The Kardashians (Yeah, I’m Slightly Embarrassed)

Avert your eyes, if you wish to keep your soul clean! I had originally intended to include more comments on celebrity culture on this blog — hence the “regressive entertainment” tag. Posts about Doctor Who don’t really count as wallowing in the mud. But quicker than expected, I ran out of observations involving Lindsay Lohan.

But I do keep an eye on Lohan and, to a far lesser degree, even the Kardashians. I’m forced to, as I lost a bet with the devil and he plays hardball. (Who knew that the St. Louis Cardinals were going to win the 2011 World Series? Satan, that’s who.) Plus, it’s difficult to avoid them altogether if one pays attention to contemporary pop culture.

Mind you, I’ve never seen a single second of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, although that’s mostly due to lack of interest, as opposed to any sort of high-mindedness on my part. I certainly read some articles this past week about how her ex, basketball player Kris Humphries, supposedly claims that Kim’s mom Kris put Kim up to the whole sex tape which made her famous and the family extra-rich.

I was really struck by the Kardashian defense.

Now, the Kardashians didn’t deny that the sex tape is what set them up for cashing in on their celebrity. Instead, this is what their camp told TMZ:

Sources close to the Kardashians tell TMZ … Kris is lying about the sex tape. They say Kim made it clear at the beginning of their relationship she would not discuss the tape because she didn’t want to be judged by it. Our sources say the sex tape never came up in any subsequent discussions between Kim and Kris and it just shows he’s delusional.

But doesn’t this lend credence to the claims that it was a faux marriage to begin with? Really, Kim found the love of her life, and she didn’t want to discuss her life with him? Talking about the central scandal that made her career — purposefully or not — was off-limits? How deep was that relationship, then?

And if we are to believe that Kim feared his judgment, are the Kardashians suggesting that Humphries is a more moral person than Kim? Not that I think filming a sex tape is an immoral act. I’m more bothered by the hypocrisy of riding one to fame (pun intended) and then acting as if you’re above such escapades.

I suppose it doesn’t matter either way. I don’t know Kim Kardashian and I presume that this is why people watch the show and follow Kim on Twitter. It’s the soap opera of it all. The only reality TV of this particular ilk that I’ve followed in the last few years was the first season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — so obviously staged and yet so deliciously horrible. Perhaps I should start a new habit, but I’ m out of touch in that arena and don’t even know what’s the best of the worst these days.