Barbarians at the White House Gate

Photo by Monique

Washington wasn’t just the scene of the Obama administration’s first state dinner Tuesday night, it was also a moment of epic convergence that only reality TV could produce. Mix one part glitz (Indian saris on the Beltway elite), with one part absurd (Secret Service event security), a twist of the ubiquitous (Facebook) and a HUGE dash of chutzpah (Mr. and Mrs. Tareq and Michaele Salahi) and you have the most audacious instance of party-crashing. Ever.

It takes a certain kind of person to wake up one day and decide to illegally enter the most high-profile social event in the world; with every major American media outlet in attendance, the Salahis knew the stakes were high. And yet there they were, arm-in-arm with Vice-President Joe Biden, smiling broadly with Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, and chatting with Katie Couric. Why the risk? It would appear Michaele Salahi is in talks to star in the upcoming reality TV bonanza The Real Housewives of D.C. In other words, the biggest security breach since the beginning of the Obama administration was a casting stunt.

What is with these potential reality “stars”??? It seems that some people are desperate enough to do increasingly outrageous acts: conceive eight kids; foist a boy-in-the-balloon hoax on North American cable outlets; and now embarrass the U.S. President and his administration while the world watches. And who blew the whistle on them? Why Michaele Salahi herself, via Facebook updates from the event.

Are the Salahis stupid or brilliant? Perhaps unethical, but certainly inappropriate. Apparently, they own a winery and are a fixture on the Polo circuit, have declared bankruptcy and been involved in more than 16 lawsuits. Regardless, they are now getting their 15 minutes of fame. It remains to be seen if they also get considerably more time in a Federal penitentiary.

What’s certain is that Tareq and Michaele Salahi have received an inordinate amount of publicity at the huge expense of the White House. Security threat or not, the Salahis’ calculated actions hijacked a prestigious event intended to honour the world’s largest democracy: India. It’s doubtful even reality TV producers could ever have imagined the repercussions of their asinine show’s potential cast; reality television has now trumped foreign affairs and international diplomacy. Will the world ever be the same?

Tiger Woods' Hellish Thanksgiving

Image by Stefano A

If a man hits a tree in a mangrove swamp, does anybody hear? If that man is Tiger Woods and the tree is on his Florida lawn, then the whole world hears the echo of his Cadillac SUV crashing into the trunk and the neighboring fire hydrant. Tiger Woods is arguably one of the most famous men on the planet and has managed to escape the celebrity gossip that often follows sports superstars -- until now.

The internet rumour mills are in overdrive speculating about the reasons leading up to Tiger’s hasty departure from his family’s home at 2:25 a.m. Friday morning. The curious chain of events leading to a smashup at the end of his driveway, and his wife Elin rescuing him with a golf club are bizarre and leading to more rumours about the state of Tiger’s home game. Is it coincidence that last Wednesday unsubstantiated reports started to surface that Tiger was enmeshed in an extramarital affair? Arguably, the news hit a family nerve over Thursday’s Thanksgiving table, because by early Friday morning, Tiger was sporting facial cuts and bruises and the police have spent the remainder of the weekend trying to get a statement about the single-vehicle accident. Odd.

Car crashes and infidelity allegations are normal, every-day events in celebrity land. But for Tiger Woods and his carefully controlled image and reputation, this past weekend’s incidents are going to play havoc on more than few fronts. A self-confessed control freak, having his private life splashed on the cover of every newspaper, while gossip magazines zero in on his every move will be excruciating; golf’s greatest phenom is going to have his mental game seriously undermined. This story is only going to get bigger, and no matter how hard Tiger tries to hide under the shade of his Mangrove trees, he’ll have to emerge and offer up a better explanation sooner or later. And for his sake, he should probably do it now.

Palin and Prejean: Who's to Blame in the Media Game?

Photo by sskennel and Image courtesy of vrysxy

What’s with American women? In the last few weeks, two ladies have dominated the airwaves as they market new books. Who might these luminaries be? Sarah Palin and her wing-woman Carrie Prejean.

At first glance, these former beauty queens have relatively few things in common other than belonging to the Republican party and writing books. No doubt that’s a crowded category. What makes them singularly interesting -- for the purpose of this blog -- are their outright attempts at media manipulation, while simultaneously bashing the same medium that is the channel to their desired success.

Let’s recap... Sarah Palin is now a household name by virtue of being John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Her new book is titled Going Rogue. Enough said. Carrie Prejean has less auspicious credentials. Previously Miss California USA 2009, she was fired for her shoddy work ethic OR her controversial views on gay marriage -- there are two schools of thought on her dismissal. Time has marched on, and in the intervening months both women secured book deals and are now hawking their memoirs.

On November 10, Carrie Prejean, a self described “sacrificial Christian thrown to the vicious and cruel media lions to be torn apart” was a guest on CNN’s Larry King Live. Watching her highly scripted responses to Larry King’s attempts to ask relatively benign questions about a legal settlement is pure entertainment. But what’s ridiculous is her repeated assertion that Larry is “inappropriate”. Larry King is no lion; he’s a soft-ball interviewer and first stop for disgraced celebrities for a very good reason (hello Chris Brown). Seemingly, Carrie Prejean assumed her appearance would be a walk in the park; she shamelessly promotes her book Still Standing: The Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate and Political Attacks throughout the brief interview. The real question for Ms. Prejean is WHO will buy her book? Marketed to women of a conservative bent, will her target audience view her as less than the perfect role model now that sex tapes have surfaced and breast enhancement surgery has been confirmed? One can hope.

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin has returned from the frozen Alaskan hinterland with a vengeance. Going Rogue allegedly contains a no holds-barred account of her time as the Republican’s V.P. candidate and deliberately skewers former colleagues for perceived political blunders. She also targets the “mainstream media bias” in her writing and appearances. While a guest on Oprah, she confirms she sees herself as a victim of the media - yet she’s telling her tale of woe to the world’s most powerful media personality. Is this hypocrisy or just clever marketing by a woman with a serious personal agenda? Probably both. For the foreseeable future, Sarah Palin will continue to use the media for her own purposes, complain loudly if appearances don’t go exactly as planned, and forever blame any negative press on some sort of amorphous, vast, left-wing conspiracy.

For the sake of the rest of the world, please don’t buy these books. Sarah Palin is here to stay, but Carrie Prejean should quickly be dispatched back to California, and with any luck, never again subject the viewing public to another interview, sound bite or video. Amen.

Fort Hood: What a psychiatrist should NOT do

Photo by floodllama

Last week, Fort Hood, Texas was rocked by a mass shooting in which 13 people died and more than 30 were injured. Fort Hood, the largest U.S. military base in the world, is an unlikely place for a mass killing - presumably one of the most heavily fortified and protected locations in America. But alas, the killer was a fellow soldier, Major Nidal Hasan, so this tragedy also has the dubious distinction of being the worst incident of an American serviceman attacking his comrades.

It’s one thing to commit suicide, but it takes a very special kind of disturbed person to open fire in a crowd of unarmed people. A major investigation is now under way to determine how Major Hasan could have possibly flown under the radar and reached the breaking point. And it seems there were a few BIG indicators that were missed...

First and foremost, Major Hasan, despite enlisting over 20 years ago (read: free choice) had never seen active combat and was desperately fighting his imminent deployment to Afghanistan. He was a psychiatrist, trained to help heal military personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from war zones. Yet, this man was so traumatized by the trauma he heard about, he couldn’t face the prospect of actually witnessing it first-hand. His former patients are no doubt reevaluating everything he ever said and wondering why on earth the military was still employing him.

Hasan’s former colleagues in the psychiatric departments should also be doing a little navel gazing. This is a man who as part of his medical residency program wrote a thesis on “Whether the War on Terror is a War on Islam” - not the best guy to be counseling wounded soldiers returning from waging war in the Middle East. Yikes. This glaring lack of response from fellow doctors to Hasan’s increasingly erratic behaviour is a major stain on the reputation of the mental health profession.

Major Hasan didn’t fit in. No kidding. He refused to participate in such minor social norms as being in the same photograph with a woman. Isn’t the military supposed to be a command organization? You do what you’re told! Maybe Hasan skipped basic training, or was too busy in the hospital and missed the memo on military “corporate culture”. Regardless, wearing traditional Arab garb in the heart of the bible-belt while living on a military base is a sure-fire way to be alienated.

Know for his ardent anti-war, pro-Islam stance, Major Hasan fought very hard to be released from his military contract. Why didn’t the Army let him resign and then forward his file to the FBI for follow-up?? Medical services in the military are reportedly stretched thin, but to retain a doctor unwilling to follow orders and terrified of treating soldiers in a combat zone is a huge liability.

The absurd irony is that Major Hasan, recently promoted from Captain, had also just completed a fellowship in Disaster and Preventative Psychiatry. Little did he realize he was the disaster and those around him should have practiced a little more preventative medicine.