Fellow Travelers
Watching the much-discussed Fox News debate in which some woman named MeMe Roth registers moral indignation that a girl who is not a perambulating skeleton won American Idol, my internal pinball finally hit 'tilt.'
Any day now, I am fully expecting to see one of these freaky Anne Coulter clones appear on television criticizing fire plugs for encouraging the Obesity Epidemic because they are short and squat, unlike the tall, slender telephone poles. It really is getting that bizarre. I'm reminded, constantly, of those stories from the McCarthy era, where some poor bastard is subpeonaed for buying a carton of milk from a grocer who might be Communist.
Since when has it been the responsibility of art and artists to encourage 'health'? Since when do we punish artists for not being 'healthy'? People may get pissy about smoking in films, but they don't look at Heath Ledger and say "He's a smoker. He's a bad example. He shouldn't have a career."* Gwyneth Paltrow freely admits eating what sounds like an anorexic's diet. I don't hear anyone saying she shouldn't be in pictures. Elliot Smith wrote some very affecting songs about how it disgusted him the way people romanticized his heroin addiction.
I think MeMe Roth should dye her hair. She is encouraging Aryanism in broadcasting, which is, in fact, a real problem. Why do female pundits always have to be struck from that same mold? Young, leggy, white, blonde, sometimes with glasses added for 'seriousness.' She should be ashamed.
* I don't actually know if Heath Ledger is a smoker or not - he was just the first person who came to mind, and I can't say I'm sorry about that...rrrowr! But I am sorry if I'm saddling him with a bad habit he doesn't get to enjoy.
Any day now, I am fully expecting to see one of these freaky Anne Coulter clones appear on television criticizing fire plugs for encouraging the Obesity Epidemic because they are short and squat, unlike the tall, slender telephone poles. It really is getting that bizarre. I'm reminded, constantly, of those stories from the McCarthy era, where some poor bastard is subpeonaed for buying a carton of milk from a grocer who might be Communist.
Since when has it been the responsibility of art and artists to encourage 'health'? Since when do we punish artists for not being 'healthy'? People may get pissy about smoking in films, but they don't look at Heath Ledger and say "He's a smoker. He's a bad example. He shouldn't have a career."* Gwyneth Paltrow freely admits eating what sounds like an anorexic's diet. I don't hear anyone saying she shouldn't be in pictures. Elliot Smith wrote some very affecting songs about how it disgusted him the way people romanticized his heroin addiction.
I think MeMe Roth should dye her hair. She is encouraging Aryanism in broadcasting, which is, in fact, a real problem. Why do female pundits always have to be struck from that same mold? Young, leggy, white, blonde, sometimes with glasses added for 'seriousness.' She should be ashamed.
* I don't actually know if Heath Ledger is a smoker or not - he was just the first person who came to mind, and I can't say I'm sorry about that...rrrowr! But I am sorry if I'm saddling him with a bad habit he doesn't get to enjoy.
posted by Katie Taylor at 11:20 PM
3 Comments:
It's kind of bittersweet that a woman such as this gets to enjoy her 15 minutes of fame while putting people down. Of course, because she's coming from the almighty television, she's also able to spread the hate even further by putting these ridiculous ideas into the minds of our kids.
Part of me says that I can't wait until her 15 minutes are up and she can go back to being a nobody. The bitch on the street we all spit at because of her acerbic thoughts against those who are not anorexic. The other part of me knows that another will rise in her place with just as much of a hatred-filled message.
Too true, Beena. Of course, the most depressing thing with women like this is that you don't get the impression they are Core Believers in their cause or anything - it really is all about the 15 minutes of fame. If there were no "War on Obesity," she would appear on television berating women for not shaving their legs in winter, or something.
And the apparently narcissistic obsessive Me!Me!Me! Roth aside, IMO THIS
"People may get pissy about smoking in films, but they don't look at Heath Ledger and say "He's a smoker. He's a bad example. He shouldn't have a career."* Gwyneth Paltrow freely admits eating what sounds like an anorexic's diet. I don't hear anyone saying she shouldn't be in pictures. Elliot Smith wrote some very affecting songs about how it disgusted him the way people romanticized his heroin addiction."
is the most important point.
The next time some over-Puritan, over-Calvinist, likely heinously sexist uber-dweeb whines, "But overweight is UNHEALTHY", I might actually snap back, "Well, if you were equally indignant about 120-hour workweeks, heroin use and alcoholism, you MIGHT be worth listening to for, oh, a nanosecond."
(Since I sense you are on teh verge of teh fame b/c you write so brilliantly, however, I'd step cautiously re: saddling hot stars with habits. Remember what happened with Kate Hudson and that poor (HAW!) tabloid.)
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