A Sneaky Little, Creepy Little Fly on the Wall.

The paparazzi has always been a kind of contradicting subject to me. I could sit here and say that these disrespectful, gold diggers have nothing better to do with their lives but to photograph garbage, but that would make me a hypocrite. I will be honest and say I do enjoy searching up my favourite celebrities and like to see what they're wearing, where they are and what they're doing. It seems as if I have a love/hate sort of relationship with these flies on the wall. In one aspect I thank them for giving me these beautiful pictures of my already beautiful favourite people, but I also have no respect for them in terms on how they get these photos. I disagree 100% with how paparazzi treat celebrities. They taunt and provoke negative conversation to catch any type of reaction. It seems as if they do not care about anyone's feelings, and that is definitely evident in this video: 

It was already disrespectful to almost jump over Miley Cyrus' mother for a single picture, but soon after he still continues his "job" and doesn't care about a single word that is being said to him. Even after he's been accused guilty and has been begged to stop, the photographer continues to take pictures of her without realizing his actions. They don't really care about the celebrity; they care about the money that they'll be able to make because of that celebrity. And I think that is incredibly shallow.

The extent that these people will go to is unbelievable. It does not only borderline annoying, but crosses the entire continent of down-right-creepy. Paparazzi do whatever it takes to get an intrigue whether it is a positive or negative story. At first, they will ask very basic things like "Hi, how are you today?" but soon they will get right to the chase and bluntly - without courtesy - ask if the celebrity has been dating/sleeping with someone. I think that is when the line is crossed; when paparazzi get into too much personal detail that is irrelevant to the public's knowledge. Whether a celebrity is dating someone or not will never affect my life in any way, so I don't think the most important thing to understand in our day and age are the personal lives of regular people. The line is crossed the minute they mention something that is purposely said to aggravate and instigate negative conversation.

Paparazzi use these media networks to their advantage because it is the easiest form of making money about things that are already publicized. It's all for the commercial purpose. In one way, it's to make a living and in another, I think they enjoy the thrill of doing these things. The thrill, - following people, taking pictures and starting rumours - whatever that may be, motivates them to continue this "job" even when it's wrong. There's a big difference between interviewing a celebrity about their recent projects and certain surface events happening in their lives, and hounding them for irrelevant answers on their free time. It's a dog eat dog world, but I don't think it's fair to provoke people to do or say things that aren't important. Money should never be the motive to hurt or damage someone else's reputation.

Celebrities have always done everything in their power to get away from these paparazzi because they've also affected family and friends who are even slightly related to the celebrity. In the summer of last year, Halle Berry pleaded in a court to move to Paris because she felt as if the paparazzi were harassing her and her daughter, Nahla. This began when paparazzi started stalking Nahla to school, as well as bombarding Ms. Berry with inappropriate questions about Nahla's father in front of Nahla herself. Halle thought it wasn't a safe environment for her child to be around, and requested to move to Paris where they have strict paparazzi laws, ever since Princess Diana's incident. I disagree completely with how Halle was treated. She was only thinking of the best for her child, and the paparazzi were restricting her from doing so. I feel as if this case is something to be learned from by the paparazzi. They should understand that celebrities are regular people too, and harassing them is neither ethical nor worth the money. I feel as if they should take a step back, put themselves in the celebrity's shoes and walk around for the day being followed and provoked. Then maybe, just maybe, they'll have a better understanding of what it means to be respectful and courteous.

Paparazzi restricted Lady Gaga from even walking.

I've always thought about how I would react if I were put into a celebrity's shoes. Would I react the same way? Would I be able to defeat the cliché and possibly make friends with the paparazzi? Would I have the guts to put them in their place when they need to be? And the answers to those would be yes, probably not, and maybe. I hate it when people take my phone and look through my things. I don't even like it when people take my photo! I am the kind of person that likes to keep personal things, well, personal.  And I think if the paparazzi, or anyone for that matter, were to take that choice away from me, I would feel incredibly betrayed, angry and ready to pounce. I believe everyone has the right to keep a part of themselves to themselves. Giving all your stories and private events to the public is basically setting yourself up for disaster. The consequence of being famous is exactly that; you're never out of the spotlight and that keeps you out in the open for all kinds of judgement. And I would really rather not be put on a pedestal to poke at and criticize. Nope, not even for a million dollars.