April 13, 2007
Are you disgusted yet?
When I was a young teeny-bopper I had pictures and posters of the Beatles literally wallpapering my room. I bought all of the fan magazines, watched every TV appearance and news feature, bought all of their records. I was a walking encyclopedia of trivia about the group and each of its members. Later infatuations included Herman’s Hermits, Dino, Desi and Billy (I had a fanclub for them) and Paul Revere and the Raiders (I fell in love with them after I got thatclosetothem at a private concert for a charity I was involved in.) With all of the hormonal angst and romanticism of a typical sixties teen, I swooned for Richard Chamberlain, David MacCullum and Michael Landon. As each, in turn, took first place in my affections, I dreamed that they would wait for me to grow into the beautiful and charming woman they would fall in love with. I believed these things would happen and had my heart broken again and again as my magazines told tales of their interest in other girls or women before I even had a chance to play my hand.
School, social activities and real, live boys distracted me in my later teen years. Though my old heart throbs (and a few new ones) still held a place in my affections, my obsessiveness died away. I grew up. My lack of interest in the personal lives of entertainment personalities in later years became the anitithesis of my teen fanaticism. These days I avoid knowing anything personal about my favorites, focusing my interest in their art instead. I don’t buy fan magazines or watch gossip TV. I generally know only of their most outrageous behavior, because those stories can’t be avoided even within the “serious news” media. Thus I learned of various suicides and criminal accusations over the years, of Tom Cruise’s bizarre behavior and Anna Nicole’s son’s death, followed by her own. I’m truely not a voyeur when it comes to the personal lives of “personalities,” but what they do frequently becomes news that is hard to avoid.
I think it all began to get completely out of hand in 1994 with a slow-speed chase in a white Bronco. The bombardment has persisted, with “boys behaving badly” (and sometimes girls) seizing the imagination of the Amreican public, or perhaps it’s only the force-feeding by the media that makes it appear that we care passionately about the misdeeds of the annointed luminaries. Despicable behaviour dominates the news, displacing stories that it might actually do us some good to hear.
In the last year we’ve had an overdose of bigotry and shockingly vile epithets, first from Mel Gibson, then Michael Richards, now Don Imus, screaming from the headlines with our morning coffee. What is wrong with these people? Do they not have handlers? Are they so filled with hatred and prejudice that it must eventually burst forth in some spectacular and very public way? And do they actually expect us to believe their oh-so-sincere apologies and rebuttals? I, for one, don’t buy it, and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone. No one would spew such filth if they didn’t believe it, drunk, sober or talking in their sleep. No, I believe what happened is that they dropped their masks and showed us a darkness in their very souls. I didn’t want to witness that, but it couldn’t be avoided. Now I just want them to go away.
I’m glad that corporate America is finally taking notice, and I expect to see Hollywood follow suit. MSNBC and CBS did the right thing in firing Imus. Sure, they did it to protect their sponsorships and not out of a sense of propriety, but it ’s a start. The big guys have the power to exert pressure that is out of our reach as “average people.” But their actions say that they know that the American public is fed up. We hold our public figures to a higher standard, whether that is the right thing to do or not. If they have shown themselves to be unworthy of our attentions, they should be removed from their spotlights. I no longer watch Tom Cruise, Michael Richards or Mel Gibson. I see something ugly when I see their faces, therefore I choose not to look. I am one of millions who have had enough and am demonstrating it in the only way I can: by witholding my monetary support. I’m just one person. Entertainment has never been a huge portion of my budget. When the amount I’m not spending is conisdered along with that of every other like-minded person, it becomes significant.
I’m not advocating witch hunts, censorship or even political correctness. I am saying that you, me - everyone - has it in their ability to communicate a message to the producers, the directors and the financiers of America’s entertainment. It’s an easy thing to do. If they choose to fund future projects by miscreants, don’t buy into them. Don’t go to movies featuring bigots. Tune your radios to stations offering balanced views. Ignore the recordings, DVDs and videos, too. It’s clear that we have the attention of some of the movers and shakers. Others will listen.
Bravo CBS! Bravo MSNBC. Are you listening, Hollywood?
[tags]entertainmet, bigotry, hatred, boycott, Don Imus, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Michael Richards, outrage[/tags]
Posted by skeet @ 10:52 pm • Society & culture
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April 13th, 2007 at 11:56 pm, kat Says:
This stuff only makes news because of who they are. There are literally millions of people in this country, who hold the exact same opinions. As wrong as it is, it’s not a new thing. It’s nothing to be shocked over. It’s sadly, just the truth about what people really think.
For all any of us know, our own bosses, our neighbors, our doctors, lawyers, store cashiers, could all hold these very same opinions, they just aren’t saying them. In front of us.
I’m all for not giving my hard earned money to hollywood and other places who continue to hold these idiots in high regard, but am I supposed to stop shopping at my local grocery store because a cashier may think this way too?
What about my amazing surgeon? Should I stop seeing him because he might be a bigot but hasn’t come out and said it yet?
The logistics of truly not spending our money on people who hold these opinions, would blow your mind and leave you sick, hungry, and with no place to live.
April 14th, 2007 at 2:28 pm, InvestorBlogger Says:
Truth is, we are all somewhat bigoted in some ways. The difference is Hollywood and the media tend to reward bigots for speaking out, while we don’t get rewarded like that. They therefore have no incentive to change their views, when they are rewarded so handsomely for them. The challenge is for us to understand what attitudes we hold that are considered ‘bigoted’, and deal with them, their origin, their influence and their habits in our lives. Because bigotry is quite negative, it also tends to lead us to ‘negative thinking’ processes rather than positive ones. We all need to embrace more of the positive in our personal lives and in our political lives. As you can see, I’m something of fan of Steve Pavlina’s website (http://www.stevepavlina.com).
Just my 2c.
April 15th, 2007 at 9:42 am, skeet Says:
Kat, we can only know someone’s attitudes when they choose to expose themselves. Yes, I have changed doctors precisely because of this in the past, and I’d do it again with anyone who spewed blatant hatred. If it were a check-out clerk in the grocery store, I’d report to the manager. We don’t have to listen to such stuff.
April 15th, 2007 at 9:46 am, skeet Says:
IB - Of course we all have prejudices, and we all need to serch ourselves and deal with them when they are recognized. I still stand by my assertion that it is wrong to continue to support anyone who chooses to be in the public eye and makes it clear that they embrace attitudes of hatred.
April 17th, 2007 at 2:49 pm, kat Says:
You’re right Skeet, we don’t have to listen to such stuff, but my point was, that there are people who think this way, hold these opinions, but are not saying them out loud.
The cashier may very well be a racist idiot, but not in front of you.
How do we know? We don’t.
That is what I was trying to say, we have no idea who in the non-hollywood world feels this way, but yet we still shop for groceries, get gas, etc.
We could be interacting with bigots and not even know, so the idea to boycott them, is kind of hard to do without actually knowing who is and who isn’t.
April 17th, 2007 at 3:45 pm, skeet Says:
And my point, which I did not make very well, is that when someone is pubically spewing such vileness we should do our best to take away their availabliity to an audience. No, we don’t know what is in someone’s mind or heart if they keep it to themselves. I’m sure we all deal with private citizen-bigots all the time without a clue as to what they are actually like. If they choose to keep it to themselves, fine. If they choose to try to include me in it, they’ve lost me as a client, patient, customer or friend, and I will tell them why on my way out the door.