Can We Talk 2

Kathy Griffin

         I have never cared for Kathy Griffin as a comedian or entertainer. I found her vile and disgusting. I avoided watching her whenever possible. When she started emceeing awards shows, I stopped watching them. I refused to pollute my mind with her sick humor. Long before Trump gave her new fodder, I disliked her. But I would defend her right to be lewd and disgusting and to have her own political opinions. I just don't have to hear them.

         I obviously didn't see first hand the most recent objectionable thing she did, but I saw a still shot on the news with the gory part distorted out. I would think that would be very hurtful to people, whether American or some other nationality, who have actually lost loved ones this way. How crude to make a joke of this horrible violent act still being practiced. But again, if that is her need to express herself, so be it. We can all tune out.

         What really offended me was the press conference she called. It was not an apology to anyone. It ended up being a "poor me" kind of talk. I am a victim. People have tried to hold me down my whole life, and then the religious litany began, "older white men" blah blah blah. It didn't even make sense coming from her. She is an older white woman, for Heaven's sake, extremely successful in Hollywood, particularly rich and famous. How did anyone hold her back? How has her career or her finances suffered as the result of anyone holding her back or down? I am confident that women have hated her as much as men, and that people of many colors have not liked her. If anything, other female comedians and emcees would have liked to see her held back so that they could have had a chance at her gigs. She didn't mention them.

         Then she mentioned death threats. If that's true, that is bad. Shame on the people who felt they had to do that. But how can we know that's true or if she made it up as she was going on? Unless a police detective or sheriff states it, I'm inclined not to swallow that one. But listen to what she is saying. It's okay for me to suggest that someone else meet a violent death or for me to incite someone else to carry it out, but it's wrong when the same is done to me. I can shed tears over this, but the victims of my humor have no right to react negatively to me.

         When I was in school, there were civil rights and anti-war demonstrations all over the place. We were taught that civil disobedience was our right, but that we had to be willing to pay the consequences. Martin Luther King certainly was an example of that, as well as Gandhi and Mandela. They stood up for what they believed and they were willing to bear the consequences. We've drifted far from that today. Liberals believe that they can go beyond civil disobedience, act outrageously, suffer no consequences, and even receive praise and honor for it.

         Kathy, and all other "entertainers", be prepared for the consequences of your actions. You go out on a limb and offend public standards of decency, you are going to have disapproval. You are going to receive snarks, and verbal attacks (very few death threats are real, but let the police determine that), so don't cry and moan when you do. You brought it on yourself. You aren't in grade school, and no one is going to approve of everything you do. Stardom has gone to your head. You are not golden. The very fact that you are a public figure means that no one ever held you back. You are nobody's victim, so get over yourself.