For quite a while now, I've been a fan of Kevin Smith's. I find him to be a terribly interesting guy. He's a prolific writer, great story teller and his podcast -- Smodcast has kept me company on many of my long drives. I liked most of his movies, very much so...and fan or not, nobody can deny the Clerks phenomenon. I genuinely like the guy, and that's why I'm just so ecchhh here with him and this story with Southwest Airlines.
To make it quick, Kevin Smith was pulled off a flight because someone, it's really not clear who, thought he was too fat to fly. Kevin got all jerked off about it, and has been twittering, blogging, podcasting, and he's basically out Paul Revere-ing that he wants Southwest to go down for this incredible and immense injustice. Oh, and by the way, he was offered an apology and a $100 voucher, but this wasn't good enough for him. He wants some one's head, or at least some one's job over it.
But it's all bullshit.
I listened to the two latest hours of the podcasts, that he completely devoted to the incident. Mr. Smith is claiming that he's not doing this for him anymore, he's doing it for all fat people, especially the "stout" woman, Natalie, who sat next to him on his next flight. She apparently was pulled out for the same reason, but returned to the flight. Crap. He twittered about it for hours before he caught the first sight of Natalie.
I dig, it was embarrassing. Extremely embarrassing. It's probably the worst nightmare of most anyone finishing off their 4-piece chicken & biscuit at your local KFC. And I also get it, it sucks being fat. But, I don't buy, for a second, that he's being all noble and standing up for the little guy...er uhm...fat guy. It's fake outrage, pure bullshit.
Case in point -- Sarah Palin's latest nonsensical battle, with Seth MacFarlane. One of the recent Family Guy episodes featured a character with down's syndrome. While out on a date the character refers to herself as the daughter of the former governor of Alaska. Oh my. Dig, out of all the people and groups and stereotypes that MacFarlane has gone after over the years, in all honesty, this seems like one of the tamest. But no, Sarah Palin didn't care to comment on any of Family Guy's other offenses, only when it hit a little close to home. 'Whoa, now you've gone too far buster'. Get real here.
In her book, Palin claims to have a bumper sticker on her car that says "My kid has more chromosomes than yours" -- which really has the same, or even a lesser level of political correctness than the Family Guy bit. Let's face it, former Governor Palin last story was a little bit embarrassing; she wanted the bounce-back to come with a bit of sympathy, to show her softer side. But, we all remember, she's self-proclaimed pit-bull with lipstick. And of course, it was just another reason to get a sound bite out there, and a reason to visit with Bill O'Riley. Maybe at the next TEA Party meetng, she'll have fuck Seth MacFarlane written on her hand, then cross out fuck and have fudge written over it.
Re-enter the Kevin Smith story -- It's fake outrage. Just Crap. He's not doing this for fat people everywhere. He's not the Rosa Parks of the airlines. I don't know what movie he may have coming out, but there's got to be a better way to promote it. And if I'm wrong about my whole take on this story, so be it. But as I see it, the other side of that coin is even worse -- that he's making this big of a stink over being inconvenienced for just a couple of hours, as he got to fly out on the next flight. If I was his high school football coach, I'd tap a fist on his chin and say, "Now buck up, champ. You're better than this...now go hit the treadmill"
Kevin Smith claims to have a platform, and that he does. But with this platform, with his multitude of twitter and blog followers, this is the big fight he wants to stand up for?!? Like I said, I understand it sucks to be fat...it sucks that down's syndrome is a reality in this world...but it also really sucks to be a dead Iranian protester, or a victim of the many mass genocides that happen around the world, or simply just to be a citizen of Haiti. Do you see some of the really fucked up shit that goes on in this world? And this is the big issue that Kevin Smith wants to stand up for? Bullshit.
Peace.
2 comments:
I'm pretty sure that his outrage is a lot less fake than your own. You had to grossly misrepresent the facts in order for it to appear as if you had a legitimate gripe, whereas Smith actually had a reason to be pissed off.
Hell, even your moral outrage over the possibility that he might have used the Southwest issue to sell movie tickets is as fake as a porn-star's tits. Your faux-outrage just as self-serving as you allege his is, only you've got page-views on the line rather than a movie.
I know that the world's social structure is slowly breaking down as the years go by, and more and more we're becoming a bunch of uncouth douche-bags, but whatever happened to giving someone the benefit of the doubt before condemning them? You're raking a man over the coals for something that as far as you know, could very well be all in your head. You even admit that you could be completely wrong, but even after admitting that, you refuse to cut the guy a break. What's with that?
It appears to me as if you had a chip on your shoulder and an axe to grind, and that Kevin Smith just happened to be a convenient target for your ire, having been in the news at the time. I have a feeling that this little tirade of yours could just as easily been focused on any other celebrity, which says to me that your problem isn't with Smith in particular, but rather, it's with celebrity at large.
Whatever the reason for it, your rant against Smith leaves you looking worse than it does him.
@ Daniel, you make a lot of good points here. If we were playing battleship you'd have plenty of hits, and a few misses as well.
Not being a man of great words, I might not have conveyed my true thoughts as clearly as I intended. I use words like bullshit, asshole, douchebag in my everyday life, and reading them might convey outrage...Outrage is definately too strong of a word. Frustration is much more accurate.
And quickly, about my spew that splashes on this wall...Honestly, I have no clue who or how many people have ever read any thing I've ever written. For all I know, Daniel you're the first. I write here so that for a single moment, I can pretend like my opinion matters. But then my wife asks me to do the dishes and I am reminded that I am just another dickbag with a mortgage and a car payment.
Like I said in the original post, I was/am a fan of Kevin Smith. Kevin is like a hometown hero to me. One of the little guys (uhm, er...insert fat joke here) who made it big on his dream and talent. It's like seeing the brother who played center for your high school team now playing for the sixers; you root for the guy. I rooted for Kevin Smith because he was living the rags to riches American Dream.
My problem was that I didn't buy his story. It all felt like a work to me.
One of my biggest frustrations with this American life is that I always feel like I'm being sold something. Everybody seems to be always trying to put their sticky little fingers into my wallet and pushing me to buy more, more, more shit I never had any interest in to start with. The Best Buy geek squad guy is always trying to shove more gigahertz in your cart. You go to the bank to open a savings account, they push you to open a credit card or brokerage. You go to get an oil change, they try to sell you nitrogen for your tires, and extended warrenty coverage. Nitrogen? Are you friggen kidding me? I just wanted a simple oil change.
So now when Mr. Smith was trying to tell me that 4 out of 5 dentist preferred Smodcast to flying SouthWest Airlines I was saddened. Really? Silent Bob is now working me too? I was disappointed in him because, well frankly, I felt it was beneath him to feed me a line of shit, like a regular used car salesman with a fake smile and sweaty handshake.
So yes, maybe I did take a cheap shot. Maybe I should have given him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I shouldn't be kicking a man when he's down. I think it's wrong when I see TMZ doing it, so why am I? Good question you ask, Daniel. Stumped me.
This was my feeling when I wrote this post that it was all a work, so I posted my feelings as I felt them. I write on here like I was having a conversation with friends. My mistake was (and probably will continue to be) in forgetting that others do sometimes read my drivel, and that this stays out there for much longer than my fleeting thoughts.
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