I stopped by the food market on a snowy evening last week. When I found what I came for, I joined other customers in the 10-items-or-less check-out line. While waiting my turn, I noted the racks of gossip magazines and tabloids that hedged us in on either side.

There was no Foreign Policy Digest, Atlantic Monthly, or Harvard Business Review on those racks. (Oh, the shock!) Rather, the subject material was all about rumor, scandal, and the social silliness of celebrities.

While I never buy these magazines (or admit doing so), it is hard to muffle one's curiosity as to what's behind those covers. After all, who wouldn't want to know about how to lose 50 pounds in one week without dieting and why Brad hit that photographer and where Tom and Katie went on their vacation? The publishers of these pieces know us rather well. They know that nosiness often trumps propriety. We like knowing other peoples' secrets.

I was doing rather well at ignoring all this stuff until I saw the cover of People magazine. ...