Comments on: Culture Shift http://pribek.net/2007/05/13/culture-shift/ Trouble Ain't Over Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:22:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Cindy http://pribek.net/2007/05/13/culture-shift/comment-page-1/#comment-2048 Cindy Tue, 15 May 2007 20:55:27 +0000 http://pribek.net/2007/05/13/culture-shift/#comment-2048 That kind of commentary by pundits always makes me shake my head and laugh and think its truly a slow news day. I know Bill's got hours a day to fill and grand sweeping statements do that, but with such little effort. Its a big obvious statement to say there was a cultural shift from thinking about your community first to thinking of yourself first in the 60s; that is indeed true. But the other change is that people realized that those communities (school, family, goverment, city,church) were full of people doing the either the immoral things they railed against or things that were culturally acceptable (child abuse, alcoholism, etc;) so the bad results therein were swept under the rug. Should more people have responded to these realisations by pointing them out and trying to lead better lives? Yes, and with the rise of the evangelical movement over the past 40 years many have...but being human a lot of people responded the other way...the more selfish and indulgent way I suppose the pundits would say. Actors, musicians and artists (I think) by their very natures are a little more selfish than most people, even if their true heartfelt intention is to entertain the world. So They maybe inherently more prone to illegal/immoral behaviors...I've spent half my laugh around artists and actors and think it to be true. And I think thats been the case since time began. However I also grew up blue collar/lower middle class and I was raised by and around baby boomers. A lot of them (including my parents) engaged in a lot of the stuff that now gets instantaneous world wide news coverage if its done by a celebrity. And they did it daily! Fourtunately my folks have finally put that kind of stuff behind em. But for every one of their friends that managed to get sober and stick with it there seems to be 2 that are in jail, on harder drugs then ever, still getting in bar fights etc; And they arent actors or artists or musicians. But why address (or berate) drywallers and waitresses with these kindve problems when we got celebutants and movie stars being filmed every moment of their lives (course I guess we got Cops or Wild Video shows for the same thing with the unfamous)? In the case of the famous that weren't born rich (ie most athletes musciians artists and actors) I dont think priviledge makes them act worse...it just makes it more likely their gonna get caught. Gaugin abandoned his wife and child and took up with a number of the women he painted, giving several of them VD (SIDENOTE: I remember your Mom and I had a bit of a debate about that one when she was my sub in high school...she wanted to let him off ~I think~ because he divorced his European wife and married one of the natives...if I remember right). Oscar Wilde committed adultery, and because it was with a man went to jail for it. Robert Mitchum got busted with pot in the 50s and did jail time for it. Lets not forget the Stompanato murder, Bette Davis alleged abuse of her child, the Fatty Arbuckle rape case. And the litany of illegal,immoral and damn near duranged behavior by Country Music Artists of the 1950s could fill a book. All of these and 1000s more by artists in all mediums and crafts went on long before the 1960s. Sorry to rant but it bugs me when pundits decide to comment on overexposure of the famous by...talking more about the famous. Or useing their professions as a reason to berate their very human frailties or lessen something personal about them because of it ("I dont care what some Tv star thinks about stem cell research!" Ok,but why should I care what a commentator who's also famous and on TV thinks about it?) I remember an appearance by the head of the Catholic league going on about how actors would "fornicate with their mothers on pay per view" if it would garner them more fame and money since they were so "morally bankrupt". Anbody who takes to a stage, or picks up a guitar or draws a person is still that core thing...a person. That kind of commentary by pundits always makes me shake my head and laugh and think its truly a slow news day. I know Bill’s got hours a day to fill and grand sweeping statements do that, but with such little effort. Its a big obvious statement to say there was a cultural shift from thinking about your community first to thinking of yourself first in the 60s; that is indeed true. But the other change is that people realized that those communities (school, family, goverment, city,church) were full of people doing the either the immoral things they railed against or things that were culturally acceptable (child abuse, alcoholism, etc;) so the bad results therein were swept under the rug. Should more people have responded to these realisations by pointing them out and trying to lead better lives? Yes, and with the rise of the evangelical movement over the past 40 years many have…but being human a lot of people responded the other way…the more selfish and indulgent way I suppose the pundits would say.

Actors, musicians and artists (I think) by their very natures are a little more selfish than most people, even if their true heartfelt intention is to entertain the world. So They maybe inherently more prone to illegal/immoral behaviors…I’ve spent half my laugh around artists and actors and think it to be true. And I think thats been the case since time began. However I also grew up blue collar/lower middle class and I was raised by and around baby boomers. A lot of them (including my parents) engaged in a lot of the stuff that now gets instantaneous world wide news coverage if its done by a celebrity. And they did it daily! Fourtunately my folks have finally put that kind of stuff behind em. But for every one of their friends that managed to get sober and stick with it there seems to be 2 that are in jail, on harder drugs then ever, still getting in bar fights etc; And they arent actors or artists or musicians. But why address (or berate) drywallers and waitresses with these kindve problems when we got celebutants and movie stars being filmed every moment of their lives (course I guess we got Cops or Wild Video shows for the same thing with the unfamous)? In the case of the famous that weren’t born rich (ie most athletes musciians artists and actors) I dont think priviledge makes them act worse…it just makes it more likely their gonna get caught.

Gaugin abandoned his wife and child and took up with a number of the women he painted, giving several of them VD (SIDENOTE: I remember your Mom and I had a bit of a debate about that one when she was my sub in high school…she wanted to let him off ~I think~ because he divorced his European wife and married one of the natives…if I remember right). Oscar Wilde committed adultery, and because it was with a man went to jail for it. Robert Mitchum got busted with pot in the 50s and did jail time for it. Lets not forget the Stompanato murder, Bette Davis alleged abuse of her child, the Fatty Arbuckle rape case. And the litany of illegal,immoral and damn near duranged behavior by Country Music Artists of the 1950s could fill a book. All of these and 1000s more by artists in all mediums and crafts went on long before the 1960s.

Sorry to rant but it bugs me when pundits decide to comment on overexposure of the famous by…talking more about the famous. Or useing their professions as a reason to berate their very human frailties or lessen something personal about them because of it (”I dont care what some Tv star thinks about stem cell research!” Ok,but why should I care what a commentator who’s also famous and on TV thinks about it?) I remember an appearance by the head of the Catholic league going on about how actors would “fornicate with their mothers on pay per view” if it would garner them more fame and money since they were so “morally bankrupt”. Anbody who takes to a stage, or picks up a guitar or draws a person is still that core thing…a person.

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