Leslie Taylor

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Some of us try hard to rise above the public controversy that swirls around the so-called "pop tarts," the young singers who are more flash than artistic substance.

I'd sworn to tune out the endless attention devoted to these symbols of tragic youth, victims of hungry machines that seem to put money over celebrity well-being.

But I watched, and cringed, as a Monday morning news program flashed snippets of Britney Spears' lackluster performance at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards. Not because Spears was stumbling about in boots and a sequined bikini, badly lip-synching lyrics, but because of the reaction -- from the awards show audience, on the brink of misplaced laughter, and from the media and its rapt attention to the latest chapter in a life clearly out of control.

Columnist Leonard Pitts wrote earlier this year that the attraction to people such as Spears "is often less their work than it is a morbid fascination with those train-wreck lives, a sense that they will inevitably reward our attention with a crash."

Spears feeds the appetite for the crash, over and over, with the public circling like vultures over a wounded animal.

OK, so the imagery's a bit extreme. But watching the public watch, and ridicule, you can't help but wonder: Where is the concern for this young woman who apparently is blind to the image she projects? Instead, the public, and the music critics, celebrated the opportunity to accelerate her ride to self-destruction.

From Associated Press music writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody: "Somewhere, Kevin Federline is laughing. An out-of-shape, out-of-touch Britney Spears delivered what was destined to be the most talked about performance of the MTV Video Music Awards -- but for all the wrong reasons."

From Rashod D. Ollison, the Baltimore Sun's pop music critic: "Britney Spears' opening performance at last night's MTV Video Music Awards was supposed to catapult her back into the pop music stratosphere. But it was little more than an overhyped burlesque show that went splat."

From gossip columnist Perez Hilton, speaking to Reuters: "She blew it. ... It was so bad. It was painful. It was embarrassing. And I loved it!"

The blogosphere was loaded for bear the day after Spears' performance. Bloggers took gleeful jabs at Spears as out of shape, a paunch replacing once-rock-hard abs, (talk to me after you've given birth to two babies), a "messy weave atop her head."

But rarely did anyone raise the spectre that here is a troubled 25-year-old whose head-shaving, fender-bending, underwear-romping antics spell "cry for help" more than "primed and ready for career comeback."

There is sadness in a fall from grace, or in Spears' case, a plummet from pop stardom. Even sadder is her struggle to regain what once was.

Enjoy the post-performance bashing, if you wish. Point and laugh at her mishaps, if you care to.

Or turn away from the feeding frenzy. Would you really want to be rewarded with a crash?

Taylor is a member of The Roanoke Times editorial board.