Who Are These Kardashians and Why Should We Care?

Have I been asleep like Rip van Winkle the past few years (okay, so in a sense, I was)? Can someone enlighten me as to who these creatures are, why they appear on my television constantly, no matter the channel? Are they like Paris Hilton, famous just for the sake of being famous or for having vile tempers or a really good PR person? Or desperately trying to be famous with the help of a greedy PR person? Just the little I've seen about them makes me think, aha! I have an idea for a new cable channel - VAPID. That could be the new cable channel home for people like these Kardashians; Paris Hilton; Lindsay Lohan and her mother; Kate Gosselin; Naomi Campbell; the Octomom; Jessica Simpleton, err, Simpson and her sibling; Anna-Nicole Smith (whoops, cross that one off), and whatever other celebrities, self-described or otherwise, who waste our precious viewing time? (Also add all those desperately-seeking-mate-and-15-minutes-of-fame-I-can-parlay-into-a-career women who appear on The Bachelor.) Corral them all onto just this channel and then the rest of the 100 or so channels would be blissfully "celebrity" free for you and me. I mean, just imagine all the people watching TV in peace? Yes, I may be a dreamer, but I know I'm not the only one.