Remember Chris Humphries ?

Why can’t I get over the skeptical notion that Bruce Caitlyn Jenner’s journey would never have happened if it didn’t work for his and/or her as the premise for a presumably hugely lucrative reality phenomenon? 

Maybe my cynical view is rooted in the fact that everything that this clan has ever done in its explosive march to unprecedented fame has been the product of calculation and pre-meditation.

Without being mean-spirited, does anyone really believe that the former Bruce Jenner managed for years to completely hoodwink Kris Kardashian, his perceptive, sharp, cunning, wife and mother/manager of this fabulously successful brood of mega famous children and step-children?

Isn’t it at least possible that this is another, albeit far more dramatic, public play for attention; an historic, world class exhibition like the barely consummated though suitably lavish and highest-profile fake marriage of Bruce’s step-daughter Kim Kardashian to the hapless pro basketball player Kris Humphries? 

Remember that similarly calculated media blitz? And how the NBA semi-star alleged he had been used for promotional purposes only to be discarded after just 72 days when the match proved unsuccessful commercially?

How do you top the admirably, awesomely successful personal promotion machine Kim and her current and far more suitable and talented husband Kanye West in feeding the fame-making machine?

No one really totally understands gender confusion, the whole notion of a woman trapped in a man’s body or vice versa. This extraordinary episode may bring new understanding and sympathy to the mystery. Maybe everything that Bruce/Caitlyn says about wanting to be a role model for this population is from the bottom of his/her heart. It may indeed be a profoundly sincere and genuine transformation. 

But doesn’t what the New York Times is gently referring to as the carefully calibrated roll-out of his/her transition generate even the slightest bit of skepticism?

1- Dianne Sawyer’s mega-interview on ABC News. Followed by,

2- Celebrated photographer Annie Leibovitz’ Vanity Fair cover picture and slinky sexy pictures inside. All accompanied by, 

3- The orgy of Social Media that is so gigantic and omnipresent that any show producer on radio or television today would be loath to ignore it.

Like I said, the whole drama may be a sincere and selfless sacrifice of privacy for a greater good, (although his/her decision not to be physically altered anytime soon generates some questions of commitment). 

The entire episode may be designed as advertised to help encourage the evolution of our understanding of gender identity as opposed to physical identity.

But to the extent we take it seriously, we should never forget that this whole pre-meditated mega-saga has been created under the Uber-clever auspices of the savviest promoters of the 21st Century, those Barnum & Bailey’s of Reality TV, the Clever Kardashians.