This used to be a popular past-time. Bearded ladies, people with special needs were shown as "circus acts" for others to ridicule. Thank goodness society has moved on and we now treat mentally ill people with respect.
Or do we?
I was glad to read Jeff Jarvis in the Huffington Post this morning, talking about the exploitation of Charlie Sheen. For the past couple of weeks, I have become more and more disheartened by the sheer glee that has greeted the increasingly strange behaviour of Charlie.
Now, I am not a doctor so am not qualified to comment on the suggestion that Charlie Sheen has bipolar disorder, but he is clearly not a well man. The rantings that the press are happy to print and film in order to sell more magazines do not suggest that he is in a good place at the moment.
We are told that Charlie has broken the Guinness Book of Records for the rate of new followers on Twitter. We are shown the footage of him being interviewed by Pierce Morgan, we hang on his every comment then laugh about how crazy he is. Is this really 2011?
Charlie Sheen has been a troubled man for some time. Reports of alleged domestic violence, divorce, alcohol and drug abuse. Why is he being celebrated as a kind of amusing oaf, an eccentric clown?
I feel sorry for his family, and for the family of the "teenage porn-stars" - three heartbreaking words - who have been living with him. For his children, who have allegedly witnessed some of the recent outbursts.
The joke is over guys. Leave him alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment