Tuesday, March 8, 2011 I

TechNews

VLADA GAISINA opinion@technewsiit.com

Charlie Sheen and the state of the union: part I

| NEEI] TO GET IIIIIIES

By Udayan Debasis Das
STAFF WRITER

Yes, yes. There is winning, and then there is
also winning.

But then, there is also winning at great cost.
There is winning at great cost to the self — a
Pyrrhic victory as they say — which, I dare say,
may be indistinguishable from losing in some
cases (as we are seeing). There is winning at
great cost to others. Which is also what we are
seeing.

The question, as far as I am concerned, is
not at all whether Sheen is unstable, or going
insane, or bipolar, or any of those other things
that are doing the rounds. The question is this:
if he is indeed on the verge of a meltdown, or in
fact melting down as I write this, should this be
so obsessively covered, and by the news media,
no less? There is a streak in current journalism
to behave as if there are some great lessons to
be learned from all this, through observation
or something, which is perhaps true. But there
is also something to be learned inasmuch as
how non—empathetic people can be. Particu—
larly, those people who are in charge of some—
thing that is supposed to inform us and make
us more aware. When such an institution (if
it can be called an institution) is behaving in
this manner, I think there is a general lack of
credibility. And not only because what they are
doing is immoral, and against what we purport
to be our better natures as a race — to not enjoy
(or be entertained by) another person’s unrav—
eling — it is a lack of credibility also because at
the end of the day, these people in the media
also make one incredulous. How can they look
on with a straight face, claiming that after all,
everyone has a right to their side of the story?
They behave as, for example, on the CBS inter—

view, that the things taking place
are somehow all normal. The in—
terviewer is well—trained, yes. I
would say well—trained in decep—
tion. This is not what is meant by
unbiased journalism.

Regardless of what kind of
person Charlie Sheen is, or what
his past has been, his situation
should not be made the means of
entertainment. This happened in
the case of many other celebrities,
as well, and it is sad that not a lot
seems to have changed. A change,
if any, has only been towards de—
riving more mileage from such a
situation. And as this is progress—
ing, it also seems that the media
has come out and raised the bar
somewhat: there had been some
hint of incredulity in the cases of
the likes of Spears or LiLo. But
this time it seems they are simply
looking on.

Bob Garfield, of NPR’s “On the
Media” wrote recently*:

“The question is, just because
someone is a celebrity, are the ine—
dia absolved of the responsibility
not to exploit his illness for the
sake of audience? Rhetorical ques—
tion there. The answer is, when
someone is coming mentally un—
hinged, it is ethically abhorrent to
egg him on.”

Nicely captures that, doesn’t it?

* Bob Garfield wrote this in an
email to CNN, which was quoted in a
CNN article by Lisa Respers France.

on THE STREETS nun
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Clean Sheen! (1m age courtesy Simon Brauer)

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