Indeed. Stuff like that.
Yet again we see how some actors and celebrities (I applaud the many celebrities who do the right thing) get away with goofy behavior with little or no consequences. So what does this mean for the average lay person? Just imagine hating your boss so much, you skip across the street and knock on the door to your biggest competitor. You don’t quit your job (no more than Spacey, Penn or Campbell would renounce their U.S. citizenship for a life in Hugoland); you simply hang out for the day and tell your competitors how wonderful they are. Berate your boss. Listen to your competitor berate your boss, and call him every name in the book—that sort of thing.
Are you currently in a fight with your wife? Would you like to get under her skin? Look up her ex—the one she absolutely can’t stand; the one who has all the goods on her. Have a few drinks with the guy while you both agree what a shrew she is. Bowl a couple of frames together. Catch Monday Night Football at the local watering hole. There. Now don’t you have a better appreciation for the logic of these three? Hope your brand of foreign sympathizing was worth it; unlike these three, you may not have a job to return to in the morning. You may no longer have a marriage, either. But don’t worry a lick about Spacey, Penn or Campbell. In the morning they’ll still have their careers. They’ll have a country to return to as well. Not only that, but their pictures will be splashed all over newspapers and magazines.
But that’s okay because they’re celebrities.
Boon and Lamore did a study in 2001. They found that 75% of young adults have had a strong attraction to a celebrity. Additionally, nearly 60% say they’ve actually been influenced by celebs. Take Tara Conner, former Miss USA. She almost lost her crown amid accusations of underage bar hopping, sexual promiscuity and alcohol abuse. Conner ultimately got to keep her precious crown, but what message does this send to young girls? Especially those who are so impressionable and vulnerable? That they, too, can screw up as much as they want and still get a second and third chance from a tycoon like Donald Trump?
Immediately following Conner’s absolution by Trump, Rosie O’Donnell lobbed several caustic barbs across the tycoon’s bow. He immediately returned the fire and these two went at it on national television, spitting their venom back and forth across Manhattan. Since this was the spotlighted behavior du jour, most of us shrugged and accepted the latest carnival side-show. As a high school dean, I spend a fair amount of time urging the kids to respect one another and to get along. Sometimes, with the really bad cases, I have to haul them into my office and threaten them with serious disciplinary reprisals if they don’t knock it off and grow up. I tell them that they’d better get a handle on this type of behavior before they become adults. I make sure they understand that respect, temperance and maturity are vital tools for success.
And then Trump and O’Donnell jump into the public arena and start swinging.
Thanks, guys, for making my job a little more difficult. I really appreciate it.
NFL receiver Terrell Owens did just about everything within his power to defy his coach and the Philadelphia Eagles organization. So, what happened to him? This ball of laughs was jettisoned to Dallas, receiving a lucrative deal with no apparent behavior clauses written into his contract. Then he left Dallas for Buffalo and another loaded contract. Finally, it was on to Cincinnati, where his career came to an end. Robert Downey Jr. has had numerous run-ins with the law over his drug use, yet he continues to act in movies and pull in millions for his roles in Ironman and Sherlock Holmes. O.J. Simpson netted a cool million for a failed book deal. The infamous Runaway Bride, Jennifer Wilbanks, inked a $500,000 deal to tell her story of deceit.
Just in case we’ve forgotten, here’s a gentle reminder of the facts of life: You and I are not celebrities. We don’t have their money. We don’t have their time. We don’t have their egos or insane desire for publicity. We are not able to race all over the world (in and out of rehab, sporting a shaved head, gallivanting around without any underwear) while we stick our kids with god-knows-who. We don’t have the luxury of spending a lazy afternoon with a filthy dictator. When we mess up we will not catch the breaks they do. In other words, all people are equal, but celebrities are more equal than others.
Hey, we have to learn our place in the barn, don’t we?
However, if after reading this you want to become a celebrity you need to keep one thing in mind: The number of people looking at you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions. In celebrity- speak that means it might actually pay to be an egotistical horse’s rear end. And if you have a little talent to go along with your outrageous behavior, you might go far. So, go ahead. Have at it. Only, don’t expect to have your old job waiting for you when you return from that world. That’s okay, because you won’t need it anyway.
You’re now a celebrity, and they play by different rules.
The Safety Fallacy
“Chance takers are accident makers.” Unknown
22 Minutes to Midnight…
The teenage party scene is bad enough without parents getting in on the act of purchasing the alcohol. Teens, you can well-imagine, flock to these events in great and enthusiastic numbers.
There are certain natural laws, regarding the teenage party scene, adults should be aware of when hosting or thinking about hosting illicit events of this kind. First, far more partiers will show up than were originally anticipated. It’s a mathematical certainty: invite 10, get 40. Invite 40, get 140. Word spreads quickly, and we can thank the age of cell phones for that. Every teen has one. Come to think of it, every six-year-old does, too. Second, where there is alcohol you can expect drugs. That’s not a mathematical certainty, just a sociological one. Also, depending on the number of participants, count on lots of noise, some vandalism, a fight or two, theft, public urination, vomiting, ticked off neighbors and, most probably, police. Once the whole mess is cleaned up, and everyone makes it home alive and in one piece, the host should consider himself lucky. Darn lucky.
But when things get out of hand, and the police and angry neighbors come knocking, many party hosts are nowhere to be found. Later on, they may scramble to put their spin on the situation: My wife and I went out to dinner and returned to a disaster. We got rid of everyone as fast as we could, officer.I didn’t see any alcohol. If there was any, and I highly doubt that, they were drinking it in the back yard.Kids just kept coming and coming in waves. It was scary. Or how about this red herring: Kids these days are completely out of control.
I have some advice for the good parents—the ones who hit the ceiling after they’ve discovered their son or daughter has attended one of these illicit get-togethers. After you’ve grounded your child for the next nineteen full moons, call the party hosts and, in no uncertain terms, express your extreme displeasure with their incredible irresponsibility. Tell them that your child will no longer be permitted over their house. Remind them of the host liability laws and tell them that, if your child had been hurt after consuming alcohol on their property, you would have sued them for a very hefty sum. Inform them that you will be reporting the matter to the police. And after you hang up, have the