The kind publicity people at Jezebel sent me an email about the fundraising drive the blog's doing for one of the couples on Teen Mom. While I think it's sweet to want to reward kids who seem to be making mature decisions, I personally (and everything in this paragraph should be interpreted as a personal explanation for why I can't promote the drive rather than as judgement on anyone's giving) have a pretty hard time getting on board with a giving effort that fronts the disclaimer "Obviously we can't guarantee that they'll use the cash to pay for college, but they've demonstrated their strong decision-making skills in the past, and we trust that they'll put the money to good use." Obviously people have the right to give their money to whoever and to give it however they choose, and I understand not wanting to be paternalistic. But I tend to believe charitable giving, as opposed to personal giving to someone you are close to, should support sustainable institutions rather than individuals and should have standards built in to ensure the money will be used well, if not for a very specified purpose.
But the thing I find really interesting about it is to me, this drive represents a coming-full-circle of celebrity in our reality culture era. Certainly, stardom's become a lot less about admiring untouchable screen deities than it once was. Someone like Lindsay Lohan has long been a vehicle for our moral disapprobation rather than an object of worship for a long time. But with this drive, we're treating celebrities as people we are responsible for, and can substantively help. Stars aren't just touchable now, they're weaker than we are.