The last two weeks have provided fertile ground for the American media to sow the seeds of what modern journalism appears to have become. The two biggest stories in the last two weeks have been the death of Anna Nicole Smith (and the subsequent struggle to control her estate) and the very public meltdown of Britney Spears.

These two stories have dominated cable news, the Internet, talk radio, and newspapers across the country. These two women have become fodder for late-night talk show monologues and tabloid headlines. What does this say about the state of American culture?

In the one case, you have a woman who spent her life exploiting others and being exploited all in the name of celebrity, all the while abusing drugs and alcohol. Ultimately, she died several months after giving birth to a child, which was followed by the death of her other child. This is nothing short of Greek tragedy, especially when you consider the ensuing tussle among her friends and so-called family for control of her estate.

In the other case, you have a twenty-something pop music superstar obviously struggling with her own addictions, having an all-too-real breakdown within arm’s length of the media. She also has very young children and an estranged husband.

Both of these situations speak to the place that America finds itself at this moment in history. We’ve become a culture of voyeurs who revel in the tragedy of others. It’s an expression of the German idea of schadenfreude — which roughly translates to “pleasure taken from someone else’s misfortune.”

Perhaps it’s a consequence of America’s tri-fold experience a decade of prosperity in the 90’s, followed by the tragedy of 9/11, enveloped in the fatigue of a war in Iraq that is entering its fourth year. Americans seem all to eager to direct their gleeful angst outward, and in an age of instant journalism, Hollywood is a target-rich environment.

In a different age, I would hope that Americans would see the Anna Nicole Smith drama as a tragedy. Hers is the story of a young woman overcome by the trappings of celebrity, unable to cope with her own broken nature. I would also imagine that if we lived in a different time, the emphasis of our attention would be on the welfare of Anna Nicole Smith’s infant daughter, who will most certainly be raised in a bizarre world, none of which was her own doing.

And perhaps in a different time and in a different place, we wouldn’t gawk at the saga of Britney spears, the princess with the tarnished tiara. This is a young woman who obviously needs help, if for no other reason than the fact that she is raising two children who likely have no idea that their mother is a celebrity. Instead, we laugh and point our fingers, enjoying Spears’ descent. Now, we all may think, she looks a little more human, a little more broken, a little more like you and me.

Leave it to Craig Ferguson of the Late Late Show on CBS to put this in perspective, as he speaks openly and honestly about his 15 years of sobriety.