It’s easy to crash a party at the White House these days, as Michaele and Tareq Salahi proved over Thanksgiving break. The couple crashed President Barack Obama’s first state dinner for a foreign dignitary.

Serious security breach? Apparently not. The Associated Press reported the Secret Service as saying the president was in no danger as the couple had been thoroughly screened for weapons when they entered.

Well, that makes me feel completely reassured for the Prime Minister of India’s safety, then. After all, he was the guest of honor at this event and a gatecrasher could be of no consequence to his safety, right? (Note: This is sarcasm.) Later, though, the Secret Service changed its tone and said it was deeply embarrassed by the security breach.

Now, we’re all irritated by the amount of talk about these gatecrashers, but there could have been serious consequences to this foolishness on their part.

This couple may not have actually had any weapons (read: guns and knives), but biological warfare is not easily detected by metal detectors.

When one is entering a U.S. building outside of this country, he or she is expected to go through hoops to gain the privilege to enter. Details on your family, ties to other countries and all that are carefully evaluated, just to gain entry to speak to someone. All possessions are to be left outside. Yet in this country, all you have to do is wear the appropriate clothing and be white, and lo and behold – you can attend a party at the White House.

It makes me wonder whether the Security Agency would have been quite so placid if something similar to this had taken place on foreign soil with the positions of the two heads of state being reversed. Hmm.

As I perform a search for Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh’s visit, all I see are reports of the gatecrashers. Most of the headlines read “Gatecrashers overshadow Manmohan’s visit.”

Pathetic. At a time when diplomatic-strategic relations are being developed and tested by a relatively new president, an incident like this only shows how far people will go to get their two minutes of fame.

It was deeply disrespectful for Tareq and Michaele Salahi to have turned this state visit into their petty private bid for attention. “The Real Housewives of D.C.” should be proud. I wonder if the production company thinks ratings were worth it to have crashed a state visit and overshadowed more important issues that may have been discussed, like say for instance, nuclear proliferation or the war on terror.

After all what’s really more important: Reality television or reality?

Sonali Kudva is a graduate journalism student and columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].