Listen, I'm not against anyone utilizing their gifts in order to try to make a living. I'm working on doing that with my writing skills. Some people have a brain for numbers and make a fortune in stocks and bonds or real estate. Some people have empathy and bedside manner and lean toward the sciences and become doctors and surgeons.
Some people have other gifts that might not lend themselves to professional pursuits, so those individuals use those gifts in a manner that should make a father angry and embarrassed. And yet they still manage to get ahead. When I was younger, it was said that actresses, aspiring female singers and women in corporate America had to 'sleep their way to the top.' Maybe it was worth it. I doubt it.
I could've put the three sisters together in this post, but decided to stick with Kim Kardashian as the newest addition to the Females We Don't Want our Daughters to be Like list.
I have a strong aversion to reality television shows. I think there's two classifications for reality TV. There are what I call the "That's nice, thanks for playing" shows like American Idol, that trick people into thinking that by winning a competition on television will result in a long-term lucrative career. Wrong! For every Carrie Underwood, there's five Ruben Studdards. Who's he? Exactly. Then there are the shows that are just plain STUPID! Or the people in them are stupid. Or both. Like who goes to a deserted island and eats crazy bugs, sleeps near predatory animals and does crazy stunts in order to try to win some money. I think that's the object of the game.
Anyway, Kim Kardashian is one of the players (I can't call her a star) on E! Entertainment Network's reality family dramedy 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians.' She's a member of an ensemble cast that includes her sisters Khloe and Kourtney and brother Rob (why doesn't his name start with the letter 'K'?). Her mother, Kris and her stepfather Bruce Jenner round out the crew. I think. I don't know if there's anyone else because I don't watch the show.
The only reason anyone knows who is Kim Kardashian is because of an explicit sex tape she participated in with some no-name rapper. Well, he does have a name, or had a name. It's Ray J.
Dads, if your daughter ever brings home a guy with one name, make sure your turn him around and show him the way out the door. Not gently.
Anyway, Kim had this tape made in 2007. One look on Wikipedia said the tape has been viewed over 2 million times. I don't know if Kim and Ray J are making any money off of that. Did anyone know who she was before that tape? Her only claim to fame to that point is that her mother married well. Twice.
Kim's biological father, Robert Kardashian (God rest his soul), was O.J. Simpson's lawyer in one of the most infamous murder trials in history. Her current stepfather is Bruce Jenner, arguably one of the greatest athletes of all time after setting the record for most points while winning the gold medal in the decathlon in the 1976 Olympics.
Sure, after the sex tape Kim dated Reggie Bush for a while. And one of her sisters is married to Lamar Odom from the Los Angeles Lakers. But you could argue that all of this fame is due to the dubious sex tape. Gives a whole new meaning to sleeping your way to the top.
The worst part is recently when Kim was on the new talk show of another pompous reality show star, Piers Morgan, she expressed to Morgan that she was embarrassed and shamed by her sex tape and that she didn't get where she is today because of it.
Yeah, and I'm going to win a million dollars on the next America's Got Talent.
P.S. Don't forget to tell your daughter that you love her.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
The Cowboy Code...for our Daughters
I'm not usually one to gloat, and hopefully none of you faithful readers will think me so. Hopefully you'll just think I'm accurate. If anyone saw Snooki on Letterman last night http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/02/11/letterman-asks-snooki-an-alcoholic-video/ I think you'll agree that she was an appropriate member of the Women We Don't Want Our Daughters to be Like list. Additionally, the latest news about Lindsay Lohan http://www.tmz.com/2011/02/09/lindsay-lohan-custody-judge-keith-schwartz-shawn-chapman-holly/ makes her look like a pretty good selection for the list as well.
Which leads me to what's on my mind today. I will, in an average day, check out at least a dozen news sites, both on the net and in paper. It's part of my routine and it's part of my DNA. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I was a journalism major in college, and the other part is that I've always been interested in what other people write and how they write it.
So this morning I came across an article, on line, that makes me think there's a connection to why we even have the unfortunate circumstance of a Snooki or a Lindsay Lohan.
I'm not going to review the whole article for you, if you're interested you can check it out for yourself. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/02/10/cowboy-code-frivolous/print The crux of the article is the fact that the Montana State Senate passed a bill the other day stating that it would adopt The Code of the West from the book "Cowboy Ethics" and make it the official Montana Code. The writer of the article, Patrick Dorinson, believes that there's a shortage of ethics and values in the USA, and that it wasn't a bad thing for the Montana Senate to pass this bill.
Dorinson goes further in his discussion of ethics and values, and went back to a study done by Rutgers University in 2002 that found that cheating in schools by our young people is a much greater trend than a parent or teacher might want to admit. But what struck me about that was not so much that cheating exists. I mean, who among us didn't, at least once, look over the shoulder of the smartest girl in third grade to see if you got the math problem correct?
There is a quote from a student in that study that pretty much sums up why we have Snooki, Lindsay Lohan and ridiculous shows like American Idol and that other stupid show where people go to compete to see who gets kicked off the island. I don't watch it so I don't know what it's called. I just know it's there.
The kid said, and I quote (to avoid any plagiarism claims) "I actually think cheating is good. A person who has an entirely honest life can't succeed these days."
Wow! Consider that this was spoken in 2001 or 2002, so right now this kid is probably your local mayor or state senator.
So anyway, I guess that got me to wondering what we're teaching our daughters about life. It's not something we give conscious thought to as we go through our daily routine. Maybe we hope that our daughters (and sons) will learn a lot of important things by observing what we do. I've always told my kids that I put a lot more stock in what someone does as opposed to what they say. So, at least I hope, that my kids pick up the good stuff that I do, and maybe don't always listen to the stuff that falls out from between my lips. I said in my last post that I sometimes go to bed at night wishing I could take back something stupid I may have said.
I think if you go read the article about the Cowboy Code, you'll think of some things for yourself. One of the negative lessons that our daughters learn from Snooki, Lindsay Lohan, and others of that ilk, is that MONEY is the most important thing in life.
While I admit that money is important and I would not turn down the opportunity for my next book to be a bestseller, I do adhere to a favorite saying by my second favorite Cowboy actor, Robert Duvall. In the movie "Broken Trail" he and his nephew are driving a heard of horses to Montana. There's a scene where they are discussing a variety of things, and his nephew (played by Thomas Haden Church) talks of money and riches. Duvall's reply is "Never judge your wealth by how much money you have."
P.S. Don't forget to tell your daughter that you love her.
Which leads me to what's on my mind today. I will, in an average day, check out at least a dozen news sites, both on the net and in paper. It's part of my routine and it's part of my DNA. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I was a journalism major in college, and the other part is that I've always been interested in what other people write and how they write it.
So this morning I came across an article, on line, that makes me think there's a connection to why we even have the unfortunate circumstance of a Snooki or a Lindsay Lohan.
I'm not going to review the whole article for you, if you're interested you can check it out for yourself. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/02/10/cowboy-code-frivolous/print The crux of the article is the fact that the Montana State Senate passed a bill the other day stating that it would adopt The Code of the West from the book "Cowboy Ethics" and make it the official Montana Code. The writer of the article, Patrick Dorinson, believes that there's a shortage of ethics and values in the USA, and that it wasn't a bad thing for the Montana Senate to pass this bill.
Dorinson goes further in his discussion of ethics and values, and went back to a study done by Rutgers University in 2002 that found that cheating in schools by our young people is a much greater trend than a parent or teacher might want to admit. But what struck me about that was not so much that cheating exists. I mean, who among us didn't, at least once, look over the shoulder of the smartest girl in third grade to see if you got the math problem correct?
There is a quote from a student in that study that pretty much sums up why we have Snooki, Lindsay Lohan and ridiculous shows like American Idol and that other stupid show where people go to compete to see who gets kicked off the island. I don't watch it so I don't know what it's called. I just know it's there.
The kid said, and I quote (to avoid any plagiarism claims) "I actually think cheating is good. A person who has an entirely honest life can't succeed these days."
Wow! Consider that this was spoken in 2001 or 2002, so right now this kid is probably your local mayor or state senator.
So anyway, I guess that got me to wondering what we're teaching our daughters about life. It's not something we give conscious thought to as we go through our daily routine. Maybe we hope that our daughters (and sons) will learn a lot of important things by observing what we do. I've always told my kids that I put a lot more stock in what someone does as opposed to what they say. So, at least I hope, that my kids pick up the good stuff that I do, and maybe don't always listen to the stuff that falls out from between my lips. I said in my last post that I sometimes go to bed at night wishing I could take back something stupid I may have said.
I think if you go read the article about the Cowboy Code, you'll think of some things for yourself. One of the negative lessons that our daughters learn from Snooki, Lindsay Lohan, and others of that ilk, is that MONEY is the most important thing in life.
While I admit that money is important and I would not turn down the opportunity for my next book to be a bestseller, I do adhere to a favorite saying by my second favorite Cowboy actor, Robert Duvall. In the movie "Broken Trail" he and his nephew are driving a heard of horses to Montana. There's a scene where they are discussing a variety of things, and his nephew (played by Thomas Haden Church) talks of money and riches. Duvall's reply is "Never judge your wealth by how much money you have."
P.S. Don't forget to tell your daughter that you love her.
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