I haven't been posting about the whole Heath Ledger whirlwind since the initial incident; there's enough being said about it that I certainly needn't get involved. But as self-centered as this may sound, the entire thing is getting to be so unsavory and infuriating that I kind of can't handle it anymore. I've tried unsuccessfully several times today to post something--a new 'Subway Chronicles', a tirade about how utterly retarded the new show 'Moment of Truth' is--and to be honest, my blood is at such a rolling boil that I haven't been able to concentrate. So, the hell with it. Here goes.
I'm sure no one gives a fraction of a fuck, but I am unbelievably tired of the generally accepted order of the day that celebrities aren't really people and so we should feel free to help ourselves to their tragedies.
Don't get me wrong--I take great delight in laughing at what celebrities wear and the stupid things they say. If you've spent any time reading this stupid blog, you know this. But there is a fucking line, people. There is a line between humor and satire and plain old fucking cruelty.
The current Britney debacle is a poignant example. Has it escaped the notice of nearly everyone that this girl is clearly mentally ill? Am I the ONLY ONE in the world who no longer finds it funny and instead, a bit unnerving, to say the least? Am I the ONLY ONE who doesn't see the humor in a woman getting her children taken away from her? Am I the ONLY ONE who finds it chilling and infuriating--rather than funny--that the Associated Press was found to have a Britney obituary on hand, just in case?
The answer appears to be 'yes,' because the general consensus seems to be "she's bringing it on herself, so laugh it up." Because celebrity makes one immune to making insanity-based--and that's precisely what I think Britney is--decisions? Is celebrity like a superpower that imbues all who bask in its limelight a superhuman ability to think clearly while dealing constantly with a global three-ring circus aimed constantly at mocking them?
But I've veered off topic. I didn't start this to talk about the Britney media circus. I'm no match for the hilarious drawing-cum-drips-on-photos-of-celebrities antics of beneath-contempt fools like Perez Hilton. That tide isn't going to turn by my hand. It's a lost cause.
The reason I'm writing this because I am gobsmacked, infuriated, and revolted by the complete lapse of common decency and respect for humanity exhibited on John Gibson's FoxNews radio show broadcast this morning regarding Heath Ledger. You can hear his comments here.
It's bad enough that we have the absolute nutcases at the Westboro Baptist Church--google them if you don't know who/what they are, because I won't dignify them by posting links--planning to picket Heath Ledger's memorial services for his involvement in Brokeback Mountain. It's disgusting, but expected. I've read so much about Westboro since their "big break" picketing Mathew Shepard's funeral that I tend to just roll my eyes and move on with my life.
But frankly, I find John Gibson more troubling. Because here is a supposedly respectable member of the normal human race--not a collection of deranged religious psychopaths--and one of FoxNews's "fair and balanced" "journalists" openly mocking Heath Ledger's death, using the now infamous 'I wish I knew how to quit you' sound bite from Brokeback Mountain as a punchline, then proceeding to call Ledger a "weirdo" for saying that he thinks about his death because he now has more than just himself to be concerned with (since having a child), and then suggesting that he probably had a big stake in the stock market and Tuesday's huge plunge caused him to throw in the towel. This from a person who, incidentally, professes to be a Christian and hence, by extension, compassionate.
I don't expect Gibson to care that Heath Ledger's dead--hell, I didn't know the guy and neither did most of the people rending their garments about the whole thing, so I can understand a certain non-chalance on the part of a commentator. But I would think that a "journalist" would be able to exhibit some modicum of decorum and not openly mock the death of a human being--a human being who has left behind parents, siblings, friends and, most importantly, a daughter. Yeah, sounds like comedy gold to me. It makes one wonder whether Mr. Gibson has ever experienced a loss of his own. If not, I hope--with full recognition of the sort of karma I'm putting out in the universe--that he experiences one soon, so that he can learn to have some fucking respect.
And I'm serious when I suggest that you SEND A COMPLAINT. Will it do any good? Most likely not. Complaints and petitions seem to only work when they're signed by Conservatives about the "real issues" like saying mean things about religious people. FoxNews wi'll probably just laugh it off and, most likely, characterize Gibson's remarks as 'free speech.' Which is perfectly valid.
But if free speech dictates that someone like Gibson should be able to mock the death of a human being and not be held to any sort of journalistic standards, then I'd like a rebroadcast of the Madonna concert with the full discoball-crucifix number included, since that was cut out because of petitions for respect and decency by Right Wing gay-for-Jesus retards. I'd also like a replay of Janet Jackson's tit on the Super Bowl, and I'd like it in slow motion since I was opening a beer and missed it the first time. I'd also like the exorbitant "indecency" fines that the FCC levies on TV networks for "indecency" to be rolled back to their pre-Janet's-tit levels, another thing put in place because of petitioning for respect and decency by Right Wing gay-for-Jesus retards. And, I'd like for unbridled criticism and mockery of Christianity and Jesus Christ to be allowed to fly about the airwaves with nary a complaint. And finally, I'd like to go on national, live television and wave my genitals at the camera. We have free speech in this country, so I think it's only a fair trade-off. All I want are the rights afforded me by the Constitution.
But I've veered off topic again. The point is: FoxNews has exhibited, time and time again, an absolute and total lack of accountability. They've built a news empire on the idea that they are "fair and balanced," that they are more truthful than the supposed 'Liberal media', and are constantly railing against the suggestion that those on the Right are nothing more than benighted, heartless bigots.
Well, if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...
So email: comments@foxnews.com if you give a flying fuck.
If not, then whatever. Carry on with watching the latest clips on TMZ. After all, they're just celebrities. Not real people.
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