I think people are pretty universally cynical wrt to male money getting female beauty. That's been going on for ever, yes?

Why people are famous is different now. Any yokel with a video camera can potentially get on tv. There is an outlet for so much more than there ever has been before.

I was just looking at yearbooks from the 50s and the school had more than double the amount of clubs that we have now. and more people participated in each of the clubs. There were less options for entertainment and activity and so people were concentrated in a few areas.

In the same way, information was concentrated and society news was entertainment news. Media outlets had to cover things in person - you had to be present at an event to get covered and with fewer events to report on, more people got info on the same things. That is why everyone knew who Mrs. Astor was and why her name still hold up with folks like us who would never had any cause or need to know or interact with her.

Moving things physically is more expensive than moving things digitally.

It doesn't matter how expensive it is, Gus. It matters how much margin the companies make -- as bon said too.

serial, perhaps:

To me, that felt like cloaking a pretty naked business arrangement in flowers and candy hearts.

And how is that not whoring, then?

Agreed -- I was just thinking about the "pictures in the paper and people discussing their dresses" angle.

I was thinking more in terms of barriers to moving up socially, not just yourself, but whatever group you identify with be that your family, race or whatever. Money alone doesn't remove those for anyone, but possibly you yourself. You aren't going to bring your group with you without power which you can't just get with only money.

Maria, from what little I saw of the DC scene, it was downright scary.

Sometimes I think I'd feel safer in the African wild. The first thing anyone asks when introduced to someone is, "What do you do?" If the job doesn't have the right cachet or is too many degrees separated from a power source, the offending person is discarded and left to commiserate with the rats.

But did they read the papers and talk about the dresses and stuff? Nobody does that now.

Nope. We watch awards shows and talk about the dresses and stuff.

The first thing anyone asks when introduced to someone is, "What do you do?"

I think this is a fairly common first question no matter where you are.

If the job doesn't have the right cachet or is too many degrees separated from a power source, the offending person is discarded and left to commiserate with the rats.

This reaction, however, seems more DC-y to me. I get blank stares from people about my job but that's because it's in a very niche industry that most people don't even realize is an industry.

I don't get why saying it is the wedding of the year is saying it is a great marriage - I read it as saying that it is getting the most media attention.

I see the Trump marriage like some of the old Hollywood "dating couple" and marriages that were more about studios demanding the relationships from their contracted stars than real relationships. Well except I don't think she is protesting at all, I think she is a knowing and willing participant.

It's tacky (as is everything he does), but as an unknown whatever she is, all the coverage certainly won't hurt her. It's what the public wants.

my career path would be very different if I had understood, at 19 or 20, that unpaid internships = connections = future jobs. It honestly never occured to me.

I think I did know this, but didn't know it know it. And, on some thought, it's probably just as well. I'm not ambitious enough to care.

Yeah, DC has it's own way of looking at things.