Do You Really Want to Be Famous?

I think most of us associate fame with riches as if they're inextricably linked but Joe Frazier died broke and I bet no one reading this can name the CEO of Coca Cola without Google.  (Muhtar Kent, 1.6m in 2015) There are ways to the promised land without putting yourself in the public eye. This is why I have so much respect for my creative people. Singers, actors, comedians, writers, poets, artists (music and illustrative), dancers and people coming up with new ways to entertain us in ways they haven't quite categorized yet. There is nothing braver than standing in front of the world and saying "this is what I can do. Judge me." Being paid for being your authentic self is something most of us place firmly in the "LOL that'll NEVER happen" category but the ones that survive the experience, feel a euphoria that few can relate to.  That success, however, comes with a cost. Sometimes you sell your privacy, your dignity, and the very right to be respected as a human being because you're a public figure.  Some people think they own you and there's hell to pay if you disagree. The type of personal hell Leslie Jones is experiencing right now. Her public shaming has taken a vicious turn that goes well beyond racism, well beyond sexism, and well beyond sanity.  What's happening to her should be reserved for rapists, pedophiles, thieves, murderers, and corrupt politicians.  Her crime?  She got paid to make a movie you didn't like.  

The idea you can tell people how to react to their own experiences is something I'm all too familiar with. (Photo: Dailymail.co.uk)

Side note, the art of knowing when to shut the fuck up has been lost in this country so I cordially invite you, who think you have the right to hide behind a keyboard and be evil to someone you never met, to attend a refresher course, here, at the Wanderer's Voice.  Where discretion isn't just a multi-syllabic word you pull out of your ass to impress your friends, its an effective tool for knowing what you should do when trying to comment on something isn't in your lane.  

Lesson #1
Are you even old enough to remember the original Ghostbusters or its Bobby Brown themed sequel?  No? 

Then by all means...Shut the fuck up.

Lesson #2
If you are old enough to remember the movie and simply don't like what they've done with the reboot are you obligated by law or some other irresistible force to spend your money on the film?  No?

I refer you to the answer above.

Lesson #3
This is the really important one so pay attention.  If you think she deserves what is happening to her, and misogynoir (I learned a word today!) has nothing to do with it, do you feel that any other member of the cast should be subjected to the same treatment?  Have they been subjected to the same treatment?  No?

Then I invite you to re-read the answer to Lesson #1

Reinforcement is so important.


Now, ask yourself why hasn't Ryan Lochte hasn't been subjected to this level of abuse?  He created an international incident and legitimately embarrassed the country.  I've barely seen a meme.  

Ok a few memes.

Why hasn't Roger Ailes, former CEO of Fox News , who sexually harassed women on his staff for decades before his forced resignation, being treated to this level of shaming?  The man is literally a rapist.  Instead, he gets a cushy job with his fellow misogynist, Donald Trump instead of the proverbial burning at the social media (and likely criminal) stake that he deserves.

You don't like her movie? Don't see it. You don't like her style of comedy?  Don't watch it. I'm not a fan of hers for reasons that I'll discuss in another blog post but I'm perfectly ok with not calling her names or hoping to shame her for doing what's none of my (or anyone's) business behind closed doors.  Is this a price worth paying for fame? The idealist in me wants to pick up America and rattle it until the dregs who get off on this type of behavior fall into the Atlantic but I'm also a realist.  Leslie isn't the first and won't be the last because anonymity has brought ugliness and by extension the backlash to fame to an entirely new level.  As much as we'd all like to be rich, is it worth having to practically become public property to get there?  Some of us are a little more sensitive to that trade than others, especially when attacks like this tend to confirm our worst fears.  Sometimes, the price of fame can be too high.  

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...Til next week!

Facebook Video Shows Another Officer Involved Shooting in Minnesota

VIDEO: Roseville, Minnesota Officer Involved Shooting

In the wake of the horrifying Alton Sterling videos, a new video posted to a now deactivated Facebook account shows the aftermath of another officer involved shooting, this time in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.  According to the video, the incident began when the couple was pulled over, for a broken tail light.  The victim then told police that he was licensed to carry a weapon and that it was currently on him.  According to his girlfriend, who recorded the video, the victim was complying with police commands, reaching for his license and registration, informed the officer that he was doing so, but was still shot 4 times.  The unidentified Minnesota patrolman seemed to blame the bleeding victim for his injuries, repeatedly yelling that he "told him not to reach."  Officers then took the girlfriend, who was still recording, into custody where her emotions got the best of her and had to be comforted by her daughter, who looked to be no more than 10 years old and witnessed everything.  Condition of the victim and the names of the officers involved is still unknown at this time.

Will update this post as more information becomes available...

Update...the victim, who unfortunately died of his injuries, has been identified by a relative as Philando Castile, 32, an employee of the St. Paul school system.

Full details in the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Sandra Bland: Say Her Name

YouTube vid of her arrest 

Here we go again.  Hours after this was shot, Sandra Bland was "found dead" in her cell.  At this point I've lost track of the people we've had to bury because of police misconduct.  Sandra Bland and her family are the newest members of the club no one wants to join.  I can hear the peanut gallery now deriding me and others for jumping to conclusions, not waiting for the facts, or being anti-police.  Then, when that predictably fails to sway our opinion, they'll bring up some obscure case of either police brutality against a white man or mention the atrocities in Chicago as if they cared about the people beyond using it as an anti black talking point.  

Shut up.  I'm tired of you.  All of you who ignore proven patterns of bias, who shove respectability politics down everyone's throat, except when it's people who aren't black acting like savages.  This vibrant woman with a family who loved her and found her voice speaking out about the very thing she ended up being a victim of (#SandySpeaks) will never be able to call her sister's names again.  There is a family that has a hole that will never heal.  Too often we forget that these aren't just statistics on a page or a talking point to be trotted out at our leisure.  Sandra Bland had a family who loved her and will miss her more than any of us who only know her story 2nd hand.  I pray they have the financial means and the legal smarts to pressure this proven racist  of a sheriff to admit what happened in detail and hold those responsible accountable.  Especially because this isn't the first time someone has committed suicide in a Waller County jail cell.  The bottom line is the Waller County Sherriff's Dept., even at this early stage of the investigation, are either incompetent or complicit in Ms. Bland's death.  It's only a light wind right now, but if answers that make sense aren't forthcoming soon, this little rural town may soon have a Hurricane Sandy of its very own.

I'm Saying Her Name.  (#SayHerName). Stand with her family and say it with me.