The Joke That is Pete Doherty
June 12, 2007 on 11:31 am | In Celebrities | 1 Comment
Pete Doherty seems to get away with everything short of murder, and though he makes for interesting conversation, the former Libertines front man has become a Spinal Tap-esque parody of a rock star to critical acclaim. The acclaim, of course, centers around his drug arrests and other “pity me” actions, which has to be the case as his musical viability has long since diminished and only holds sway in the UK, where bad taste in the medium seems to be commonplace.
The Libertines barely made a dent across the pond, and his current project Babyshambles seems to be nothing more than just another untalented group of hack musicians trying desperately to avoid getting a real job. It must be difficult for Pete’s bandmates to be a part of that circus, knowing full well that the only reason they have a career in music stems from their association with the poster boy for excessive living. While I wholeheartedly welcome anyone to do as they please to themselves so long as others aren’t affected in the process, it’s not a positive personality trait to let your drug use and abuse get in the way of you supposed friend’s careers.
But therein lies the rub, as Shakespeare would say. Were it not for Pete being Pete, there likely wouldn’t be any careers to ruin. Certainly his association with Kate Moss has helped to propel him to front page tabloid fodder, but even without it, he manages to approach life with so little concern for anyone but himself that he is all but guaranteed a perpetual a place in the limelight of infamy. While I’m not one to decry the culture of addiction and exclaim “think of the children” in front of Parliament, I have no qualms admitting that Mr. Doherty owes the greatest portion of his success to society’s fascination with a human train wreck.
Someday soon, Pete Doherty will grow old, and no one will be collecting money in one hand and patting him on the back with the other. It’s likely he’ll never realize that the joke he has become is a joke he played on himself. He will, in time, realize that the well wishers will only hang around so long as the nature of the fickle public is to move on and forget. Who knows, perhaps he’ll get his act together and take his career a bit more seriously. While it has worked for some, the usual precedence is to first give something of value to the world of music, then let the pressure of doing so result in your fall from grace. Since Pete hasn’t arguably accomplished the former, will anyone care if he cleans himself up?
Life seems to be a dream for Pete, though that dream will surely end when the only applause he hears is coming from the other members of the rehabilitation program he’s in. It’s either that or an early death that one might think would allow Mr. Doherty’s current legend live forever. To that end, I refer to American politics, specifically the vice presidential debate of 1988 when saying, “Sir, I saw Curt Cobain perform, I grew up on Curt Cobain, I’ve listened to Curt Cobain countless times, and you are no Curt Cobain.”
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Careless Actions Cause Death, But No Consequences for Brandy
June 12, 2007 on 11:21 am | In Celebrities | 4 Comments
Brandy, the R&B singer and former star of TV’s “Moesha”, recently killed another motorist on the Los Angeles 405 freeway by failing to stop, rear-ending a mother of two at high speed and ending her life. While it’s true that accidents do happen, so do vehicular manslaughter charges against most people who recklessly cause road fatalities. Once again, celebrity culture has prevailed, and despite her repeated admittance of guilt both at the scene and afterwards, no charges have been filed.
I wonder how vehemently Brandy herself would pursue charges had someone not paying attention rear-ended her mother and ended her life? I also wonder why the State Police of California, who were the first on the scene and are in charge of the investigation, have failed to press charges. Is Brandy’s career more valuable than Awatef Aboudihaj, the lady who was killed? Do her two motherless children deserve no justice for having to grow up without a parent because of someone’s careless actions?
It’s almost insulting that a crime (and the last time I checked, it is still a crime to recklessly cause the death of another person) committed by a celebrity would go unpunished while the same crime committed by a regular person would cause that person to suffer the immediate consequences of justice. In my opinion, no one should be above the law. Yet this poor ladies’ life, snuffed out by the actions of an irresponsible person, apparently has no more importance than a dollar value in a civil suit.
Why exactly do we spoil celebrities to the point that we are allowing them to involuntarily, and in some cases such as Robert Blake and O.J. Simpson, voluntarily murder other people without consequence? What sort of society do we live in when a human life and all the lives adversely affected by its passing are meaningless in the face of celebrity? I’d be willing to bet that there are hundreds if not thousands of cases in California where everyday people have killed others in the course of being reckless and paid a heavy price for doing so. If justice is suitable for them, why is it less suitable for Brandy?
Don’t get me wrong, celebrity deserves the trappings associated with it. You want a better table at Spago, fine. You want access to places I would be hard pressed to ever see the interior of, knock yourself out…you deserve it. What I can’t condone, and what society shouldn’t be willing to overlook, is that celebrity now seems to grant a free pass to get away with murder. Justice apparently isn’t applied equally to all, and that’s an injustice that needs to be rectified.
For more information about famous people and famous names, visit www.myfamousname.com. If you want to know “Who else has my famous name?” , visit our list of celebrity names. For more information on names and namesakes of famous people, visit our celebrity profiles.
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