Brown Sludge

A Sure Sign Of The Coming Apocalypse

April 24th, 2007

“Isn’t it terrible?” she asked.

I took the bait. “Isn’t what terrible?” I replied.

“About Alec Baldwin, and those things he said to his daughter?” the look on her face is the same one that people make when they’ve taken a bite of something spoiled, and realized it a moment too late.

“Hmph.” I reply. It’s best we probably don’t talk about this. She’d be shocked by my answer.

Like everyone else I’ve read the blurbs all over Drudge and the rest of the web and web. I’ve listened to the recording. I’ve seen the comments from reporters, social workers, and casual readers.

“Take away his parental rights.”

“He’s not fit to be a parent.”

“He’s a terrible father.”

“Isn’t it awful?”

“He’s should never be allowed near his daughter again.”

I don’t like Baldwin. I don’t like any of the Baldwins. They represent the worst of the whiny Hollywood freak-set trying to sell their twisted lives to the rest of us as “reality”. I don’t like him. I don’t like his people. Acting to me isn’t really a job. Not like the rest of us have. Most actors have long forgotten the daily problems and struggles that average people face. It’s always struck me as hilarious that they think they’re so important when in reality - they’re the least important of all the people in the world.

Think about it for a second.

If some bizarre catastrophe rendered every actor on the face of the planet incapable of acting tomorrow. Who would care? Would anyone die? Would anyone suffer? Would a single home burn down, or single sick person go uncured or single victim go unrescued? Of course not. The world turned for millenniums before some pretty boy stood in front of a camera lens and parroted lines that he didn’t even write himself. Some make the argument that the world was a better place before they even started.

About Alec Baldwin I could care less. The world would be a better place if he shut his festering gob and crawled back under whatever rock he crawled out of in the first place.

But… about that recording.

And those who are so quick to run him down for it.

I’ve heard it. It’s unpleasant. He says things he shouldn’t have said to an 11 year old girl.

He lost his temper. He lost it big. No excuses. It was wrong.

A lot of people are saying a lot of bad things about him for it.

In what has to be a sure sign of the coming apocalypse, I find myself defending him.

Careful there.

I said defending “him”. Not what he did or said. That was wrong by anyone’s standards, and he’s admitted that.

You see, I’m a divorced father too. And I too was foolish enough to allow my soul to be knitted to woman who would later reveal herself to be soulless. I knew her to be a small and hateful human being before I married her, and I let fear and uncertainty rule my life and married her anyway. It was a mistake I’ve spent a sizeable portion of my life paying for. And so has my daughter, who isn’t a great deal older than Mr. Baldwin’s.

I have something to say to all of you self righteous people who are so quick to say things along the lines of “He’s unfit to be a father” and “He should lose his parental rights.” :

Unless you are a divorced father who knows the pain and frustration that joint custody, especially joint custody with someone antagonistic and manipulative brings, then you have no business even opening your mouth on the subject of Alec Baldwin. Period.

Meditate on this for a moment :

When people read in the papers or see news footage on television of mothers going to heroic lengths to save their children, they nod knowingly and rarely look surprised. A mother exhibited superhuman strength and actually lifted an automobile off of her trapped baby? No big deal… such is the love of a mother. A mother threw herself in front of a bullet to save her toddler? No big deal… such is the love of a mother. A mother interposed herself between an angry Kodiak bear and her baby? Not such a big deal really, such is the love of a mother.

Do you really think the love of a Father is any less?

When you stand a man in court, and proclaim to the world that you are going to take everything he has, and everything he will ever have, and once he’s financially bereft - you are going to take his children and hand them over to someone that cares less about the child themselves and more about how much they are worth on a monthly basis what exactly do you expect to happen?

Today’s court system figuratively ties fathers to a chair, and forces them to watch for years as their children are alternately poisoned, abused, mistreated, and held away from their guidance and love. Then they are told to pay for the privilege.
You can see this playing out in the Baldwin fiasco.

Baldwin obviously had arrangements to speak to the little girl at appointed times every day. It was his right. It was obviously very important to him that he had that time with her. As I pointed out before, a father’s love is no less than that of the mothers, and in many cases a great deal more. Because his daughter was summarily handed over her mother without regard to Baldwin’s feelings or attachment, he had come to depend a great deal on that appointed phone call. That much is made obvious by the tape circulating the internet.

As he told her in the recording - he stopped his entire world every day at the same time - to make time to speak with her.

It’s not hard to imagine him waiting anxiously to speak to his daughter, and looking forward to hearing his little girls voice. Such is the love of a father.

Imagine his anger and frustration when the appointed time came, only to realize in horror that - again - she had been made “unavailable”.

Those who are familiar with joint custody arrangements are familiar with this tactic and it was clear to me from the things he said that Baldwin had been victimized by this type of manipulation too often in recent weeks. When a mother is one of the type that care less about the “child” and more about the “support” then you get this kind of spiteful behavior. Typically they are very insecure and hate themselves for being such terrible mothers and so try desperately to drive wedges between the child and the father. This appeared to be in play in this scenario as well.

Then… Baldwin made his mistake.

He couldn’t take his anger and frustration out on the person who was really at fault, so… he took it out on the only person he could. His daughter. This was a terrible mistake, and one he’s apologized for. I’m certain he’s apologized to his daughter as well.

Need proof of what I’m saying?

Look no further than the mothers actions following Baldwin’s mistake.

While it’s a given that a real mother would never have held the daughter away from the appointed phone call in the first place, it’s also true that a real mother would have been concerned about the daughter. A real mother would have immediately sought to shield and protect the daughter from emotional harm. A real mother would have been upset about the rift between the daughter and the father and sought to heal it.

What did her mother do instead?

Like all shallow and guilty bullies do when they want to deflect attention from their own bad behavior - she stood up and began to scream in high shrill tones “LOOK AT HIM! LOOK AT WHAT A BAD DAD HE IS!! LOOK!! EVERYBODY LOOK!” hoping desperately that all eyes would turn away from her own wretchedness.

In an even more desperate bid she allegedly illegally circulated the tape into wide distribution, something a real mother would never have done.

Then in another great public display she apparently hired a bodyguard to illustrate what a BAD DAD Baldwin was.

Magicians and fakers master the art of misdirection. They practice diligently the art of drawing your attention to one hand and holding it there, while their other hand is hard at work doing things it shouldn’t be doing.

Whenever one points and shouts “Look! Look over there!”, you can rest assured their is something else they hope you are NOT seeing.

Remember that when you see all this great public shows of concern for the little girl, and then ask yourself why someone would feel the need to be so public about these shows.

What Baldwin did was wrong. The things he said were wrong. He admits this, and has apologized.

But when viewed through the frame of a fathers love - they are understandable. His anger is understandable. His frustration is understandable.

Those calling for the revocation of his parental rights have no understanding of a fathers love, and should simply shut up.

-Mac

Entry Filed under: General