Not just another Former Child Star
For those of you that live in Sydney, there’s a screening of Such A Resounding Silence on Monday, 16th of September 2024.
Jennifer Byrne, Jean Kittson & Grace Tame will be special guest speakers.
The cost is only $35 which includes light refreshments pre-film (5.45 to 6.20) and post film. The event will start sharp at 6.30.
Click the link below to get your tickets.
People of Tasmania!
No Laughing Matter is having a screening of Such A Resounding Silence. It’s a documentary about incest, and yes, it will trigger all the feelings, but it’s really good.
I’m so glad people are talking about incest, and making movies about it. Nothing changes till it’s out there and people acknowledge it. I saw it in Sydney, and I truly hope people go see this in every city.
The Hobart screening will be opened by Australian of the Yea, Grace Tame.
Get your tickets here: https://events.humanitix.com/SUCH-A-RESOUNDING-SILENCE-HOBART-SCREENING
Holy Shit. I just watched Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99.
That shit was out of control.
The young people were insane, and the old people tried to pin it on them, but there was some very good points about how this was the era of the misogynistic frat bro movies, with American Pie at Number 1, and all the heavy metal music. All the dudes there was watching all these films about slutty girls and getting laid, and thinking they were entitled to any piece of ass that they wanted. Music was about anarchy.
But who was making those movies? Who was writing those scripts, and funding those films? Who were the producers of the record labels signing these bands who were all about anger and violence?
It wasn’t Gen X. It wasn’t the kids at the festival. It was those old dudes who decided to cash in on the fame of the Original Woodstock, but make a bunch more money out of it.
I get it. You’ve got to make money. No one is putting on a concert of that size out of the goodness of their hearts, to spread peace and love, and not want to make some cash from it. But it appears they got super greedy, trying to make up for their mistakes from ’98, and just gave zero fucks, or were too high to realize what they were doing.
Younger people looked at the lineup, and tried to warn them that this was going to become a frenzy of hopped up idiots, but the old people, who didn’t even know who some of the bands they were signing were, didn’t care. The Boomers were just in their own little bubble, and just fucked it all up.
Then there was the bands. Some of them totally understood the situation, and put their own egos aside, and tried to calm the crowd. There are others who gave zero fucks, and just whipped them up into an even bigger frenzy. Looking at you Limp Bizkit and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Also, why was Flea completely naked? Not even a cock sock?
You know we’ve changed as a society because he’d be arrested if he did that on stage today.
I imagine every single one of the women at that concert are the reason we now have over protective parents, shielding their daughters from predatory men. Why we’re teaching our sons to be better people. Why we’ve moved towards demanding respect. Society swings like a pendulum, and the late 90’s were such a shit time for women. Our mothers had tried so hard for feminism and equality, and then it was like powerful men could smell it, and feared it, and pushed back through popular culture, to make women feel like they were being free and equal, but they were really undermining us by making us into objects again.
There’s always a struggle. Each time women get a vote, men try to push us back. Men went off to war, women stepped up to take care of literally everything. Farming, building, infrastructure. Then the men came home, and women were expected to just go back into the kitchen. Like they hadn’t just been out there, quietly getting it done. Now they had to not only step back, quietly and humbly, but they had to take care of those men who were all both physically and mentally injured.
This documentary while disturbing on so many levels, with vision of women being assaulted, Rome literally burning, reminds me of just how far we’ve come this cycle.
We’ve had #MeToo and TimesUp. We’ve had women’s marches. Women in Pussy Hats. We’re coming so far. Now the old white men are trying to push back, trying to change laws, and our rights. Trying to regulate our bodies again. Taking away access to abortion, while not providing health care, or funding. Trying to push us back into the kitchen again.
It’s important that women keep fighting. That they keep standing up. That they don’t let a bunch of dudes get wild and out of control and burn it all to the ground again. We need to be better than the generation who served us this nonsense.
Prince Philip died today, and among the outpouring of grief, was a surprising amount of hate, which made me think about the things people like to hate each other over.
The last couple of years we’ve had the #BLM movement, #MeToo and now #StopAsianHate. There’s been a bunch of other hashtag movements in there, as if human kind is going to suddenly change its ways because of a viral thing on Twitter.
Just like Kay says in Men in Black, “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet.”
People are also alternately peace loving creatures, and horribly violent. People have hated other people for their color, their religion, their clan or their last name for millennia. People have fought wars over chosen deities since they were invented. They’re still doing it. People like to pretend it’s only still happening in places like the middle east, but as brief ago as the 90’s, the Catholics and Protestants were blowing each other up in the middle of the street in Ireland.
The 90’s also brought us the Bosnian War. There was raping, ethnic cleaning, some genocide. People fighting over land and religion.
Myanmar is having a conflict right now. Hopefully it won’t be like their last genocidal campaign, but people are people, and a lot more people will probably die before it’s resolved.
Between wars, conflicts, and genocidal campaigns, we’ve got mass murders, gang warfare, serial killers and various other forms of hate happening around the world.
On a smaller scale, people from NSW make fun of QLDs, people from Melbourne shit on people from Sydney.
Basically, humans aren’t nearly as peace loving as we like to pretend to be. Or maybe, as we aspire to be.
We’ve had periods of enlightenment. Times where people have collectively simmered down, and tried really hard to be cordial to each other. Times when peace and civility reigned. We like to cling on to those times, and I think that’s part of the appeal of shows like Brigerton. There’s sex and gossip, but people are generally well mannered, even if they are being forced to marry people they’d rather not.
Social media is a mixed bag when it comes to how we show our humanity. I think it really depends on who you follow, as to what you see, but that’s where we can create change.
If you’re following a bunch of people who are happy, cheerful, who spread love, you’re likely to feel that joy yourself, and will in turn pass it on.
If you’re an unhappy person, who follows a bunch of other unhappy people who spout hate, you’re going to live that. You’re going to pass it on. If all your friends are racist, you’re probably going to learn to be racist. If your friends are all believers in everyone being equal, you’re more likely to get the message that we should all love not only others, but ourselves.
And this is where it really matters. It’s how people feel about themselves that they then project out onto others in the world.
Right now people are focused on Asian hate. We’re listening to people of Asian descent talk about the hate and predjudice they’re experiencing. Before that it’s was black people. Before that it was people who had been sexually assaulted.
They’re ALL valid, and we should absolutely listen to everyone who speaks up. But I want people who feel like they’re being picked on to know that they’re not alone. They’re not being picked on more, or less, than anyone else.
At some point, we’ve all been targeted. Redheads get called Ranga, which still seems to be acceptable, even though you’re comparing them to a primate, which is completely taboo when it comes to comparing a black person and an ape. It’s accepted to make fun of short people, but not actual little people. At 4’11, or 150cms, I’m not legally a little person, but I’ve heard every short joke imaginable. Same as when I was a blond.
Australia has always enjoyed tall poppy syndrome, which is also a form of hating someone different from you. But it’s ok to punch up, so it’s accepted. Rich or successful people apparently don’t have feelings, so it’s totally OK to call them names, or send them threats, or physically assault them in the street. People shit on actors and models all the time, because they’ve chosen a public life, so they’re inviting the hate.
Anyone who speaks up about sexual assault deserves hundreds of pages of stuff written about them, calling them names and suggesting threats of harm, because they spoke up.
When I was an exchange student, people in Honduras assumed I was an American, and threw racist insults at me for that.
At all parts of my life, I’ve had people pick on me, or insult me, or send me threats, because of who or what other people thought I was. Notice I didn’t say because of who I was, but because of who the other person thought I was. I say that, because if people actually know someone, they don’t hurl that kind of hate. (Well, sometimes they do, but it’s not generally racist or religious type stuff)
When people target you because of something shallow and superficial like race, hair color, height, the clothes you wear, it actually says very little about you, and a whole lot about them.
People have always felt small and inferior, and they try to make themselves feel better by throwing shade on someone else. It’s a very temporary form of making yourself feel better though, so they have to do it more and more. Eventually, they can just become a hateful person. But while they see that hate directed outwards, it’s really just directed inwards.
If some middle class white person makes fun of your because of your culture, they’re probably just jealous, because let’s face it, white people don’t really have a whole lot of culture to cling to. While many places have kept their traditional food and dress, white people keep updating themselves, and nobody (except the Irish with Riverdance) is going around holding onto the waltz or wearing fancy dresses while sipping high tea. There’s nothing wrong with constantly updating yourself, and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying your traditions, they’re just different, and people should accept and embrace that. It goes both ways though. While many cultures have embraced modern western culture, westerners are chided for “appropriating” other cultures. This is just creating more divide and hate. Instead of claiming its appropriation, maybe see it as cultural appreciation. Just like it’s OK for a young Japanese person to wear 501’s and converse, it should be Ok for a white person to don a yukata by the pool.
If everyone assumed other people came from a place of good intent, instead of thinking their being hated on, there would be more fun banter, and less cold insults.
Instead of thinking people are picking on me for my height, I co-opted the name Shrimp, and I see that people are engaging with me. I AM short, there’s nothing I can do about it. But I can choose to not be angry when someone mentions it. If someone is being obviously hurtful about it, I ignore it. I know it’s not really about me, they’re just looking for something to start something with, and that’s an overly obvious choice. I think it’s lazy, and I can choose to not engage, or, turn it around. I don’t need to challenge it, but I can ask them something about themselves. Gauge how they react to that. Don’t insult them back. Just ask a gentle question. Sometimes that’s all it takes to make someone back down. If they’re looking for a fight, and you don’t give them one, they’ll move on. If they’re just looking for attention, you’ve given it to them, and now that you’re engaging them, they’ll see you as a person, not just a race, or religion, or whatever they’re insulting.
People are so many things, but we’re also simple, and we usually notice one thing first. That’s why we dress in Blue or Maroon, so we know instantly who to throw the insults to, and who are “own people” are.
Long rambling story short, keep telling your stories. Keep listening to other people’s stories. Sharing them lets people know that we’re all human, and that we all have feelings, and that we’ve probably all said something that hurt somebody else’s feelings. Don’t feel like you’re alone, or you’re the only person being targeted. Remember whether you’re black, Asian, redhead, white, muslim, jew, Christian, gay, straight, trans, tall or short, you’ve all had some idiot say something mean to you. Look outside your bubble, and see that everyone is getting hated on. Not to minimize your feelings, but to know that there’s other people out there that share what you’re going through. Stand up for them next time some idiot says something hateful to them.
If you want to see how far hate online goes, just look at the threads today over Prince Philip. It takes a special kind of self hating fuckwit to rejoice in the death of someone who was forced into exile as a child, and then went on to devote their entire life to their adopted country. He was basically a refugee, then a war hero, and then played second fiddle to his wife, and people are still insulting him online. Philip wasn’t always the most eloquent guy, and he put his foot in his mouth several times over the years, but realistically, who wouldn’t over the course of 99 years? I’ve said plenty of things I regret over my 44 years, but I try to learn from it, and become a better person.
So next time someone insults you, know that they’re just a deeply unhappy person who doesn’t know you at all. They’re just deflecting from their own deeply boring or sad life. You can choose whether to let them know you’re more than just that, or you can offer them a hug. It’s probably something they’re desperately needing. Social distancing seems to have made people worse, so that’s just a guess. 🤷♀️
Be kind to each other out there.
When we travel, we read travel guides, we look at media bulletins, and heed the advice of locals about what areas are safe, and what places we should avoid at night.
We protect our belongings, we don’t walk alone at night, and we watch for pickpockets and bad guys.
When people are attacked in places like Mexico, or even London, people’s reactions are to assume they were in a sketchy area, and they shouldn’t have been out there alone.
Other people wonder why they didn’t know that a place was dangerous, or that they should have taken precautions.
Some people are just naive, and can’t believe people would be abducted and murdered in a place like Mexico. They only look at Instagram, and don’t realize there’s a full blown narco-war going on, and more people are murdered there per day than the Middle East. They think violence won’t happen to them. They’re just there to drink and take pictures. On the other hand, so many Aussie’s won’t travel to America for fear of violence.
Now, Australia, and particularly Melbourne, like to think they’re world class cities.
They have culture, and coffee, and tourists.
So why do they think they’re exempt from all the problems that other world class cities have?
They know they don’t. Australians know that there’s a problem with crime against women. They know that the judicial system is pathetic, and judges keep releasing men who are a danger to women and children.
Why then, do women get so pissed off when they’re told that they need to be careful?
Yes, I understand that women shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden, but the fact is, the best person to take care of you, is you.
When you travel, you know that. You take all the precautions. You don’t get offended when the guide book tell you that. So why do you get so outraged when you’re told to do it at home?
Do you get upset when someone tells you the best way to avoid the measles currently going around is to get a vaccine? Or do you know that taking the responsibility of protecting yourself is up to you, and in your best interests?
It’s the same as violence.
You don’t have a team protecting you 24/7. The police aren’t always around. We know judges aren’t giving effective sentencing. We can’t even always rely on our friends to give us a ride home, or walk with us. That would be great, and we should watch out for each other more, but there’s times the only person you can rely on is you, and you shouldn’t get offended by that.
So take a self defense class. More importantly, be prepared to fight back.
We’ve got to stop being passive. Girls are taught to be nice, and gentle, and polite. You can be those things, but not once you’re in a situation where you think you’re in danger. Or even if a guy is just being a jerk. Once someone no longer treats you with respect, you no longer have to be the good girl.
If a guy is being a dick at a bar, tell him to fuck off. If he touches you, say something at the top of your lungs, and slap him away. It’s ok to cause a scene.
If you think you’re being followed, don’t walk through a park or dark alley. Start singing loudly, or call the police. At least have 000 ready to just hit dial.
If Australia would actually let women defend themselves, you could carry a weapon, or at least pepper spray. But they don’t. So improvise. Carry a travel size hair spray, or fly spray, and if someone gets too close, use it. Just spray it in their face, and run. It’ll give you a couple seconds head start.
I don’t buy the BS about not carrying a weapon because it can be used against you. People with bad intentions are going to hurt you anyway. You might as well have something to try defend yourself, or hurt them back.
Women absolutely have to stand up and fight. We have to stand together. We have to defend ourselves. We have to teach our sons so defend us too. Not all men are bad. Many are trying to help us. We need to make sure we’re raising good ones for the next generation too.
Stop being angry when someone tells you to protect yourself. Or funnel that anger into something productive, like a Krav Maga class. Fight for change to the laws. Campaign for tougher sentencing. Find out what items you can carry as self defense. Petition for better items to be made legal.
Stop getting defensive and angry at people telling you to defend yourself, and start getting angry at the system, by defending yourself.
Last night as I was scrolling the interwebs before bed, I saw something about Tori Spelling confirming that 90210 was going to make a comeback with all the original cast. I didn’t even open it, but I had that thought of “yet another 90’s show getting a reboot” and wondered whether that was something the world really needs or not?
But it must have caught the attention of something in my brain, because I woke up from a dream where we were having a very weird meet and greet in a pool, and I realized we were meeting all the new people for a Hey Dad..! re-make, but of course, Robert wasn’t there.
I woke up and it hit me, we could totally do a Hey Dad..! reboot, but make it a dramedy, or just a realistic comedy, about a family and friends dealing with the aftermath of a parent being sent to prison for kiddy fiddling.
It would actually be a very timely comedy. Right now we’re dealing with the aftermath of the Royal Commission, #metoo and of course our own personal experiences of sending one of our own to jail.
We could show all the shitty situations that arise from being someone who disclosed, or a family member of a pedo, all the awkward family get togethers, the trolls who think you made it up, the other friends who your dad molested, and basically show that even though it can be hard, that life can still be ok, and you’ll make it through.
We’ll make a show about how the show can still go on.
We could bring back the original cast, with the exception of the one in jail of course.
We’d have to have a new production team. Reilly got out of paying us residuals by saying he sold the rights, and sorry dude, I would never want to work with you again either, so I guess I’d produce it myself. Shrimptank Productions could finally start filming again. 👍 I’d make an awesome Executive Producer, and I’d never be an arsehole to a kid on set. Simone Buchanan has been directing lately, so she could direct or act, or be a double threat and do both.
I think it could be a winner. Everyone is doing re-boots, people are all obsessed by crime shows and podcasts, we’re in the midst of dealing with sexual assault as a society. It’s timely all around. Plus, we could all use the work. 😉
So what do you think? Should we get the cast back together? Which originals would you bring back, and who would you banish? Would you show it from the day dad went to jail, or once life has settled down a bit?
More importantly, now that the show name has been tarred, would you watch it again if it had the same name?
It’s funny how perception and reality can be two completely different things.
People perceive Israel to be this dangerous place, where you’re minutes from being struck by a bomb, and Australia to be this laid back beach paradise where everyone smiles and says no worries.
Reality though, as we see this week, is that our perceptions may be way off.
I have been to Israel three times. My husband works for an Israeli company, and he goes for a week at a time, and while he works, I go explore. I spend all day and some evenings wandering around, walking miles at a time. I’ve never been anywhere where I felt so safe to walk all over, or catch transport, or walk to a restaurant at night by myself. I love going back each time because I know I’m free to just relax and not worry about my safety.
Continue reading “Perception of safety”
I’m not sure what I was dreaming about last night, but when I woke up, my mind was caught up in that last day of court. The one where things didn’t go so well, and I knew that all of the country would know it. I was so distraught that the detectives called me later that evening to make sure I was ok. They were right to call. I was staring at a packet of pills.
It’s not often that I think about that day anymore. Since we won the case, that day has faded. With writing my book, it eased a little more. I got a little anxious around the high court appeal, but since Robert was told he’d had to finish out his sentence, I’ve been pretty damn happy.
I enjoy doing work campaigning for other victim’s rights. I enjoy messaging with people and answering their questions about the process of going to court, and the barrage of emotions they can expect. I like that I can switch off when I need to take a rest day from it all. Basically, I’ve been pretty great the last couple of years.
Then this week, we’ve seen the whole Kavanaugh/Ford saga play out. Living in the US, it’s pretty hard NOT to see what’s going on. I actually watched the proceedings live, because I wanted to be able to watch it myself, and make my own opinion on the matter, and not just listen to all the political propaganda and the bickering back and forth between my friends on FaceBook.
Let’s face it. This has truly divided the nation. When I first moved to the US, Democrats and Republicans were on opposite sides of the fence, but they still met in the middle for a BBQ. These days, there’s no friendly fun. They’re too busy throwing grenades over those fences.
I’m a centrist. I think both parties have good and bad. I think both make good points and terrible points. I don’t vote party lines, and I don’t swallow what one side says as gospel. I enjoy sitting right in the middle and looking critically at BOTH sides, and making up my own mind on an issue. I even enjoy playing devils advocate on many posts, asking people questions about why they think things, or ask them to look at things from the other side.
I think even if you do lean towards one party, it’s critical to still look at an issue and actually think about it. Just blindly following something because your friends do, or because the media tells you that’s the way it is doesn’t seem smart to me. The media used to tell us the news, and they also had an opinion column. These days, every journalists has an opinion, and wants to share it. I think it’s important to watch both CNN and Fox News, so you can see BOTH sides, and then know the truth is probably somewhere in between.
This brings me back to the SCOTUS hearing.
The Supreme Court Justice job is for life. One appointed, it’s a forever thing. Now, once on the Supreme Court bench, a judge is supposed to be impartial. They’re not supposed to lean Republican or Democrat, but people’s upbringing will shape them, and they’ll lean more conservative or liberal. Democrats are terrified that we’ll get in a judge who get’s rid of Roe v Wade, and I’m not sure what Republicans are scared of. Gay Marriage is already legal, and they haven’t made much of a fuss about anything else.
Trump selected a guy called Kavanaugh. Everyone hates Trump, and so it wasn’t a surprise that people were also going to hate his nomination. It’s also not a surprise that the Democrats were going to delay the nomination, hoping to hold off till after the election in November, hoping to get one of their own judges in there instead.
I honestly don’t understand why we need a Democrat or Republican judge when they’re supposed to be impartial, but whatevs.
I’m also not surprised someone in politics had some dodgy history. Let’s face it, most politicians are a little slimy, and we’ve all watched movies about privileged white kids in the 1980’s and know they’re not angels. They’re not all bad, but it’s shouldn’t be a surprise that high school kids got drunk and partied and took shit too far. If we’re honest, we’ve all got some skeletons in our closet that we probably didn’t write in our diary….
I am also not surprised that a woman was assaulted and didn’t report it at the time. I am not surprised by holes in a memory, or the ability to recall some things with laser focus and be total lost on other things. That’s how traumatic memories work. I am not surprised that other kids at a party that weren’t assaulted don’t remember the party. It was just another party to them. Your brain doesn’t hold on to insignificant events the same way it does for something like survival.
What I am surprised at, but probably shouldn’t be after my own dealings with the public, is the amount of hate being spewed at both sides. I had hoped that the #metoo movement might have taught both sides a few things, but it seems like it’s actually dividing people even more.
The Liberal side is screaming that they believe her. They don’t need proof, or witnesses, or to even hear her story. She said it, so it must be true.
The Republican side are saying she’s a liar. A crisis actor paid off by the Clintons. Her only job is to derail the SCOTUS nomination, and that the Libs don’t care if they destroy a man, as long as he doesn’t get the job.
Both sides are fighting back and forth, screaming at each other. All the people who associate with the party are fighting on Facebook and Twitter, telling people on the other side they’re horrible human beings, or they’re stupid, or wrong.
Meanwhile, I decided to just sit back and watch. I watched both sides attack each other. Then I watched both parties give their testimony at the hearing. I watched and listened.
I saw her tell her story. I saw both sides ask her questions. I saw them try to trip her up. I saw them try to rally behind her. I saw her try to answer questions while knowing the whole world was watching her, and I tried not to let my own memories of being questioned influence my judgement.
I watched him get in the chair. I saw his anger and emotion. I tried to think whether he was being hateful and defensive, or whether he was innocent and terrified and angry that he was being accused of something for a political agenda.
I watched as people on social media who had been victims assert she was either lying because she was too calm, or that they believed her because they had also been a victim.
I saw people claim he was too angry, and therefor was guilty. Others said he was angry because he was being falsely accused.
I watched as politicians on both sides claim that this wasn’t a court case, but then demanded both answer questions under oath. They’d say it was a job interview. Then say it was important testimony.
The whole thing was a complete shitshow. It was an embarrassment to both sides.
My takeaway from the whole thing was that it’s possible to be telling the truth, and also be a political victim.
Ford wrote to her political party, expressing concern over the SCOTUS nomination. The Senator held onto that information, on purpose, for political gain. They leaked her name, against her wishes. They then put her in a position where she had to testify with the entire world watching. They have taken a past trauma, brought it back to the surface, and then treated it like a tequila shot and added salt and lemon to it. They have made sure that she will now NEVER be able to move past it. It will forever be written history next to her name. She will spend the rest of her life with people bringing it up. Fellow victims will want to share their stories, others will always accuse her of lying. She will never get any rest from it.
Kavanaugh will also forever be remembered for this. It doesn’t matter whether he is innocent or guilty. If he didn’t do it, he still won’t be able to hold the job, because there’s too much contention. If he’s guilty, there’s still so may who will protest his innocence. There are psychologists who have stated that many adolescent males go through a period where they try to assert their sexual dominance in their teens and then once they go to college sort themselves out and aren’t predators. Then there are guys who are born rapey and stay rapey. I’m not sure which one he is.
I think it’s important that we find out if Kavanaugh tried to rape Ford, and if he did, he needs to be punished. I don’t think that a job interview is the place to do it. I don’t think that a room full of opposing politicians should be the ones asking questions, and I don’t think it needs to be done on live TV while the whole world is watching.
If I wake up remembering my worst day in court because of this, and reading about the millions of other women who have been triggered by watching this, I can only imagine the things that are going through the minds of the pair that are currently engaged in this battle. My heart goes out to both of them. Yes, I said BOTH of them. I feel for their spouses, their children, their friends.
Both parties have been used as political pawns.
If he is innocent, he has had his career and reputation ruined because the Democrats wanted to publicly destroy the Republican party. They could have done something about this weeks ago before he even got this far, and he could have been taken aside and charged by Maryland police. It would still have made news, and he wouldn’t have gotten the job, but it wouldn’t have been as spectacular for the Dems.
If she is telling the truth, she might eventually get her attacker charged, but at what cost? She has been used as a political tool. Instead of being empathetically listened to, and kept confidential like she asked, they decided to make her the face of this whole spectacle. They don’t care that she is getting death threats. They don’t care that she’ll have to move, or might not be able to continue her career. They don’t care that they made her publicly relive her worst memories. They pretend to care, but they’re too happy pushing her out there, too joyful in their act at bringing down the opposition. My heart aches for her. Millions of arm chair experts are picking her apart, trying to tie her to conspiracy theories, assessing whether she’s too emotional, not emotional enough, how much money she’s getting, who is paying her bills, and all the other bullshit.
Politicians need to get their shit together. They need to come together and work out what they have in common, instead of what divides them. They need to go back to having a BBQ in the middle. Regular civilians need to go back to being civil. We need to remember that we’re all friends and relatives, and we can have different beliefs and not be enemies. We need to go back to being able to debate and have civil discussions, and how to talk to each other, and how to listen to each other, not just put our fingers in our ears while yelling at the other side.
People need to learn how to take their bias cap off and watch something from an impartial standpoint. Learn how to put themselves in another person’s shoes, and see things from another point of view. People are so in need of being right, they don’t care if they’re wrong. They don’t care if they alienate people. They just want to live in their own bubble of confirmation bias.
It’s good to step out and engage with the enemy. You might find they’re not so bad. You might even find you make friends, and you no longer have to throw grenades over the fence.
The politicians will stop pandering to the extremes when people stop being out there. If the party is in the middle of the street, they’ll have to find their way in there too. They’ll have to start treating their constituents with respect, and not use them as political tools.
So please, be nice to each other. Look at each other as humans, not as a political party. Remember that you won’t change anyone’s mind insulting them or yelling at them. Grab a beer, have a conversation, and don’t try to rape anyone.
So this week I made a short YouTube video talking about the hoopla that occurred after Bert Newton’s Logies speech.
We all know Bert is old as dirt, and the Logie’s love to trot him out every year, which is fine. Bert is Bert, and we all know that.
But while Bert has kept the same jokes year after year, living in his little bubble, society around him has changed. Some of his dad jokes aren’t considered PC anymore, and social media lit up after his speech.
I found it interesting that more people were offended by him calling himself a “poof” than they were about his suggestion that his peers were “mentoring” behind locked doors. Looking around, it didn’t seem like any gay people were offended by him calling himself a poof, it was all the other SJWs who were offended on their behalf.
I had no beef with his calling himself a poof. Maybe he identifies as gay, or bi-sexual. Whatever.
I was more interested in people’s reaction to his comments about the “mentoring” which could be seen as inappropriate, on two levels.
Firstly, because you’re insinuating that your co-worker may have been dabbling in some sexual activities in the work place. Whether people think it’s consensual or not, when someone who is in a position of power offers to mentor someone, sexual activity is frowned upon. There’s a power balance there. Some people may have been mega fans and wanted to engage in sexual behavior, others might feel compelled to engage in sex acts. If we haven’t learned anything from Weinstein about power imbalances, then at least look to the military and see how they have policies about fraternization.
The second issue is making a suggestion like that about somebody who isn’t alive anymore to defend themselves. Maybe Kennedy would find it funny, maybe he wouldn’t.
But after my video went up, Peter Ford posted a part of it on The Morning Show and the Daily Edition. They only played a very small snippet, the part where I state that I am in no way whatsoever implying that Bert, Graham or Done Lane have ever done anything wrong in the past, but that I didn’t think it was a funny joke, and I didn’t think the reactions on social media were great. There was lots of people taking a stab at anyone who had said something negative about Bert’s speech, telling them to lighten up, get over it, or that they had no sense of humor.
It was then hilarious when I woke up and I had a bunch of people who had found my FaceBook page who decided to comment that I should leave Bert alone, mind my own business, and one peculiar comment, that my pink hat offended them….
So basically these people proved my point that they hate anyone who tries to stand up for victims of abuse, and worse, they can’t even have polite discussions or make a comment without going straight for a “fuck you” with no logical thoughts.
I always laugh when these people scream that they’re entitled to their opinions, while simultaneously telling me I’m not entitled to one.
So here’s the thing. I love discussion. I love debating. I love to hear other people’s opinions and stories, and exchanging ideas. It’s how we learn. I think the world would be an incredibly boring place if we all had the same opinion on everything.
But, if you want to comment, at least make an informed comment. Try actually watching the video before you run your mouth, or start screaming profanities. Otherwise, you just come off as an uneducated idiot, and nobody is going to take anything you say seriously.
I’d like to thank the woman who called me a “failed actress” today.
You’re right. I am “un-Australian” and no, I don’t always love Australia, or Aussie’s, or the group that you’re in.
Yes, I was a child actor. No, I don’t act anymore.
Maybe you missed it, but I left the highest rating sitcom in the country of my own choice.
You see, the lead actor was a pedophile, and I got tired of him. I also got tired of working in an industry where people knew what was happening, but decided they were OK with it, because hey, it’s TV, and it’s fine. Let the kid get molested as long as we keep getting our cheque.
So I left. The few times I tried to speak up, I was shut down. I was threatened especially by those in the industry.
Years later, I was asked to speak up about it. I didn’t want to, because I was now living happily in the US, away from people in the industry, and where I could work any job I wanted without someone pointing out that I “used to be an actress.”
But I did. I spoke up. Then I spent four years having people in Australia tell me I was a has been, a wanna be, an attention seeker, or making it up to be famous again.
I got death threats, I got constantly harassed, but in the end, it was worth it, because it turns out that guy molested 18 girls that the police knew of.
Meanwhile, I had joined a charity in the US that works to make sure no kid goes through what I did. I wrote a best selling book, that literally hundreds of people have messaged me to tell them about how much it helped them on their own journey.
My case is now used as a reference and set an important precedent.
I had actors in the US tell me they were following my story in Australia, and people were watching to see how it went. You’ll notice the #metoo movement started after Robert lost his high court appeal.
So yeah, you go ahead and call me a “failed actress”.
But I’d still like to thank you for reminding me why I don’t get homesick, and why I don’t go out of my way to hang out with other Aussie’s here in the US. It’s beautiful outside, and I was spending too much time on FB. That group was giving nothing back to me, it wasn’t helping me grow as a person, and it was cutting into the time I could have been doing something productive. (Like changing laws) It’s sad how superior some people feel, and when they bring their tall poppy syndrome with them.
So you can sit in there an listen to a bunch of unhappy people complain about the bread, the people, and ask the same three questions over and over.
I’ll be sun baking on the deck of my yacht, which I bought with the money I got from being such a failure…