"Bear-baiting", a common pastime in Elizabethan England, was akin to modern-day dog-fighting. Instead of canines torturing each other, however, dogs would be let loose on a wild bear chained to a post. The dogs would rip and bite at the chained grizzly, while cheering spectators placed bets on whether the bear would out last the canines ravaging him.
What does "bear-baiting" have to do with celebrities?
Celebrities are a fixture of fascination, be it admiration or animosity.
We look up to these high and mighty people, because they have a lot, they do a lot, or they influence a lot.
When they fall short of our glorious ideal for them, as every human being inevitably will, we become disillusioned, resentful, vengeful. When once we quaked before the products of our imagination, now we quake with fury or ridicule.
In today's media, viewers-cum-spectators viciously harass disgraced celebrities down on their luck, like the dogs mauling a restrained bear. The public attacks and gouges celebrities , or they cheer on the demise of political careers. Let's call this practice "Celebrity Shame-Baiting."
What motivates this insistent rage?
Some might call it schadenfreude, but "harm-joy" implies a dual feeling of sorrow as well as glee at the downfall of another. In the current media frenzy, saturated with YouTube, Twitter, MySpace, Email, DTV, HTV . . . how can anyone escape passing judgment, and even a smidgen of pleasure at the slow, painful, and public demise of Hollywood elitist and Political pilferers.