A very important post about…. Katie Holmes

For the past month I’ve been fighting my instinct to blog about the future Mrs. Tom Cruise. Even though the infamous Oprah video bothered me, and even though Cruise’s comments about psychiatry in general and Brooke Shields in particular bothered me, my superego said this wasn’t a blogworthy topic. With the announcement of their engagement at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, I think the question needs to be asked — what is it about this coupling that provokes people into creating elaborate Free Katie web sites? [Maybe it’s the age gap–ed. If that was true, then Catherine Zeta-Jones’ marriage to Michael Douglas should have provoked more outrage — the gap in their ages is twenty years. Same with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. Hell, I think the public’s opinion of Ashton Kutcher went up after he started dating Demi Moore. Also, is anyone really shocked by a generational difference among celebrity couples anymore?] [Maybe it’s the Scientology?–ed. Well, Scientology certainly has its critics. But then again, so do most other religions. And frankly, why should we care if Ms. Holmes decides to leave the Catholic Church? Besides, the furor over their relationship began before any discussion of conversion entered into the mix.] My hunch is that it’s some syncretic combination of a bunch of factors, including the age gap, the Scientology, and the fact that, according to the Associated Press, “The former star of television’s ‘Dawson’s Creek’ grew up with a poster of Cruise on her bedroom wall and has said she grew up wanting to marry him.” But I’m not sure. So I will put it to the readers — what is it about this relationship that weirds so many people out?