Kim Kardashian

By Ines Mendoza

You really have to wonder what kind of world we are living in when the best and quickest way to celebrity these days is just by being an out-and-out press whore...

It's of no coincidence that since 2000, the televisual landscape has changed for the worse: reality shows were introduced and were subsequently turned from exciting entertainment (in the form of Survivor and The Amazing Race) into cheap and nasty publicity trains.

Had George W. Bush never been President, do we all still think that society's moral compass would still be pointing where it is?

Paris Hilton is apparently the pinnacle of social power, and Two And A Half Men the most loved sitcom of a generation. Something obviously went wrong - and it's quite clear where. Sh*t runs down hill... to borrow a phrase.

So does that mean with the elevation of Barack Obama to the Whitehouse (a man, who by all accounts, can both lead a nation and spell his own name without help from anyone else) that our social, entertainment and moral worlds will change just as much as the political world most certainly will?

If so, what happens to the Kim Kardashian's of the world? 

Women who possess no talent other than being able to stand up straight (and, judging by her sex tape... she can't even do that properly) and have little to no shame when it comes to attention seeking.

Born Kimberly Noel Kardashian in October of 1980, Kardashian is the quintessential American socialite.

A woman who now can claim to be a model, an apparel retailer and television personality (thanks to her roles on The Simple Life and Keeping Up with the Kardashians) - all skills which usually come before being named "famous".

The daughter of attorney Robert Kardashian (best known for being O. J. Simpson's lawyer during his infamous murder trial) and Kris Jenner - as well as the Step Daughter of the plastic-faced former Olympian Bruce Jenner - Kim Kardashian is a product of a truly outrageous Hollywood up bringing.

You can say whatever you want about her - but the only people to blame are those who claim to be parents.

What's even scarier is that Kim has two sisters (Kourtney and Khloe) and one brother (Robert) as well as stepbrothers (Burton Jenner, Brandon Jenner, Brody Jenner) and stepsisters in Casey Jenner, Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

Some are older, some are younger (they are the ones you really fear for... what to make of their future is frightening) and all have been subjected to the Hollywood life.

Normal childhoods and values? I don't think so.

But enough family slagging - let's get to the juicy stuff - the stuff that everyone wants to know about... the Sex Tape scandal!

2007 was the year that the sexy (and rather graphic... not that we've watched it) home video Kardashian made with then-boyfriend (R&B singer Ray J) was "leaked". 

Now, as we all know, in Hollywood "leaked" is another way of saying "delivered by their PR representative".

Of course, the "leak" led to porn giant, Vivid Entertainment, settling the potentially enormous court case for a reported sum of over $5 million.

Not to bad for one night... in Kardashian.

The sex tape spawned a whole new career for Kim Kardashian, including releasing a workout DVD (entitled Workout with Kim Kardashian... a name that might have made more sense for the Ray J vid), her own perfume line, appearances in the music video for Fall Out Boy's Thnks Fr Th Mmrs, the woeful 2008 film Disaster Movie and most recently a visit to Australia in which Aussie TV host Chrissie Swan copped a handful of that world famous Kardashian bum!

There was an appearance on Dancing With The Stars thrown in there too (or as I like to call it "Where Credibility Goes To Die").

So, there you have it, yet another product of publicity - and we fell right into the trap!

I feel so dirty.