I really hate
Patricia Heaton. It began as indifference. I thought she was funny enough on
Everybody Loves Raymond but I began to get annoyed when she was winning the Emmy for comedic actress over my preferred choices. Still, no big whoop.
My annoyance turned to outright public dislike (of the comic I-don't-know-her-as-a-person variety) when she publicly dissed none other than Michelle Pfeiffer a couple of years ago. The brouhaha was mini in scope but did get Heaton some media play (Pfeiffer was mum because she's a classy woman) and involved Pfeiffer's implication that she had not had any plastic surgery... whereas Patricia Heaton had admitted to it and presumably wanted others to do the same. I didn't know at the time that this was because Ms. Heaton was a pious morally superior and judgmental person. But it pissed me off: If you do not want to feel the tiny web wrath of Nathaniel, you do not
under any circumstances diss La Pfeiffer.
And if I'm being honest... I would say it also pissed me off a little because moral superiority is possible a character trait I've tried to stamp out in myself as well. It's unattractive even if it's easy to fall prey to. So before I go off on Ms. Heaton some more, it takes one to know one.
Now, I see Heaton sucking up airtime on Entertainment Tonight as the spokesperson for this group
Feminists for Life... which seems to be a code word for women who think they're feminists but fight for conservative patriarchal causes like the pro-life movement which is all about controlling women of course --very feminist of them! And their latest cause du jour is the Shiavo case.
Now, I understand that this case has people from all walks of life and political viewpoints all atwitter and its extremely divisive. There are all sorts of moral / ethical / political / personal issues involved in opinions on this one. So to each their own. But what rubbed me the wrong way was the imbalance. Listening to Heaton, a famous and wealthy star using a popular news program to denounce the character of someone she has never met, Mr. Schiavo, made me sick to my stomach last night --and she's doing it again tomorrow night. Same bat time. Same bat channel.
Mr. Schiavo is already being sufficiently vilified these days --whatever your thoughts on the case consider that the only thing the media ever seems to be covering is how evil he is, make sure to use discernment to realize that you are not hearing anything balanced about this case. at all. Certainly no coverage of the
political ramifications of the Federal government sticking its nose in where it doesn't belong.
I use to dislike Patricia Heaton. Now I really despise her. Who died and made her God? I've never been the type to be this angry with celebrities who express political opinions because they're citizens just like you and I. Mel Gibson. Eminem. Streisand. Penn. Heston. Whatever. That's their perogative. But to use your platform to publicly demean the character of some civilian whom you disagree with? Who doesn't have an equal platform to defend himself (he's not famous. not glamourous. not wealthy. not a politician. etc...) Despicable. She oughta be ashamed of herself.
Tonight on the news channels she will be demonstrating her superiority again by claiming that she would never let her child starve. My guess is that Mr. Schiavo wouldn't let his child starve either. Most people wouldn't. But what if you WERE the brain-dead woman? What if you had expressed to the person closest to you (spouse) that you would never want to live like that? There's more than one way to look at this. Which is why people should just mind their own business rather than judging the marriage of people they've never met or even heard of till last week.
I don't feel comfortable judging the woman's family (who want her kept alive)
or the husband (who says she didn't want to be kept alive) but I feel totally comfortable in judging political and public figures who feel comfortable judging the family or the husband.
My advice? Get yourself a
living will so that if a tragedy ever happens to you (God forbid) you won't be used as a political football for people who never knew you existed up until you became a way for them to score political points or get their faces on television when their hit series is finally going off the air.
