Enabling Celebrity Dysfunction (I Blame Oprah)
by Kurt SchlichterJust when it looks like Roman Polanski has re-set the bar for personal behavior so low that it’s practically subterranean, the late John Phillips comes along and somehow finds a way to slink underneath it. Maybe. Maybe, because his accuser is his own daughter Mackenzie Phillips, a drug addict since the mid-70s who is currently peddling her sordid tale of incest, heroin and general dysfunction to anyone with a lens and a microphone.
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Perhaps this junkie, who by her own admission had a decade-long affair with her own father starting at age 19, is not the most reliable witness. On the other hand, considering the Hollywood community’s frantic defense of noted pedophile Polanski, it’s not too difficult to imagine how Mackenzie and her rock star father might have figured, “Well, we’re here, we’re high, we’re horny. What’s some shared DNA between stars?”
I blame Oprah.
Oh, I blame Mackenzie Phillips too. The law has a wonderful concept called “joint and several liability,” which recognizes that several wrongdoers can all be jointly blameworthy even if they do different awful things. Mackenzie Phillips is a narcotics-gobbling pervert; the manifest evil of her father does nothing to lessen her own guilt for the smoldering wasteland she has made of her charmed life. That is, assuming even a portion of her accusations against John, some of which her sister backs up (which itself is mind-boggling), are true.
But Oprah’s blameworthiness is based not on committing the underlying evil but on exploiting it, celebrating it and normalizing it. That YouTube clip was not selected at random. It’s an ad, and it’s selling degeneracy. Watch as it strings along the viewer with tantalizing tidbits like “My father shot me up for the first time” and an anecdote about a lecherous Mick Jagger while leading up to the big score, the hook, the catharsis, the promise of a heartrending confession of incest, some tears, Oprah’s soothing words (aided by the currently sleek Valerie Bertinelli) and a final absolution right there on daytime television.
You screwed your dad for a decade while in a drug-fueled haze, but you came on my show and confessed, and your sins are washed away. Go in peace, my child. You are absolved.
No. It’s long past time to end the Celebrity Dysfunction Complex’s power to grant indulgences.
There’s this powerful tool out there that for too long has been stashed away in our society’s attic. It’s called “shame,” and it serves a wonderful purpose: it helps prevent people from doing horrible things by ensuring they understand that when they do horrible things, society will treat them like people who have done horrible things.
Mackenzie Phillips ought to be ashamed of herself. She should be hanging her head in shame, not hanging out in studios getting sucked up to by TV nimrods:
Ladies and gentlemen, Mackenzie Phillips, who as an adult, shot smack and banged her dad – thanks for sharing your amazing journey!
But shame is so old-fashioned. It makes people feel bad. And who wants to make people feel bad? Probably those mean old conservatives who have nothing better to do. No, it’s easier to simply normalize dysfunction, to rationalize wrong, to mainstream evil.
You get to be the good guy, the nice guy. You get to be Oprah.
That’s how the Celebrity Dysfunction Complex works. The Complex encompasses talk shows, tabloids, web sites – anything that embraces the dysfunctional, caresses them, pats them on the head, assuring them they are blameless while displaying their dysfunction for our amusement. And by doing so, the Complex whittles away at the differences between the dysfunctional and the functional until they can’t be told apart.
This requires a rejection of judgment. Oprah would never be judgmental. That’s too emblematic of a narrow-minded worldview where all you see are black and white instead of moral relativism’s gauzy, comforting gray.
As we know, judgmental is the worst thing you can be. Mao can kill tens of millions, but who are we to judge? We light up the Empire State Building to celebrate his creation.
Now, on the other hand, take Sarah Palin – well, feel free to judge the hell out of her.
The smack-addled bimbo who nailed her pa for a decade – no, she’s the real hero.
Right and wrong are troublesome concepts because they impose limits on what one can and can’t do. This is against everything that the Celebrity Dysfunction Complex stands for, because if people start judging those they see wasting their lives and their talents on drugs, alcohol, perversions and all manner of other debauchery, then the circus is over. When Lindsey Lohan sobers up, the party ends. When the mutants from the Springer-type talk shows stop living like the crew from Deliverance, the gravy train derails. And the Celebrity Dysfunction Complex depends on a never-ending supply of new human train wrecks.
The task of bringing down the Celebrity Dysfunction Complex falls to us. You have a remote that goes with that big screen. Up near the top is a red button. When some degenerate comes on your screen, supported and approved of by media demigods, spouting off about how being a stripper is empowering, push that button.
When a checkout-stand tabloid tempts you with the tale of some Hollywood hunk’s extracurricular three-way action, reach past it, grab some Tic-Tacs, and pay your bill. Home-wrecking isn’t funny or fun and don’t let your good money go to support it.
When you walk through Barnes & Noble, walk right past Mackenzie Phillips’s paean to perversion and grab something else, anything else. Just leave her book right there between the unsold stacks of Spellbinder: The Essential Speeches of Al Gore and The Carter Sutra: Jimmy and Rosalind’s Illustrated Guide to a Sexually Satisfying Marriage.
We’ll know we’re winning when Oprah asks Mackenzie Phillips just what the hell she was thinking. When the ladies of The View come to a rare consensus that she ought to be ashamed of herself, then we will know the Celebrity Dysfunction Complex is collapsing.
Maybe Mackenzie Phillips and Roman Polanski have done us a favor. They’ve given us a glance at the dark, sick places where the Celebrity Dysfunction Complex would take us. Now, the question is whether we will choose to follow its lead down into the murky depths, or turn and climb back up into the light.
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104 Comments
Let's face it…..liberals love this stuff….it's what they're made of. Deviancy defines liberalism….the more deviant the better. I expect Pres. Opompous will erect a statue to the late John Phillips in front of the White House and we'll have a national "John Phillips National Holiday" soon.
Celebrity Dysfunction Complex can be boiled down to the "why in the ( fill in ) do we CARE about these losers?" Sad day when a case has to be made to normal, intelligent, just-living-their-own-lives-and-minding-their-own-business type of people not only to ignore the Oprah's and Springers and tabloids, but to refuse to FUND them with our purchased attention. Great article- now I have to go clean and feed my mind!
This is too sick to even comment on.
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Once upon a time there was no prisons. All crimes of a lesser nature were punished with a trip to the stocks in the town square. The amount of time in the stocks varied but the results were the same. The criminal was subjected to hours of public humiliation and the public was encouraged to make thier disgust known to the criminal. If a more serious crime was committed there was only one punishment and that was hanging. There was also the option, on lesser crimes, of kicking the offender out of the community. I am not suggesting returning to these methods but a re-think of how we treat people who have wandered too far from the norm has to be considered.
Whatever happened to good old-fashioned shame?
[...] Enabling Celebrity Dysfunction Big Hollywood (blog) On the other hand, considering the Hollywood community's frantic defense of noted pedophile Polanski, it's not too difficult to imagine how Mackenzie and … See all stories on this topic [...]
Great article. When God is taken out of our daily lives, Satan runs amok. The world is upside down. I stopped watching Oprah years ago because she has a God complex. Shame on all of them.
Oprahfried America- obese phat for self-indulgent narcissists who have no soul :
Oprah taught Momma to need a new pair of Jimmy Choo shoes every week to help relieve her victim-hood status of having to watch her illegal maid clean the Malibu mansion overlooking the ocean while insisting Daddy get off to the porn shop to get on his Viagra and let the kiddies pick the hefty credit card tab required to maintain this Oprahfried lifestyle.
[...] Enabling Celebrity Dysfunction [...]
Speaking of "cleaning my mind"… "The Carter Sutra: Jimmy and Rosalind’s Illustrated Guide to a Sexually Satisfying Marriage" AAUUUGGH! Now there's a truly horrifying image (it's worse than thinking about your parents having sex).
I don't know if it's right to blame Mackensie Phillips completely for this. Maybe speaking out now is part of her therapy. Who knows? (Oprah exploiting her sucks, but that's classic Oprah…)
She was brought up in a highly dysfunctional situation–literally sex, drugs, and rock and roll. At 14 or 15, she probably had no concept of what most of us consider right and wrong. Her parents were supposed to protect her, but instead, her father used her and abused her…no idea where her mother was at that point.
All that said, it would be nice if Phillips was providing growth or a platform with her sleazefest book tour. If she called out celebrities that mistreat, ignore, or otherwise screw up their kids and demanded that Child Services take a close look beyond the celebrity to how the kids are faring, this might be worthwhile. To just wallow in the miseries of the past and cry out for attention for your poor screwed-up life seems like a waste of airwaves.
Yeah, but the libs are gonna always use the "I know YOU are but what am I?" defense. The moral equivalency page of the liberal handbook. I have lib friends with whom I CANNOT have an intelligent conversation because of this very technique.
I suppose that Mack is doing a dry run or audition for "Celebrity Rehab," by appearing on Orpah.
"The Carter Sutra: Jimmy and Rosalind’s Illustrated Guide to a Sexually Satisfying Marriage"
One more thing: PLEASE tell me this isn't a real book. I just threw up in my mouth a little.
This elimination of "shame" has extracted an economic cost also. There was a time when a substantial portion of the population would do anything (lawful) to avoid going on "public assistance." And the thought of forgoing employment because you don't make enough more to make it worth the trouble was as foreign as, well, walking on the moon. A reflection on our shift away from personal responsibility.
I have to wonder why this vile story has to be told at all. MacKenzie is/has been a drug addict and so her story , when the father cannot defend himself, is not good. Then why would the grandchildren need to know that Mom and Granddad were in an incestuous relationship along with the drugs. Talk about scarring you very essence. This is a story that does society no good. MacKenzie needed to keep this in therapy but then she is wanting to sell books and maybe even a movie. Yuck!
I truly find this ad even more repellent than the incest. It's even more degenerate.
Amen! A few years ago we were visiting my in-laws. My husband's younger sister was back home with a baby. At a trip to the grocery store, his sister whips out her state-issued food stamp/debit card to pay for her food. I was embarrassed but she was not. The irony was that the clerk was a former classmate of hers and was working her way through college. Neither thought anything of it.
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Oprah's show first came on while I was in high school. Although she has morphed into a type of spiritual guru, I remember when she was practically Jerry Springer. I still remember the show on beastiality & how the boys at school kept making animal noises for the next week. We laughed, but she stole a bit of our innocence that day. And she continues to do so. Honestly, after this MacKenzie Phillips story how much lower can one go? But I have no doubt they'll find a way and take us down with them.
I would ONLY (and I mean ONLY) give kudos to Mackenzie if ALL OF THE PROCEEDS of her book, bar none, were being donated to abused children and abused women. That would the be ONLY justification for this kind of trash.
Great post; However, Mackenzie phillips may not be the best poster child for this crusade, given how her childhood seems to have been screwed up at an early age and she wasn't taught any of the moral boundaries most people learn. It says a great deal about her moral underpinnings that she has no shame.
Those who have real guilt are the Oprahs of the world. As you point out, she is exploiting this for ratings and clearly not helping Phillips learn shame or anything for that matter.
sad
With people like these, is it any wonder World Weekly News went out of print?
Even bat boy can't compete with this.
Who is Mckenzie Phillips?
I'm fascinated by…motives, human behavior and what drives a person to do the despicable.
This was a great piece. I don't like any categorical name-callings in its afterglow; that's too easy. But something I DO know (a wonk in politics): when people rise to power, the insular ring of yes-men/women who create/contribute-to/preserve the HYPE and definitely fuel the flames. It's just a matter of time. The transformation takes place. Politician, billionaire entreprenuer, rock star, actor…these professions don't have healthy egos; rather, sickly ones in disguise. They search for approval. And once they get it, a momentum starts. A good-many run thru exhilaration experiences like dirty socks. No consequences; their posses assure that. But the pursuit of "kicks" runs will run its course. Until they get to the inner sanctum degenerate behavior: doing your daughter, making a stripper eat your feces, raping children. Depravity without consequences? Why not?
BTW: what do we do about it? Categorical name-calling anonymously in a blog doesn't help. The Other Side will be quick to categorize-us-back.
I find it disgusting that when so many people, her own sister, Chynna included have come out to verify the truth of Mackenzie Phillips against the wishes of Michelle Phillips. Denny Doherty's daughter made a statement that her father had told her John Phillips, himself told him about his relationship with Mackenzie. Where EXACTLY did you hear Mackenzie shrug responsibility? In addition, do some research into sexual abuse. Silence ENABLES abusers to keep on abusing!
That being said, I have been a Masters level addictions Professional as well as a Social worker for Child protective Services, NCIS and private practice for 20 years. In my experience when dealing with cases of child sexual exploitation, there are 3 things in common:
1) Secrecy – The victim is afraid to fragment their family, when they tentatively approach the subject they are very quickly "hushed up" by other family members who want to protect the family image.
2) The victim ALWAYS feels as if they have done something wrong and are helpless to stop the ongoing abuse.
3) In the case of drug use….why is it we all love Heath Ledger? We see him as "tragic" even brilliant because no one knew about his addictions, when the truth is he was a doctor shopping addict.
Robert Downey Junior is seen as tragic because his father supplied him with drugs, but celebrated now because there was no sexual component. Until he crawled in bed with a neighboring 12 year old boy in a state of blackout he was forced to get help.
Michael Jackson is seen as "tortured" for his clearly inappropriate behavior with children. Can you say "Jesus Juice"? He was supposedly "murdered? No, he was an addict who overdosed, just an addict that could afford a doctor who would supply him with anything.
Rush Limbaugh? He destroyed his hearing with his oxycotin addiction but has never served a day for his illegal activities and is in fact worshipped by those that listen to his show. Who in their right mind destroys their own hearing? My point?
Long term drug addicts are irrational. They frequently hurt everyone around them. Bijou Phillips, (youngest sister of Mackenzie) was in foster care until 3rd grade because her parents were deemed "unfit"; she developed addiction problems of her own.
I have walked into homes and removed children that have been groomed to be "daddy's partner" for years. Wealthy homes, poor homes, homes with drugs. Depending on the child's willingness to speak, and the unlikelihood of physical signs, sexual abuse is very hard to prove. Sometimes even when there IS physical evidence it is hard to prove. Only by teaching victims that it is imperative to SPEAK OUT, will this hideous practice stop.
Mackenzie spoke out now, because SHE TOLD HER STORY NOW. For the first time in 49 years she felt brave enough not to carry this burden by herself and to use her tragic childhood to try to help others. Victims speak when they are ready too; some carry it to their grave tortured by demons of guilt, rage and self loathing.
Please read the following facts and just because something makes you uncomfortable or you find something distasteful, do not deny victims the right everyone has denied them: Honesty, help and Healing
News reports continue to discuss the incest abuse of Mackenzie Phillips by her father, while some family denies it happened and others agree it did. Comments from viewers online sometimes question why Ms. Phillips is coming forward now.
What is the true story? We may never know, but there are myths and facts about incest, which could help us understand Mackenzie Phillips' recent disclosure.
Myth 1: We pretty much know the extent of incest in our society.
Facts: Studies conclude that 43 percent of children who are abused are abused by family members, and incest has been cited as the most common form of child abuse. Although estimates show 20 million or more Americans have been victimized by parent incest as children, incest remains one of the most under-reported and least discussed crimes in our national. It is often concealed by the victim because of guilt, shame, fear, social and familial pressure, as well as coercion by the abuser.
"You screwed your dad for a decade while in a drug-fueled haze, but you came on my show and confessed, and your sins are washed away. Go in peace, my child. You are absolved."
Ah, yes. "My ego te absolvo."
Myth 2: Incest often involves physical force or violence.
Facts: Verbal or implied threats are more often used by the abuser to ensure the child's silence and compliance, such as how telling will break up the family and end the special father-daughter relationship." Shame or blame may also be used by the abuser. In a family where support and affection are lacking, the opportunity to have a special sexual relationship with one's father may be very appealing.
Myth 3: If someone is incested, they should be able to deal with it and get on with their life.
Facts: Incest is a particularly damaging form of sexual abuse because it is perpetrated by individuals upon whom the victim trusts and depends. The abuser may also threaten to harm himself, the family, family pets, or valued possessions if the incest is revealed or terminated. A child abused by a stranger can run home for help and support. An incested child cannot. Besides the lack of support at home, pressure to keep silent is powerful as fear of the family breaking up can be overwhelming to other family members.
Myth 4: Women who have been incested should have told someone at the time they were abused.
Facts: Some recent research suggests that some victims of incest may suffer from biochemically-induced amnesia. In these cases, any immediate and/or latent memory of the incident is repressed and can remain so for years
Myth 5: Once a woman who was incested as a child gets therapy, the path to recovery is short.
Facts: Whether a one-time event or ongoing assaults over an extended period of time, the process of recovery from incest can be very painful and difficult. Incest can also have serious long-term effects on victims, such as eating disorders, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including nightmares and flashbacks. There is research indicating that children who have been sexually abused by a relative suffer from even more intense guilt and shame, low self-esteem, depression and self-destructive behavior (such as substance abuse, sexual promiscuity and prostitution) than children who have been sexually assaulted by a stranger. Low self-esteem, depression, guilt, shame, and/or substance abuse could have influenced the time Ms. Phillips chose to disclose her incest abuse.
. It may take decades before a victim is ready to come forward with the information of their abuse. The fact that Mackenzie Phillips' disclosure encouraged others to come forward (an 83% increase in traffic at the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline since her disclosure of incest), may indicate there are many women out there who may now be ready to come forward, but may not have been ready earlier, or maybe weren't sure how to proceed.
Sources/Resources:
National Center for Victims of Crime http://www.ncvc.org
National Sexual Assault Online Hotline, 1-800-656-4673
Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network http://www.rainn.org
Elizabeth Morris
How about educating yourself before you hit the keyboard? It is a very complex issue.
Instead of jumping on the "ignore the awful truth" bandwagon.
thank you, very thought provoking
next to John Phillips Polanski is a boy scout…
This jerk always thought of himself as a god, a sex star who couldn't knowingly deprive women of his earthly charms. He admitted as much in his own words.
But his own daughter? Ordinarily this would be the stuff of hillbilly legend- with apologies to decent hill folk everywhere- but here is a certified rock star married to the lovely Michelle Phillips and with a plethora of willing
accomplises in his cheating deviancy.
And he does his daughter. As Dante pointed out, there is a special ring in Hell for this creep. May he experience
a millionfold the pain he caused.
As far as MacKenzie goes her life has been a hell of sorts, and to criticize her strikes us as not only thoughtless but mean as well. Go easy on her, we wouldn't want to have walked a mile in her shoes…
Indeed, I'm not hungry for lunch anymore so I'll save about 5 bucks.
I always liked Valerie Bertinelli.
Hey Elizabeth,
I agree that we, as a country, should come out and discuss insects more. Thank God for Miss Phillips and her openness about being a victim of insects. When you think about it, probably all women have been victims of insects at some time. Let us be free with insects. I have been a victim of insects and I really can't get over it. Don't try to minimize my disclosure just because I am man either- you are vile. Have you ever had insects with your brother, dad, or mother. Tell the truth- I'll bet you enjoyed the hell out of it. As they say, insects is best.
I understand the horror that children suffer when sexually abused, and the horrors they continue to suffer the rest of their lives, but M.P. in this case is talking about something that she participated in as an adult for 10 years (19 years until she was 29!). She was an adult. If something had happened before she was an adult, then I can understand your outrage. She was not abused as a child.
Elizabeth, it takes a lot for me to just come out and ask this but I would like to have insects with you and your mom at the same time.
Face it: if MacKenzie Phillips and her dad and Oprah were fictional characters inhabiting a novel or movie, the writer who invented them would potentially be hailed as a creative genius. (Ever heard of a little piece of imaginary tawdriness called "Lolita?") In the right context and presented in the right style, ANYTHING – no matter how vulgar it would be in the real world – becomes ART. (See Quentin Tarantino.) Roman Polanski got rewarded by Hollywood and the critics and the box office for making up creepy shit like this. Even if John Phillips had been totally clean and celibate, his Papa John pop-star persona would still have emitted strong tune in/turn on/drop out signals – of which the fans strongly approved.
So maybe to people like this, made-up sleaze being so artistic and and lucrative, real-life sleaze doesn't seem so bad. If your fictional incestuous rapist or druggie stage persona is hailed as a work of genius, maybe you're tempted to become more like them. If you get paid for thinking dirty thoughts, maybe dirty actions will be even more rewarding.
That's not to say all creative people are like this. Obviously they're not. As far as we know, Stephen King has never acted out any of the bizarre fantasies he gets paid for. Maybe it takes a certain sort of personality combined with the habit of fantasizing AND being rewarded for it. King doesn't impress me as having a monster ego. Polanski and Phillips – definitely monster egoes. Whatever and "ego" is…
I don't know if they're psychopaths. I have trouble reconciling the kind of psychopathic behavior Polanski and Phillips engaged in with genuine creativity. How could a psychopath, who feels no empathy for real people, muster up the empathy required to create fictional characters – or in the case of a songwriter, to connect emotionally with the listener?
On the other hand, what do people like Polanski and other writers/directors do for a living? Basically, they torture people. Fictional people, true – but basically they get off by putting people through…well, stuff like "Chinatown." Great drama, certainly. But somebody had to think up all that stuff, write it down, act it out, make it into a movie. Is there a difference between someone who is concerned with how human beings deal with the worst that can happen, and someone who simply enjoys making human beings experience the worst that can happen?
I remember those days. I even wrote a paper on it in college because all the talk shows at that time had the same platform until Oprah decided to change and I've always wondered about Oprah's "transformation." Did she really dislike doing those kinds of shows back in the day or was it fear of being sued (like Jenny Jones was) when things got out of hand? Was it a moral decision or a practical one? I'm guessing by the way she exploits the likes of Mackenzie Phillips that morality wasn't the main consideration.
At one time I was an admitted talk show junkie. Oprah, Raphael, Maury were my company when I was at home caring for a baby and my husband was on long deployments. We transferred to Germany where AFN did not air those kind of shows, when we returned to the states it had all changed. Things had gotten even sleazier, except for Oprah who rose above it all to become a spiritual and shopping guru to millions of white woman. I think too, my conservatism had taken root (helped along by a German Lady I met and who liked to argue politics, she's the first person I ever did that with) or maybe I had grown up and didn't need to watch that kind of stuff anymore.
Anyway, Oprah may have changed in a way, there isn't yelling and trailer park trash on any longer. No, there is now celebrity trash featured and celebrated, a higher class of trash I guess you could say.
John Phillips is dead ,so I don't think there is much chance he'll keep on abusing if she had kept silent.
Actually, you're little tirade doesn't make much sense. I don't worship any of those celebrities BECUASE of their drug addictions. I can pity them, I can say they were messed up human beings who destroyed themselves and their talent for no good reason (except for Downey, hopefully he's keeps it together).
The ONLY one that pays a price for his addiction in the court of liberal opinion is Limbaugh. All those other examples you listed are indeed let off the hook, all except for Limbaugh, who at least had an excuse of chronic pain to explain his addiction.
Interesting point. I draw and write a comic book series that tends to be on the dark and disturbing side at times. In fact my partner says that with my style, I'm like the Tarantino of comics (right down to the foot shots). I'll admit, I've got a dark side and some dark fantasies but I know where the line is drawn. For all the nasty, anti-social stuff I have my characters do in my stories, there are still consequences. As for my fantasies I keep them in the bedroom where they belong, amongst other consensual, like-minded adults. Didn't mean to let y'all in on more than you care to know about me, but I do want to go on record and say that not all us creative types have sociopathic tendencies. Besides, my material pales in comparison to the real life exploits of both Polanski and Phillips. Geezus.
Oprah's job is to normalize perversion, desensitize us to it, and give it a "human face." It's hard to say Mackenzie Phillips puts a "human" face onto any of her depravities, real or imagined, but you've got to start some place. The other part of Oprah's job is to gang-bang her viewers into the deviant point of view. Women sitting at home alone watching Oprah are particularly susceptible to the peer group pressure applied to the viewer by Oprah's audience. This "ganging up" is the same kind of thing that used to be done to individuals in the old soviet Komsomol meetings, only this takes place in your living room. Coming next to your living room might be Roman Polanski from his prison cell explaining how he has been victimized by Neanderthals who don't understand how therapeutic it is for four year olds to have sex with him. Celebrities are nothing to celebrate.
Very well done essay by Kurt Schlichter.
Have to agree with that. When you finish with the Brain Bleach, please pass it along.
Kurt makes a very important suggestion that all of you readers should take to heart, and encourage others to do the same.
Vote as your values dictate by turning the station, or just turning off your TV altogether.
Reject the garbage.
Don't rent the DVDs, buy the CDs, go to those movies, watch those TV shows or read those books.
Only support the entertainment which supports, and doesn't undermine, your values.
You will probably wind up like me, relegated to only watching a bit of news in the evening and one or two sitcoms (Everybody Loves Raymond is all I can watch), but think of all the other stuff you'll stop missing out on!
"Maybe Mackenzie Phillips and Roman Polanski have done us a favor. They’ve given us a glance at the dark, sick places where the Celebrity Dysfunction Complex would take us."
Maybe we just don't take their plight seriously enough. FLOTUS and Oprah endured a sacrifice almost none of us will ever have to…ride a souped-up 757 to Copenhagen.
AND THEY DID IT FOR THE KIDS!
And now Oprah carts out Phillips to rationalize and glorify sex with a parent and pumping H.
AND THEY DID IT FOR THE KIDS?
Is it to empower parents out there having sex with their children? Is it to inform children out there having sex with their parents that if Phillips did it you should do it too? You can't "rape the willing" is the message? Or is it "incest should be not only permitted but encouraged!"?
Caught a glimpse of Towelhead (2008) (Eckhart you egghead…WTF were u thinking?). Far from being a neo-con prude I just didn't have the stomach to get very far into it. Mixed metaphors and messages were the highlights. In light of this and the whole Polanski 'affair' it's a despicable glimpse into the soul of Hollywood. One has to wonder why they are being so outlandish in exposing it.
Corruption the moral minds of children is still a crime? Or is the corruption of the child's mind…..
FOR THE KIDS!!!!
Which step is the one where you time your Oprah-fession with the release of your new book to maximize your profits off of your sickness?
Great summary. It defies logic how normal american women still hold oprah on some moral pedestal.
Point of order: Lolita is as "tawdry" as it is because Nabokov wanted his audience to hate the narrator. The book can best be read as an indictment of the mindset that allows people (like Mr. Humbert) to intellectualize and rationalize away all questions of morality… which, I think, makes it quite relevant to the moral questions we're facing now.
Lolita might as well be a peek into the mind of Roman Polanski or the Phillips menage a deux.
Oprah is a joke and she gets away with talking about all the sleaze that many others can't. I used to love what howard stern would discuss how she get's away with it because people believe she really cares when in reality she's into explotation of anything to be rich! Gotta Love Howard, he makes no bones about being a degenerate and provides an outlet for others who aren't afraid to say what they really are. Not saying his views are correct but there a lot closer to reality than what appears on the daytime talk shows!
[...] Kurt Schlichter makes the case for ending the Celebrity Dysfunction Complex: Ladies and gentlemen, Mackenzie Phillips, who as an adult, shot smack and banged her dad – thanks for sharing your amazing journey! [...]
Exactly my thought — why are we hearing this now? Oh, wait, does Ms. Phillips need money or just some limelight? Well, go on Oprah, tell some horrid story and then bask in the glow, I guess.
Completely sad and tacky and trashy. Way to go, Oprah.
I stopped watching her a couple years ago, bec. I could NOT stand her know it all attitude. Sounds like I'm not missing much.
I remember growing up my mother (single mother raising two kids and just lost her job) had to get food stamps for a short time. SHE WAS MORTIFIED! We drove across the city to shop and practically wore disguises when she used them because she was so ashamed of being on food stamps. She REFUSED to ask for help from the family and quickly found four or five part-time jobs so she could get off of food stamps. I can remember only going to the store two maybe three times on food stamps. Best lesson I have ever learned!
Can we talk about how racist this whole thing is? Blatant racing.
Now that Safire is gone, we more humble types must attempt to fill the lacuna and do our annoying schtick.
It is a popular misconception that "nimrod" is a synonym for "ultramaroon." A nimrod is a hunter; an Old Testament allusion.
Relish, I would give more credence to MacKenzie Phillips' claims about her ALLEGED pervert father if he was still around to defend himself. But, conveniently, he's DEAD. When he was alive, she talked a lot about how she was such a druggie and how she and her dad used to smoke weed and shoot heroin, but nothing about the sex stuff. If she was TRULY abused as a child – or even as a young adult, wouldn't THAT have been the time to say AND DO something about it? When he could still be charged? When he could pay his debt to society? But noooo, when he was alive she was probably too busy living off of his money (which must have been considerable in order to afford the level of drug addictions he was funding).
I think this whole story was cooked up to sell a book in order to make some money to continue to support her lifestyle. She's not donating the proceeds of the book to charity or anything. And frankly, without the prurient sex allegations, her story of an overprivileged upbringing at the hands of a couple of arrested adolescent drug addicts is pretty old news. No story there…
"Right and wrong are troublesome concepts because they impose limits on what one can and can’t do. This is against everything that the Celebrity Dysfunction Complex stands for, because if people start judging those they see wasting their lives and their talents on drugs, alcohol, perversions and all manner of other debauchery, then the circus is over.
Mr. Schlichter, you've nailed it. You've absolutely nailed it. Thank you so much.
Hollywood-types have the illness known as "Way-too-much-information Syndrome".
I truly sympathize will ALL young victims of crime, but why is this newsworthy? Her father was a druggie – of course they do the unthinkable.
If Ms. Phillips was trying to help others by bringing this to the public's attention, then the talk-show circuit/PSA route is fine…but there's that book she's trying to sell….
Cashing in on victimhood – now where have I heard that before?
Mackenzie Phillips should be ashamed and is a pervert because she was sexually abused by her father and didn't have the moral training or drug-free state of mind to know it was wrong? She could be lying about it, but if she's not, she wouldn't be the first incest survivor who didn't feel safe telling anyone about it until after the person who abused her was dead. I don't think she's going with public with it to ADVOCATE incest. He was her father and he had that unique position of authority and influence over her life. Being sexually abused by a parent is an incredibly damaging experience. Debating about whether she ought to tell the public is one thing; saying she's a pervert because she was abused by her father is another. And as for her drug problems, of course she had drug problems. Drugs were a part of her family life and lots of abused people turn to drugs or alcohol to attempt to escape their pain.
"All those other examples you listed are indeed let off the hook, all except for Limbaugh, who at least had an excuse of chronic pain to explain his addiction."
And, more importantly, he's on the "good team," eh?
Ms. Morris – we're not talking about a 5, 10, or even 15 year old who was still living with her father when this happened. The relationship began when she was a consenting adult at 19 and lasted for 10 years. Nobody here is saying a child, living with their parent, should be ashamed of being molested. I do believe this is also a good story on why drugs should not be legalized since she acknowledges they were both high when the relationship started. So much about this story is disturbing and the author is right, Oprah normalizing it and "absolving" it is only going to be bad for society. We get the kind of world we allow to happen.
Elizabeth, you might as well save your breath.
You're arguments are an appeal to logic and THOUGHT, which are in short supply in threads such as these. You need to understand that this isn't about thought, but merely belief. Folks BELIEVE that shame is a cure-all, BELIEVE that the theraputic pop-culture is evil, and will BELIEVE anything that helps them reinforce that BELIEF. You may as well be trying to convince a suicide bomber that God doesn't want him to kill himself or anyone else.
Roman Polanski = abuser = irredeemable monster. Why? Because positioning him as such helps conservative culture-critics cynically score points.
Mackenzie Phillips = abused = ALSO irredeemable monster. Why? Because positioning her as such helps conservative culture-critics cynically score points.
Well, at least that's all cleared up
Anti judgement or anti shame is just so "progressive" But what would you expect from the liberal establishment that makes up the entertainment and journalistic fields? In their skewed worldview the cliche "misery loves company" makes pathos good for business. Screw changing the channel, when I see this garbage on Oprah or any other liberalized TV show I'm tempted to shoot the screen out ala Elvis Presley.
[...] Attila doesn’t mince any words on Polanski, and there’s a great Big Hollywood article on the subject, too (starts slowly, so stay with [...]
She was an adult when she began a sexual relationship with her father…not a child being sexually abused by her father. She chose this. There is a big sordid difference. It is sick, and I would love to be able to pin it on child abuse, but she was an adult, and she chose to continue this sexual relationship for 10 years (29 years of age). Don't compare this to the horrors that children of sexual abuse at the hands of family or a trusted friend actually experience. They have no choice in the matter… none…nada…zero! They have no say, no choice, no power, and no control over what happens or is done to their bodies! Ms Phillips had all of that because she was an adult, she had money, and she had power when it began…she chose this. I don't care how drug induced she was at the time; she chose to be that way as well. Stop comparing her to real victims. It is insulting and hurtful.
Good point. I think that's part of what I was trying to say earlier – that maybe a certain type of artist, although not a psychopath, is able to rationalize his own unfortunate behavior by some reference to his art. It would be like the reverse of Nabokov's attitude toward Humbert: seeing oneself not as a little man in a tawdry affair, but as some sort of "character" who more or less gets a pass because he's so interesting. Despite the fact that Humbert is meant to be loathed, people still enjoy reading about him and analyzing him – from a distance.
Actually, I don't think this line of thought is taking me anywhere. Just speculating.
Fatty Arbuckle, Clara Bow, Errol Flynn…
Kurt Schlichter, you are a DOUCHEBAG. Mackenzie was a VICTIM of her father and her upbringing. It's very easy to take pot shots at her for discussing the things that went on with her father, but the reality is by making her story public she is de-stigmatizing the very taboo subject of incest. I'm assuming you were never molested by a family member. Doing so with your own child is a betrayal of trust and enormously confusing and damaging to a child. Surely you can't be so dense as to think Mackenzie wouldn't have preferred to have a father that had some morals, treated her with respect, acted like a father should have by helping her become a confident, independent young woman….instead she was born…by no fault of her own…to a drug addict, drunk, perverted, emotionally damaged, moral-less swine.
It's amazing she survived the ordeal and frankly that alone is a testament to the strength she has. Who are you to call her names? Did you walk in her shoes? Did you have parents that plied you with illegal drugs since your youth and surrounded you daily with corrupt ideas, values and self-defeating habits? Every person is a product of the accumulated experiences that came before. When you're a child your PARENTS are responsible with bringing you up in a HEALTHY environment. You can't blame Mackenzie for the things she did or went through no more than you could blame a rape victm for being afraid of men after her attack. You're a disgrace and I have no idea why you're writing for Big Hollywood. I'm a fan of this site overall, but frankly, as I started with…you're a stupid, heartless, Self-absorbed DOUCHEBAG.
Giving a minor drugs IS abuse. Shooting up with a minor child is abuse. Not intervening is neglect.
An adult?
She doesn't know when the first sexual encounter took place, only when she first came out of a blackout and was first aware of it.
Also she was stoned out of her mind. He served as her dealer and taught her that the "rules were different for them" emotional abuse.
So you really do not know. Do some research and do not be so quick to judge.
Seriously? You do not think Judy Garland hurt her children with her addiction? You do not think Patty Duke hurt people with her mental illness? Hmmmmm ask their families how much they were hurt. Why do you feel the need to keep someone else's story a secret because it makes you uncomfortable. As far as sex tapes go, you don't want to see them? Don't buy them. Ignore the stars of them.
Her story. Her choice in how to tell it. Not yours. Maybe next time she will consult you as to how to best speak of abuse if at all. YOUR choice to ignore it! You obviously haven't. Why?
God help you from ever having years of trauma to deal with.
How does someone who spends their formative years on drugs, with Daddy's encouragement go through the developmental stages of life? THEY DON'T. Excellent post.
"Mackenzie Phillips ought to be ashamed of herself. She should be hanging her head in shame,"
Man you are one sick jerk. Did you really just say she had a 'charmed life'?
I do hope you get an opportunity to go on tv and represent the conservative movements perspective on this case.
At the age of nineteen she woke up and realized he was having sex with her. She was raped by her own father, who acted like it was a normal thing to happen. Most regular nineteen-year-olds would be really messed up by that – think of how messed up you'd be if that happened to you AND your father acted like it was normal AND everyone around you was on drugs. Nineteen-year-olds are still teenagers, legal adulthood aside. They're trying to figure out the world around them and hopefully their parents help them transition into adulthood. Mackenzie Phillips's father raped her, referred to it as "making love," and didn't show any shame or remorse about it. Do you think she really WANTED to have sex with her own father? Even if he weren't her father, what woman truly wants to have sex with a man who raped her?
You say you'd love to be able to pin it on child abuse, but do you think the effects of child abuse just go away as soon as kids reach legal age? The incestuous relationship might not have started until she was nineteen, but the abuse had already started in that her father was on drugs and let his children be on drugs as well. Maybe the only way she knew how to cope with her pain was to try and act like her father was right and this was normal. Maybe she was so emotionally shut off and felt so worthless that she no longer cared what happened to her body. Have some compassion, for God's sake.
Thanks. It's just incredible to me that people could think that she freely chose this and was happy about it when she woke up to realize that she was being raped by her father. Not to mention all the drugs in the family…
You know, I could live with celebrity dysfunction if it didn't have so much blow-back into mainstream culture. Celebrity stories of drug abuse and sexual deviance go way back. We've heard all the stories about Judy Garland and Patty Duke for years now and I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to go further back and find some really appalling stories. But their stories weren't public fodder when they were in their heyday and the celebrities weren't hurting anyone but themselves.
But once every aspect of a celebrities personal life became public information, there seems to have been a terrible slide in what is considered acceptable behavior and every nobody in the world is attempting to become famous by emulating all the bad behavior they see from their favorite celebrities. Now all it takes is a sex tape to become famous and what Hollywood considers shameful is pretty much a mystery. I see reality shows all over the place now in which ordinary people are seeking fame by being as outrageous as possible and it seems like there is no limit on bad behavior. And if that wasn't enough, now we're seeing reality show "stars" committing suicide and even murder. Clearly, celebrity culture has created an unhealthy atmosphere in this country.
Of course it is child abuse if you are giving drugs to your child. You kept saying she was sexually abused as a child. You kept quoting studies about chldren who were sexually abused and victims of incest. The problem is the relationship well into adulthood. She had a choice as an adult, after marrying someone, after having a child with this other person, before she turned 29. She had choices. You can continue to make excuses for her, but she could have ended this way sooner and made it known. she knew very well into her 20's what was going on. She, unlike many victims, had resources galore….if any of it is true of course.
Nice try, Bob. Go back and read my comment. It's the liberals who have a double standard when it comes to Limbaugh.
Thank you for articulating what decent people know without having to be told-that actions have consequences and that's what should keep people on the straight and narrow-the shunning of those who do wrong things!
Sheesh! Amazing that those in public life have no shame, and have no desire to crawl in a hole when the ydo these disgraceful acts!
No, what I am saying and what she made very clear was the fact that the occurence she reported was the First incidence she recalled. He more or less kept her stoned for years.
Mackenzie Phillips is telling her story which has been confirmed, regardless of you judgement, you can ignore it. She cannot.
Drug addiction has a more deletorious effect upon children than on adults, however most studies agree that the emotional development of a child addicted to drugs stops until they get clean, repair the brain damage done and begin to grow emotionally again.
You obviously did not lisyen to how carefully she worded her history, how she took responsibility upon herself and do not understand chronic abuse (sexual or otherwise) and addiction. Again: educate yourself.
How many repress that into adulthood? And does it contribute to a cycle of abuse (any) to the next generations?
Sorry, both are scumbags. Only difference is old John is beyond justice in THIS world, but was judged when he met the Lord.
Great insightful article! I agree.
"Roman Polanski = abuser = irredeemable monster. Why? Because positioning him as such helps conservative culture-critics cynically score points.
"Mackenzie Phillips = abused = ALSO irredeemable monster. Why? Because positioning her as such helps conservative culture-critics cynically score points." — MovieBob
It pretty much looks like Roman Polanski has positioned *himself* as an irredeemable monster. Certainly he's a persistent one. Even after the stalking, taking down, drugging, rape-raping and sodomy-sodomizing of Samantha Geimer (Does that sound irredeemable to you?), his only defense seemed to be that "Everybody wants to f— young girls," after which he went out and planked 15-year-old Nastassia Kinski. As to Mackenzie Phillips, it's sounds very much like she and her father positioned each other.
They don't leave much for the poor conservatives to do. If your team insists on handing them the ball, don't expect them not to run with it. Disgust with these perverts is hardly limited to conservatives either.
It would be easier to be supportive of Mackenzie Phillips if the book tour was about people who know or have a suspicion about abuse to speak up, speak often until they are heard. By doing so, the point is to stop abuse immediately. Where does M.P. stress this among the look at me? It seems many people knew of the incest and said nothing. A secret among family and friends. But this should be the point, even if you have to go public to stop abuse, do it. You can't blame the victim but you can't wait for the victim to be ready to face reality either. Silence is consent.
Angelica Huston was prepared to be silent and give consent to Roman Polanski's rape and sodomy of a 13 year old girl until the district attorney made a deal to drop charges of cocaine possession for her testimony. Not book royalties but something in it for her none the less.
People naturally stare at a car crash. But then you have the heartwarming stories and video of babies being pulled from burning cars and many other accounts of heroism. The public is naturally going to stare at celebrity crashes. But don't lecture us for judging those who didn't help or help themselves. Oprah televising a 10 year old girl getting the "birds and bees" sex talk, and then encouraging mothers to buy their daughters a vibrator; Hollywood agents and directors ignoring drug dealers on set; etc. — just who is enabling who? Don't moralize over public skepticism.
– Do you think Jordan's 15 minutes of fame will follow her to high school? Will sexual gratification be as positive for her self-esteem as Obama's Safe Schools Czar, Kevin Jennings, professes?
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/5054/hoprah-watch-...
– Regardless of the intention, the irony of Oprah, a survivor of sexual abuse, rewarding a 10 year old girl for learning about sex, as David Letterman put it, is "creepy":
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/5208/hoprah-watch-...
I have been both. A prescription drug addict and a victim of sexual abuse. You may have the degrees, but you really dont have a clue about the reality.
we don't disagree- but Phillips brought it up (down?) a notch by nailing his daughter so she could be totally ruined. Either way when they pass and the tab is due both will find themselves short the necessary currency…
I think this is the MOST disgusting, vile, AND ridiculously ill-founded misinterpretation made, that Liberals love this stuff. NO ONE in their right mind will celebrate incest, NO LIBERAL, NO CONSERVATIVE, NO HUMAN BEING. As a former Republican, all I can say is that this very thinking, the superiority, anti-Christian mentality is what made so many of us rethink the word, "conservative." The word, ideology, has been transformed into a hateful, loathsome, exclusive type of definition that goes against the very ideologies it is supposed to represent, Christian values. I am a Christian, Catholic and as such I believe that Christ teached us to treat others as we would like to be treated. Your words are hateful and evil, so callous to suggest that people are going to glorify Phillips or that Oprah is exploiting her story. Do you know anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse? If you did, you would understand and feel some sort of compassion that would move you to pray for her, but no instead you victimize someone who we all KNOW is not well. I too am sick, so sick of this celebrity-minded world we are living in and that there are no consequences or accountability for people's actions, BUT at the same time I do think that there are situations when people come out to try to redeem themselves and perhaps by doing so they want to help others in similar situations so that these victims wont' feel alone, or ashamed, but what do you guys do…. ? You throw stones, Want to hang them.. Disgusting! I am sure Christ is really in your hearts. We already live in a very sick world, and promoting a "Psuedo-Conservative-Dysfunction Complex is as bad as "Celebrity Dysfunction Complex." I don't condone Mackenzie's strategy in what looks like she is exploiting her family secrets, but at the same time I think there is shame in not recognizing that she needs, and we good do better for her, faith and a spiritual direction in her life. Perhaps her book will get her there, and shouldn't that be a reason to say, at least, "there may be hope in the end." And perhaps all these stories coming out may help our society realize that we need to correct our actions and that there are core values and social norms that are above labels? I am a an old-school conservative, which I think has now translated into what you call a LIberal. And By NO MEANS do I want to have kids growing up with the likes of narrow-minded people OR social deviants. thank God there are many of us.
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