Friday, December 19, 2008

Alec Baldwin alienates me (by Suzie)



         Thanks to Melissa Silverstein, I recently started watching "30 Rock," which I find hilarious, including the loathsome Alec Baldwin. No, I don’t mean the pompous character he plays, although I do loathe the character. I mean the pompous actor. This interview sums him up well.
          Although he’s known for supporting liberal causes … quelle surprise … he’s not so good on feminism. He told "30 Rock" creator Tina Fey: “You are a very attractive woman and you’ve got to work that. You’ve got to pop one more button on that blouse and you’ve got to get that hair done and you’ve got to ... glamour it up." I wonder how he would respond if she talked about him needing to lose weight.
          He has written for the Huffington Post. Here's an example:
When Hillary Clinton ran for President, she ran as a woman, in my opinion, and I believe that is why she lost. She invoked her Glass Ceiling Sister Act whenever she found it useful ...
          His book, “A Promise to Ourselves,” came out this fall. Once more, he attacks his ex-wife, Kim Basinger, and the legal system. Here’s a New York Times review. An example of his venom: "My ex-wife reaches an almost sexual level of satisfaction when she's in a room full of highpriced lawyers." Saying nasty things in court is one thing; it's another to write them up and travel the country, giving interviews. 
          You may remember him calling his daughter a "thoughtless little pig" in a voice mail last year. If not, the transcript is here. It's comically bad. 
         To the thrill of “men’s rights activists” – those who can forgive his other political views – Baldwin says the legal system is biased toward mothers; children suffer when they’re raised by single mothers; and feminists should recognize “parental alienation syndrome.”
         NOW criticizes the media for allowing Baldwin to push this debunked syndrome, which Sara Huizenga Lubbers calls the “It’s Not My Fault!” Syndrome. She takes on Baldwin here, and she notes PAS was invented by a pedophile. (Thanks to the latest Carnival Against Sexual Violence for including this.)
         Defend the Children explains:
Playing upon the familiar that some parents badmouth each other to children in divorce, Gardner called this experience a “syndrome.” Gardner then concocted the PAS strategy to prevent child abuse investigations by claiming children were “brainwashed” into making false abuse allegations by one parent against the other. Thus PAS strategy says whenever a child discloses abuse and fear of a parent in the context of a custody dispute, they should not be believed. The PAS tactic encourages judges to assume without investigation that child abuse allegations are false, placing abused children in grave danger…
Studies show 50 percent of abusers who batter their partner also physically abuse their children. But tragically, a 1996 study in the Family Law Quarterly found child custody evaluators did not consider a history of domestic violence as a major factor in their recommendations, but three-fourths of them cited alienation as a major determination.

Blerg! If Baldwin were my father, I'd be plenty alienated.