Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Some People Just Don't Know When To Shut Up

Some years ago, P.J. O'Rourke pointed out that if you accuse someone in Hollywood of being a drunk, a drug addict, and a womanizer, the reaction is no longer anger, but, "Thank you, you must have read my autobiography."  Charlie Sheen is the sort of person that is why Hollyweird, long, long ago, felt the need to adopt the Breen and Hays Codes:
Wildman actor Charlie Sheen, barely out of hospital from his latest reported drug-and-booze meltdown, said Tuesday he has no intention of mending his ways. 


"I was sober for five years a long time ago and was just bored out of my tree," he said in a phone call to DirecTV/Fox Sports Radio host Dan Patrick.

...

He said crack cocaine was bad, but not for everyone.

"I said stay off the crack, and I still think that's pretty good advice, unless you can manage it socially. If you can manage it socially, then go for it, but not a lot of people can, you know?"
This week is Roman Republic in my Western Civ class.  There are some disturbing similarities between  the fall of the Roman Republic and the American Republic.  It is part of why I have largely given up on any writing that does not make me money: I have no hope for the American Republic's survival.  The core moral codes that made America great are no long terribly relevant to Americans.

4 comments:

  1. That's one reason why, even though I think so-called "anarcho-capitalism" is the way to go for government, it wouldn't work in the current political climate. Too many people depend on the State, and too many people are accepting of State atrocities as "normal". And too many people want to define what is "right" to be "what I want to do", rather than define "what I want to do" to be what is right.

    Ultimately, any government can only be as good as the people who are in charge. Since the people in charge of a Democracy, or a Republic, or an Anarcho-Capitalistic society, are the People themselves, if the people go bad, there's not much hope for the government itself!

    Which is why any efforts on "Revolution" on my end are to convince individuals to accept the duties of being free.

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  2. Sheen and any "recreational" user like him (who is not irretrievably addicted) is morally responsible for the drug-war deaths in Mexico. Period.

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  3. What is the problem, again? He clearly has a job, he's not in debt, you cannot demonstrably show that his alcohol and drug use has harmed anything but his own health.

    I'm failing to see why he should mend his ways. There's no 'don't get drunk' rule in any moral code that I know of, outside radical Islam that is.

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  4. "...is morally responsible for the drug-war deaths in Mexico. Period."

    And prohibition had nothing to do with the St Valentine's day massacre?

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