omg!! like kim kardashians totes pregnant?!?!

During a performance at Atlantic City's Revel venue on the 31st of December, Kayne West announced to concert-goers that his partner, Kim Kardashian, is pregnant with their first child. The subsequent frenzied internet speculation and media attention was simultaneously both predictable and pitifully undeserved. We live on a planet where it's understood that approximately at least 600,000 women conceive every single day, so the justification of such sycophantic attentiveness to a single couple and their (unborn) child must surely be questioned.  

Searching 'Kim Kardashian' into Google will yield an incredible 496,000,000 results. As to why this is will become perhaps a little more obvious if the internet search is specified to 'Images'. Don't mistake that remark for misogyny or sexism. She has devoted her entire career and adult life to the superficiality and enhancement of her body and relentlessly maximised its commercial (sexual) value. 
(There are established rumours that her own mother, Kris Jenner, was personally involved in the negotiation and sale of Kim's home sex tape with singer Ray J in 2003 to adult film company Vivid Entertainment - the inception of her career, and the catalyst for the subsequent television show Keeping Up with the Kardashians.)

Kardashian & West

Kardashian has also ventured (with questionable success, although of indisputably little merit) into the television derivatives Kourtney and Kim Take New York and Kourtney and Kim Take Miami, and a brief musical career (the single of which was described by Daily News as a "dead-brained piece of generic dance music, without a single distinguishing feature," continuing that Kardashian is "the worst singer in the reality TV universe.") 

She has also diversified into numerous perfumes, clothing lines and fashion collections, all the while pursuing a busy modelling career. She is described (in polite circles), among other things, as: a socialite, television personality, businesswoman, fashion designer, model, and actress. 

In truth, she is the most successful example of the generation that are 'famous for being famous' - and is frequently criticised for her apparent vanity, banality and vacuousness. (She also did not escape scorn and derision when it transpired that television entertainment channel E! actually advertised and promoted her forthcoming marriage to basketball player Kris Humphries for longer than the 72-days they were husband and wife before filing for divorce.)

At least it can be said of Kayne West that he worked for his fame. His début album The College Dropout is often listed as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. Unfortunately for West, he has yet to contest this initial (admittedly great) achievement. Even more lamentably, it has become apparent that West's likeability and pleasantness is inversely proportional to his musical talent. 

Over the past few years he's earned a long and boring reputation for rude outbursts and acts of  astonishing arrogance. From claiming institutionalised racism when not favoured for his performances, to abandoning ceremonies when not the recipient of an award ( "I felt like I was definitely robbed... I was the best new artist this year"), to even interrupting the acceptance speech of another artist to hijack the microphone (as he did with Taylor Swift) and protesting at the unjustness of the result. It's certainly true that few public figures can boast of being personally described as "a jackass" by none other than President Barack Obama. 

A depraved and pervasive attitude persists among many tabloid newspapers and celebrity news websites regarding women (or more specifically, their objectification) and also children. Both groups are relentlessly exploited as constant (and lucrative) features, stories and articles, but it profiteering from the latter that is so particularly sinister. 

The best and most accesible explanation of this complex issue I've yet seen can be found in the hilarious Pod Delusion video entitled "Why The Daily Mail is evil". For example, during the first six and a half years of Suri Cruise's (the daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) young life, the Daily Mail published 824 articles - approximately two or three a week - featuring her. 

The children of celebrities are often subjected to repugnant persecution by paparazzi and journalists, and this is surely more offensive than the treatment of their adult parents - the child is denied privacy and a natural upbringing before they can understand (let alone consent to) their surroundings and environment.

This trend shows no sign of abating, and perhaps saddest of all, it is apparent that Kardashian and West will only exacerbate it.