Kate Stewart: Self-made or was it handed to her on a plate?

Kylie Jenner

The disturbing rise of gossip, entertainment and fluff pieces passing themselves off as actual news is bad enough ...

But when once reputable magazines like Time and Forbes start adopting the practice, it's about as welcome as a painful rotten tooth in the mouth of an angry, crazed, meth-induced, hippo.

Forbes has certainly copped some well-deserved flak for this month's cover story on the supposedly "self-made" Kylie Jenner.

Fan-made would be more accurate or man-made (if it wasn't deemed, these days, as a sexist remark) but self-made she is not.

Born into substantial wealth and privilege and raised in front of rolling cameras for years, Kylie has gained millions of followers on social media.

So it's understandable that a mag like Forbes, more than likely driven by greed, would want to cash in on the enormous fan base and popularity of Ms Jenner, but the way they've gone about it is almost unforgivable.

The self-made statement was one thing but comparing her to the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg is quite another. Apart from finding financial success at a young age, the two have absolutely nothing in common when it comes to business or business sense.

I don't think Kylie spent too much time in her parents' modest basement or garage creating her cosmetic line from the ground up, she simply employed minions to do it all for her.

Wealthy beyond belief from social media followers alone, it's a safe bet to assume that she probably didn't lose too much beauty sleep freaking out at the prospect of putting a business proposal together that would stand up to the scrutiny of a bank or other financial backers.

I'm not saying that you have to be well-educated, gifted in some way or a child prodigy of any kind to enjoy success but nor are you entitled to pass yourself off as someone or something you are not and — in this particular case — even the phrase businesswoman is a bit of a stretch.

Between filmings, attending red carpet events, endless exotic holidays, shopping and posting selfies, I'm not too sure just how much time the most junior Jenner spends at the coalface of operations, nutting out the scientific formulas of her products, ensuring codes of ethics are strictly adhered to, deciphering complex market research and data detailed spreadsheets and making sure health and safety requirements are met.

But the single most baffling aspect of the story has come in the aftermath.

A lousy $100 million short of a billion, and to ensure she reaches her billionaire status at an age younger than that loser Mark Zuckerburg (who was almost a fossil at age 23), her fans are now attempting to crowdfund her into the record books.

WTF ... Never mind the homeless and starving or worthy charities desperate for donations, let's all give our hard-earned money to a woman who has already amassed US$900 million because that makes perfect sense.

I'm positively kicking myself for not having come up with such a devilishly, genius idea.

I thought it was only the likes of government that dreamt up such ridiculous ways to be fiscally irresponsible. Turns out I was wrong.

If you ever needed a better example of what's wrong with the world today and how much people's priorities have changed, this would be a classic case.

And watch this space ... I feel a presidential nomination won't be too far off. Scary, but a possibility.

Even if it never happens, just the rumour — published in a magazine — will undoubtedly sell more copies.

When it comes to making money, they just have to sell us the story, even if the truth becomes a casualty.

It's unfortunate so many of us, mindlessly, buy into it.

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