Gratuitous butt-kissing: disease or fetish?

Have you seen the notice on the White House web site that states “The President and the First Lady strongly encourage all Americans to consider sending contributions to their favorite charities in lieu of gifts to the First Family.” ? Really people? Really?

Masses from the herd are inundating the First Family with gifts? Have you all completely lost your minds? People are losing their jobs, their homes, their families and their life savings. Tent cities of homeless are sprouting up like never before. Species are going extinct. Children are sick, injured, naked, hungry, abused and afraid all over the world. And you people are sending gifts to a wealthy family? You should be ashamed!

If you want to tell the First Family you care for and support them then write a note or send an email. It means more anyway. Do you honestly think they want your trinkets? Have you ever been on the receiving end in such a situation? It’s quite uncomfortable. What does one do with such things? A bonfire would be embarassing.

Wherever you are if you have the desire to give something GIVE TO PEOPLE WHO NEED IT which would actually include the majority of Earth’s population.

It’s not just the First Family that this happens to. The rich and famous are often given all kinds of stuff including expensive sports cars … free. How about those gift bags (misnomer) given out at the Oscars? Companies give thousands of dollars worth of free stuff to celebrities in the hopes of increasing sales. Do they give them to the fans (who are literally the reason that movies are big business) lined of for a glimpse of Hollywood’s plastic royalty? There’s a captive audience for a business to market to. Do they even give them water? I wouldn’t know. I quit watching decades ago. It’s just so … zzzzzzz.

I was listening to the radio once when Aerosmith was in town. This woman called in to tell the D.J. that she saw Steven Tyler and Joe Perry at a (very expensive) local restaurant. She and her friend went over and BOUGHT THEM DINNER. She was so excited. What a fucking idiot. (A point not lost to the D.J.) These men are multimillionaires and Ms. Monday-through-Friday-9-to-5 buys them dinner because she is star struck and then is so stupid she announces it on the radio. She had to pass the homeless and hungry just to get home. They wouldn’t even get a doggy bag.

I guess I have to state the obvious in that I don’t hold this against the First Family or Steven Tyler or Joe Perry (who kicks butt BTW) or any other wealthy person in this position. I think if a person makes their fortune in an honest way (a rare thing indeed) then congratulations to them. I wish every human on the planet was wealthy. It’s the star-struck gift giving that is nauseating.

Another example: I sometimes watch or listen to broadcasts out of curiosity – not because I necessarily like or agree with them. One morning I was listening to Laura Ingraham on the radio. She had an interview with some federal-level politician that she liked very much and was predictably butt-kissing throughout the interview. At the end she tried to give him a free package that she was promoting that she sent out with donations. (I think it was the Freedom Czar stuff.) The politician said no, he couldn’t and wouldn’t take it but thanks anyway. She tried several times to GIVE IT TO HIM. Not happening. (Well done, Mr. Politician.) Then later she took a call from someone who did not agree with her but seemed open minded so Laura did her little prosecuting-attorney skit they all like to do (ask leading and loaded questions, interrupt the person they are talking to, turn their words against them, try to make them look like simpletons, never just shut up and listen to an opposing view… it’s all quite predictable, disgusting and self-defeating). So the guy ended up in a neutral position saying he saw her point, that it was something he would consider, etc. He then asked if he could have one of her packages that she just tried to GIVE to a politician. She laughed him to scorn for even asking. Oh, hell no, he had to send in money for that. So she’ll give her marketing crap to someone who already agrees with her but she won’t give it to someone who was actually in a position to influence people who didn’t agree with her. It was a typical example of someone who apparently over-educated a fast brain but apparently has zero wisdom. That’s something you might want to keep to yourself and not display on national radio. Talk radio is like a 24-hour pep rally of self-congratulating repetition. They antagonize rather than influence the opposition. How’s that working for the country? Is divisive a good thing?

So, please be generous … to the needy. And now a final word from Aerosmith: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jdd26HZW34
If you want to give them something… buy a CD.