LAWRENCE, Kansas – By now, it’s hard to have totally avoided the news of the video taken through a peephole that shows ESPN reporter Erin Andrews walking around a hotel room nude. The blog post that surfaced in the media late last week is getting all kinds of reactions–from outraged to obscene.

ESPN attorneys took immediate action, sending a cease and desist letter to the blog’s owner. Andrews’ own attorney subsequently released a statement confirming what had previously only been suspicion of the identity of the “Hot naked blonde.” Deadspin, which has been covering developments in the story since it broke, has reported that the video had actually been online for months before widespread news of it broke.

But is everyone going a little overboard with this? I want to say yes, and a large part of me still believes it. There’s no doubt it crosses the line of the endless scandals involving homemade sex tapes leaked to the public. After all, Andrews was not a willing participant. Her expectation of privacy was severely breached.

However, much of this situation can be largely attributed to our celebrity culture that I despise in the first place. The fascination that people have with public figures is ridiculous, and Erin Andrews is most certainly a public figure. In the wake of a weekend celebrating Walter Cronkite’s ability to connect with people he didn’t know via television, the similar quality of strangers feeling a connection to Andrews – no matter how delusional – has clearly backfired.

Deadspin’s Will Leitch warns, “This could happen to you, your wife, your girlfriend, your daughter.” Sure, it could. That doesn’t mean it would. More importantly, that doesn’t mean it would garner enough attention to make a difference. Just as Leitch later pointed out, this would not be such a huge story had it happened to any number of other female reporters. But it happened to Erin Andrews, a woman who has used her looks to propel her career and rightfully so.

No one tells me I should be on television. At 18, I started college, started getting migraines and started losing my hair. The loss of my wavy locks alone would have probably killed that dream. Fortunately, I knew long before that a life in front of a camera wasn’t for me. I certainly don’t blame Andrews for accentuating the positive. Who wouldn’t if they could?

The current fallout is simply what people do. One event turns into an opportunity for self reflection and, more importantly, an opportunity to blame someone. But why? Does it reverse what has happened? No. Will it make anyone think twice before objectifying another reporter? Not likely. Little is accomplished in any of this. Everyone will dish out blame to others while accepting a role in creating a culture that was merely reproduced in part by their efforts. This was not the doing of a network, a writer, a blog, a technology, a movement or even a voyeur. It was only a matter of time before this happened.

Such incidents have happened where landlords have had apartments, bedrooms and bathrooms equipped with hidden cameras and microphones. Television shows like CBS’ Big Brother use these technologies as an overarching premise. Everything is more in-your-face than ever before. Phones can track an individual’s location, computers have built-in video cameras, outlets like TMZ are scooping well-established news organizations, and social media services like Twitter and Brightkite allow constant access to people and their locations.

But it takes a classic peephole voyeur targeting a well-known television personality to get us thinking about the big picture? Something about that just seems silly. What did this video even show? She has all the same parts as most women. Does that make the invasion of privacy more justified? Of course it doesn’t. I think that Erin Andrews deserves to pursue this matter as far as she and her attorneys see fit. The problem is that while this is a story all about her, it’s also a story that’s not about her at all.

Let’s not suddenly care because of Erin Andrews. If anyone’s really committed to being part of the solution, then let it be through action. It’s an unfortunate incident. Now it’s time to move on.

Filed under: Opinion/Editorial, Social Media, Sports TV, Technology, Television