If you believe any of the whining you hear from famous actors about life in the spotlight, it’s tough to be popular. For every person that wants to be like you is someone who wants to tear you down. Witness this any time you’re waiting at the checkout in the supermarket. Mostly marginally-talented people have traded their anonymity in for life under a microscope. ”Brad Still Wants Jen”, ”Sandra’s New Heartache”; thousands of inane headlines pollute the eyes and titillate the stupid every week as mainstream media greases this country’s rail to illiteracy.

The tech industry rags are in a similar race to ding the popular to their benefit. And Apple is without question the biggest target. The latest hit-magnet: tales of the iPhone 4′s antenna woes. Your EVO’s battery lasts 2 hours, your Eris connects your 911 calls then mutes both parties, but the best iPhone ever made gets all the ink because some users encounter some problem some of the time when they hold the handset a particular way.

Fire up the presses!

Although this will make zero difference in the proliferation of poorly-written hit-whore pieces designed only to sensationalize a non-issue with the most popular mobile phone on the planet, I’d like to offer one piece of rational advice for those who have yet to take their Google-sponsored whack at the Apple piñata.

Wait until the company releases the software update it promised to address the problem.

Until then, frothing masses of the blogosphere, your contributions to knowing what the problem is, and therefore being in a position to recommend a course of action, mean shit. You have no clue what combination of hardware and software variables are contributing to this non-issue. Your speculation about what Apple can and should do is about as well-grounded as the latest about Britney.

For a moment, try to think like the respectable journalism that kept this country free.

Take a pass.