, I know who Jon & Kate is along w/their 8 children. I have checked out the reality show once or twice to making sure my youngsters are not watching abolute low-life crap that is played on other channels. My kids have watched J & K a few times only; they prefer some of the cartoons which aren't too bad. And yes I watch them too, to make sure they're reasonably OK. I sometimes watch some of this escapist stuff, like Hell's Kitchen, to try to understand why America is on a downward spiral to self-destruction. One reason is because this mindless crap is taken so seriously from people who think their own lives are boring. (In case you're interested, I'm too busy raising 4 kids to be bored!) My young kids are more in tune w/what is happening in the real world than your typical "highly educated" adult even though they watch parentally guided cable TV.
pmm| 6.12.09 @ 10:37AM
Freddie Blassie's autobiography is a master of the genre, "Listen Up, You Pencil-Necked Geeks!" is like US Grant's memoirs, only with tights.
ds80| 6.12.09 @ 10:38AM
Jon & Kate: more popular degenerate cultural drivel. No thank you.
I can leaf through my wife's latest People Magazine and fail to recognize over 90% of the faces and names. Now that is what I call being disconnected from the popular culture. Thank goodness.
Working on getting it to 100% ...
Brian B| 6.12.09 @ 10:58AM
I hope Mr. Beston doesn't read this as it's a bit of a spoiler.
My wife, daughter and I have very much enjoyed Jon and Kates's TV show on TLC over the last couple of years. They had twins and then sextuplets and apparently for that reason were the subject of a special which became a series.
The family is in fact a case study of the perils of having celebrity thrust upon ordinary people.
They were a seemingly wholesome and decent family for the first couple of years, even if she was a little OCD.
But as the notice and money poured in their roles reversed with him quitting his job to be a stay at home dad and her travelling more and more for her "job" of promoting the show, books, etc. The result was an exacerbation and amplification of whatever problems they had and a marital split.
If they had any brains they would immediately throw the cameras out of their house, go back to their earlier life and roles and, I hope, raise their kids in a decent home.
They've sold their kids future for 30 pieces of silver and I won't watch the show anymore because it has gone from a chronicle of an unusual family to the exploitation of one, even by the parents themselves. They seem like crack addicts, addicted to what is wrecking their lives, the TV camera and all that comes with it.
Richard Baker| 6.12.09 @ 12:27PM
An inconsequential example of the present day. That's who these people are.
Doctor Right| 6.12.09 @ 12:30PM
Okay, okay...We get it...You're distinctly ABOVE pop-culture...And above those of us who kind of like it, too...
...How very elitist of you, to revel in your ignorance of the Hoi-Polloi's entertainment-of-choice.
To anyone who doesn't know...Or doesn't want to know...Tough crap! I'm going to tell you anyway...
Jon & Kate are from a television show called "Jon & Kate + 8". It chronicles the lives of Jon & Kate ('natch!) as they good-naturedly struggle to raise their 8 children, 2 of who are identical twins, and 6 of who are sextuplets!
There's absolutely NOTHING offensive or lurid about the show. The show is at times touching and at times hilarious, especially to anyone who has small children. My two boys (ages 4 and 8) run me ragged - I can't even imagine what 8 (8!!) would be like, all under the age of 8...Just the thought of it brings to mind the Springsteen song "Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack, I went out for a ride and I never went back..."
And to anyone who feels the need to look down their nose at Jon and Kate as they go through what looks to be a VERY public divorce...Consider this first: Kate didn't plan on having sextuplets, but she and Jon did what we Conservatives would normally praise as "the responsible thing". The pregnancy endangered her health, and so stressed her mid-section that she needed plastic surgery to recover. It's not hard to imagine the NARAL hags hovering over Kate in the early stages of her pregnancy, urging her to ease her burden and exercise her "Constitutional Rights" to kill 3-4 of her unborn children.
So to anyone who doesn't ever watch the show, but feels the need to criticize it to prove how sophisticated they are...Yeah, whatever...Enjoy your smugness...Now go back to PBS, and shut the hell up.
Peter Lyden| 6.12.09 @ 12:36PM
I have never seen an episode of either "Friends" or "Seinfeld." I became aware of each about halfway through their runs, when they became pop-culture phenomena. After that, I made it a goal to scrupulously avoid each in the hopes of becoming the only person in the US of A to remain blissfully ignorant of their comedic characters' situations. I think I might have succeeded.
Doctor Right| 6.12.09 @ 12:42PM
To: Peter Lyden
Not that watching TV is a virtue unto itself...But neither is purposefully avoiding it to feel superior by missing perhaps the funniest, most original TV comedy in perhaps 30 years (SEINFELD).
Ummmm...Bravo..?
Peter Lyden| 6.12.09 @ 12:46PM
...or, as Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) so memorably said in "Pulp Fiction" (a pop culture phenomenon I did enjoyably jump all over) "You are aware that there's an invention called television, and on this invention they show shows, right? "
Peter Lyden| 6.12.09 @ 12:49PM
to: Dr. Right
No, I just gave up on whiny neurotic humor about the time Woody Allen stopped being funny. Haven't missed "24" or "X-Files," though, so it's not like I have a problem with pop cul-cha.
Sheila| 6.12.09 @ 1:13PM
I guess I fall somewhere in between on the pop culture issue. I ceased watching most t.v. in my teen years, and couldn't begin to list the number of "hit" shows I have never seen an episode of (Dallas, Oprah, Seinfeld, etc.). I agree with the "too much information" crowd on the vapidity and vulgarity of everyday life. On the other hand, I enjoy leafing through People magazine when I'm at the hairdresser's (and no, I don't recognize about 80% of the people inside) and I do watch some reality t.v. (admittedly while making disparaging comments about the participants' mental state) - "Biggest Loser," "Next Food Network Star," etc. I have seen bits and pieces of "Jon and Kate" while channel surfing. I'm afraid her shrewishness and his milquetoast manners offended me and so I never genuinely tuned in. So where does that leave me? Am I an effete snob (I would much rather read a book if I have something new available), or a secret slum crawler?
Michael Tomlinson| 6.12.09 @ 2:45PM
I don't know and don't care.
SLG| 6.12.09 @ 3:00PM
-(heh-heh-heh)- thanks Pete -- thought I was the only one to have never watched Steinfeld, or Friends either (okay, maybe 15-20 seconds, until I heard the canned laugh-track.... I refuse to watch anything using that Mickey-mouse gimmick).
'Matter of fact, I hardly watch anything on TV anymore -- never HBO, but some of Showtime, maybe... Neal Cavuto when possible; the second half of Fox News Sunday, ditto Bret Baier's afternoon show. Nothing else worthwhile, 'cept maybe Vince McMahon's "Raw," Brazilian soccer, and Monty Python re-runs.
Dennis| 6.12.09 @ 3:04PM
I almost didn't click on your headline since I don't care so much that I didn't want to know what I didn't know. My ambivalence turned to acceptance knowing that The American Spectator wouldn't seek to harm me. Thank you for not revealing who these people are. I will rest peacefully tonight.
ds80| 6.12.09 @ 4:28PM
Hey, "Doctor Right" ... If you choose to watch J&K, have at it. But why so defensive? Are you embarassed to have admitted that you watch this inane show? Or just insecure in the choices you make?
BTW, you got it wrong: it's not "sophisticated", it's "sensible": choosing to spend time on something other than voyeurism.
ds80| 6.12.09 @ 4:40PM
I do believe Jeannine exactly described why for some people "this mindless crap is taken so seriously": with their own lives are so boring or unrewarding, they find pleasure in the misfortune of others.
sji| 6.12.09 @ 7:55PM
I think the split/divorce/etc is all fake. Their ratings have risen since all the dirty wash came out. If they were really serious about saving their marriage, they would, as someone mentioned above, ditch the cameras, get a sitter and go fix it. But since they're not doing this, I think it's all fake. By the way, I'm sick of seeing their faces on the front of PEOPLE mag (a Christmas gift from my son so I get it every week). I think they've been on the cover 4 weeks running.
Nick| 6.12.09 @ 7:56PM
Mr. Beston,
I, too, have fought the urge to find out who these people are. It has been just within the last two weeks that I kept hearing referrences to them.
I was going to look them up, but stopped myself, like you.
And then they turned up on "American Chopper" last night. But I lucked out. They never mentioned who these guys were or why they were "famous", other than their 8 kids.
Hopefully, I will be able to keep it this way.
Kevin| 6.12.09 @ 9:44PM
I too see how long I can avoid knowing these things. Having two teenagers in the house, however, increases my diffusion cross section with the media. Still, there are many such names on the front of magazines and featured on talk shows of whom I know nothing.
My greatest victory: I have not seen the movie Titanic. So far as I know, I am alone in the universe. I don't think a movie about real people drowning is something I want in my head.
Lynai| 6.13.09 @ 1:25AM
I must be living under a rock..who in the sam hill are John and Kate...better yet, don't tell, I will go along with the author here, my life will not be improved one bit by knowing the details.
Dave Lincoln| 6.13.09 @ 12:42PM
Kevin - you didn't miss anything worth paying more than 1 buck for. The damn ship doesn't sink until a coupla hours into the movies. I was hoping maybe they'd change the script a bit, and an early-model German torpedo would blow it out of the water. ("Just sink the ship already, assholes!" You could hear it all over the theater - boy was my girlfriend embarrassed) You've done well by skipping it.
Dr Right - I usually like your posts a lot, but I think you had no reason to rag on the author, Mr. Beston, about this. I agree with him totally, not just about John and Kate in particular (as I never heard of them till this commentary). I skip the Yahoo headlines that I know are just info-tainment, not news at all, like Mr. Beston. And what's with the part about saying we are PBS watchers? That's a low blow, my friend. Next thing I know you'll be saying I'm no longer banned from public radio. Keep up the good work, Dr. Right, except, like, this stuff.
Dave Lincoln| 6.13.09 @ 12:52PM
Just to show I do watch something, I highly recommend "The Office" - the American version of the show, that is. It is the funniest and most un-pc show I have ever seen, including Sienfeld, which had formerly been my all-time favorite.
For top un-pc (or pi, if you will (politically incorrect)) I would put South Park next, and Beavis and Butthead number 3. It's hard to get real, live people to state the truth, but much easier to get the truth out of say, Cartman.
Oh, and commenter Dennis: I guess obviously you don't read anyone else's comments, or your world without John and Kate would have been destroyed, as mine now has.
Mark| 6.13.09 @ 3:40PM
I can gladly say that I have never heard of them and don't care to. That is probably because I rarely watch TV and get most of my news from the web--on selected sites. When I do turn on the TV, it is usually to watch a DVD (Netflix helps) and the few TV shows I actually like are available online.
I have managed this way for several years and I'm quite happy with it. I discovered years ago that I don't need cable and it is not worth the price. Besides, there is too much garbage on.
ds80| 6.13.09 @ 9:25PM
Kevin: "... diffusion cross section ..."
Do I detect a nuke?
BTW: welcome to the club - I have yet to see Titanic, too. Nor have I (gulp) seen Gone With The Wind. eek.
ds80| 6.13.09 @ 9:26PM
Dammit, Lincoln! You mean it SINKS?!!!
Dave Lincoln| 6.13.09 @ 9:56PM
Well, ds80, I can't say for sure. I went out to the lobby to get some juji-fruits. The guy selling em was kinda slow, so by the time I got back into the theater, I could not see the ship anymore. There were a lot of people floating in the water, so I just assumed that the ship sunk.
If you really want to know, read the cliff notes to the book "A Night to Remember". I think they give the whole movie away in that book.
(I think Kevin was talkin' jet engines, not nukes, but what do I know? ;-)
Mark| 6.14.09 @ 7:40PM
Well, I found out who they are and it's not so bad--not quite so tabloidish. They are an ordinary couple in an extraordinary circumstance and so now they have their own TV show. OK, that's not so ordinary. I still don't want to know too many details because it seems so voyeuristic--but I do hope they can work things out for the sake of their kids.
Osamas Pajamas| 6.15.09 @ 12:08AM
JON AND KATE AND THE PHONY-BALONEY MACHINE.....
Great article! I also liked Rand's observation in "The Fountainhed" and elsewhere, to the effect that while collectivists wish to destroy heros and heroism, their most insidious weapon is the simple elevation of mediocrity to an equal or greater level of importance than their betters. Some folks just cannot abide the inequality among men. Stand Jon and Kate next to Clint Eastwood, and the contrast will be stark, indeed --- flint on one hand --- and fools on the other.
Kevin| 6.15.09 @ 3:54PM
Diffusion Cross Section:
From the theory of gas dynamics. Basically, for a particle (you; your brain) immersed in a gaseous medium (the stuff flowing out of the television and permeating all of the space that bounds your region), what is the probability that you will (willingly or not) move further into that gaseous medium. The cross section is a measure of how you interact with the gas. Some of us are very, very lucky and the gas flows around us, and we never become aware of Jon and Kate. Others - particularly we compulsive information processors - get entrained despite our best efforts.
Karishma| 6.19.09 @ 1:35AM
oh, jeez, people. jon and kate are the epitomizing example of why america is going to the dogs? REALLY? last time i checked, we were not so pathetic that our country is defined by its pop culture; far more people know who barack obama is than they do jon and kate, obviously. all this bs goes on in the background. you can take part in the escapist culture, or you can ignore it. it doesn't matter. it's irrelevant. it will make no further difference to your life. your choice entirely.
contrary to (apparently) popular opinion, the world isn't going to end b/c of lurid pop culture, thongs, loud conversations, and vulgarity on lunch breaks. THAT is the epitome of first world concerns, stuff that we bother ourselves with simply b/c we are so privileged that we CAN worry about it. and to take a holier than thou attitude on such irrelevant to the big picture facets of daily life is absolutely pointless.
Karishma| 6.19.09 @ 1:37AM
oh, jeez, people. jon and kate are the epitomizing example of why america is going to the dogs? REALLY? last time i checked, we were not so pathetic that our country is defined by its pop culture; far more people know who barack obama is than they do jon and kate, obviously. all this bs goes on in the background. you can take part in the escapist culture, or you can ignore it. it doesn't matter. it's irrelevant. it will make no further difference to your life. your choice entirely.
contrary to (apparently) popular opinion, the world isn't going to end b/c of lurid pop culture, thongs, loud conversations, and vulgarity on lunch breaks. THAT is the epitome of first world concerns, stuff that we bother ourselves with simply b/c we are so privileged that we CAN worry about it. and to take a holier than thou attitude on such irrelevant to the big picture facets of daily life is absolutely pointless.
Michael| 6.28.09 @ 9:28PM
Darn my luck. I, too, only knew these two by their first names. I, too, had no idea who they were or why everyone but me seemed to know them. So I went looking. THEN I clicked on a TAS link and read this. Had I clicked here first, I, too, would still be among those ignoramuses who do not know Jon and Kate. Now there is only one...Paul Beston.
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r4 ds| 10.29.09 @ 7:18AM
They seem like crack addicts, addicted to what is wrecking their lives, the TV camera and all that comes with it. keep posting. Will be visiting back soon.
Doesntmatter| 11.4.09 @ 8:45AM
Who cares? Everyone who says that they are doing their best to avoid it are smug and look down their noses, while those who do watch get defensive for no reason. Do you feel the need to defend the fact you watch? Obviously. All of you are insecure about your views and feel that commenting will make you feel better. Losers
BTW Karishma - America is not just defined by pop culture or just Barack Obama, but a multitude of things, so just taking one thing a definition of the United States it is not.