I saw evil at the newsstand.

I saw someone reach over and take a copy of The National Enquirer off the newsstand today. She thumbed through the pages, stopped to read a headline or two and then added it to her pile of groceries.

On a theoretical level, I know that people must be purchasing this tabloid in order for it to stay in business, but I don’t think I ever truly believed that anyone read it until today.

With so much in the world to read, and thanks to libraries and the Internet, with so much of it free of charge, why would anyone ever spend money or time on something like this?

For a fraction of a second, I looked into the eyes of a woman who will be sitting on her sofa later, reading stories about alien abductions, alleged Hollywood affairs, celebrity diets and Scientology scandals, and I saw evil, my friends.

Gossip-driven, mind-numbing, time-wasting, culturally deprived evil.