Keeping up with the Kardashians and the crisis in Syria

I think it’s fair to say that we’re all kind of a mixed bag.  Whether it’s being a fitness freak and loving ice cream, or being a dog person who secretly watches cat videos—no one is ever one thing.  There is often more than meets the eye, so to speak in corny clichés.  So this past week when I was called out by one of my favorite news sources for apparently not being “newsy” enough for them, I felt offended and really unfairly judged on the surface.

Let me back track.  The other day I tweeted @NPRjobs to see if they had any openings in the LA area.  As a working professional with a Print & Multimedia Journalism degree I was just doing my usual browsing for new opportunities.  And since I’m constantly hearing all this chatter about how finding a job on Twitter is more common than you would imagine, I thought “why not me?”  Well, I soon found out why not.  I got a message my beloved iPhone that @NPRjobs had replied to me.  Oh joy!  Could it be?  I’m becoming one of those stories you hear about where you tweeted a question and now magically I’m the CEO?  Could it be?!  Not exactly.  @NPRjobs replied with “Replace diplomats with celebrities and you're in”.  Now this isn’t me calling out NPR on anything.  For the record, I absolutely love NPR, specifically “All Things Considered” which I listen to everyday, despite my boyfriend reminding me that it’s less than cool to be rolling around Los Angeles with my windows rolled down, bumping Robert Siegel.  I depend on NPR for a lot of news, current events, awesome books to read, and to remind me that I have a lot to learn about wind energy. 

But despite my love for NPR, I was hurt.  Sure, two of my last tweets referenced Kanye West but heck he was on my mind!  The reply left me feeling very insecure.  The type of insecure when one thinks to themselves “Ew is that how I come off?” much like when you hear your voice on an answering machine.  Immediate cringe.  But then, as I scrolled through my Twitter feed I started to feel unfairly judged.  Sure, I had tweets about Ye, Beyoncé and Kobe Bryant.  But I also talk about Egypt, the unemployment rate in the US, civil war in Syria and global warming.  Sure I partook in my guilty pleasure that is celebrity gossip, but for the most part my tweets were either jokes (that are really sad, hilarious things that have happened to me) or things I’ve read.  You know, normal things that people put on Twitter if Twitter isn’t their job. 

I felt very defensive.  I wanted to shout “Hey! Just take a look at my resume!  That’s not filled with any celebrity references!”  I understand that your internet presence is an extremely important part of who you are in the employment world these days.  I mean, I wrote about it on my blog!   But why can’t a girl be into the latest celebrity chatter AND the news of the world.  Are those things mutually exclusive?  Has it gotten to the point where I will be judged if I’m carrying the Economist along with the latest People magazine?  I never thought it was a problem for those things to coincide.  After all, we’re all human and all have guilty pleasures whether it is gossip, Oreos, bedazzled nails or the Real Housewives.  We’ve all got them, and I dare you to find someone who doesn’t! 

In the end, I guess I can see where they were coming from.  They probably didn’t read past my most recent tweets so they based their judgment off of that.  And I’m not so self-involved that I’m going to sit here for hours and analyze why someone might think I am shallow enough to only care about celebrity gossip.  But I do think it is worth a discussion about how just because someone talks about or peruses the internet for stuff that may seem meaningless, a waste of time and with little to no depth, that doesn’t mean that’s all there is to them.  This little incident made me realize that the next time I overhear someone talking about Honey Boo Boo, I should check myself before I pass any judgment.  Because even the strongest, most put together woman I can think of has a guilty pleasure.  And I ain’t faulting her for it!