I caught myself watching Donald Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” the other night. This show is trash – but in its best moments it gives us a glimpse into the way these “successful” people think about themselves and others. I thought there was a revealing moment when Trump was talking to celebrity welder and motor-enthusiast Jesse James.
Jesse James – In-Crowd Outlaw?
Personally I don’t know what to make of James. On the one hand he claims to be a representative of the “working class,” but on the other hand he has capitalized off of his name and his genetic link to a famous bandit from the wild west – and he has used that link to catapult himself into the limelight; resulting in his owning a slew of successful businesses including body shops and restaurants; and he is married to one of the most successful and powerful actor/producers in Hollywood, Sandra Bullock. So this whole “working class hero” thing leaves me feeling a little suspicious of the guy. But whatever – that’s not the point I am trying to make here.
The point I am attempting centers on Trump’s assessment of James. James managed to get himself into the final 4 on the show by working hard, keeping his head down, and not making himself a target for firing in the infamous “boardroom.” But Trump can’t figure James out because he isn’t particularly ambitious, he won’t use his celebrity connections to raise money for his charity, and he essentially didn’t raise a thin dime for the cause he claimed to represent. As far as I’m concerned, James failed completely to understand the point of the game he signed up for and in the process demonstrated a sort of blandness of personality. I found James to be ineffectual and basically a worthless player who was never in a million years going to win the game. But Trump can’t accept this because Trump believes, like many rich and famous people, that other rich and famous people are necessarily gifted in some special, supernatural way. Trump comes back time and again to this idea that “Sandra Bullock sees something in you, and because she is so successful, you must also be an especially gifted person.”
God Favors Me…
This is how rich and famous people justify their lives of wealth and privilege. I believe it is pathological. When they look around in a world filled with people suffering and scrambling just to get by, and they live in a penthouse surrounded by servants and sleeping on a mattress filled with thousand dollar bills, their every whim and desire is catered to, they have to justify this to themselves. The way rich people justify their wealth is to say to themselves: “there must be something innately special about me personally that has allowed me to be so successful.” Essentially they come to the conclusion that” “God must favor me. And conversely: “God must disfavor those who live in squalor and suffering.”
This is the Protestant work ethic. I think it is a sickness passed down through generations of Americans; and a testimony to greed, pride, and gluttony – three of the 7 deadly sins.
Pete Does it His Way
As a really interesting contrast to Trump and his pathological cronies – Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday was on the same Sunday that the Celebrity Apprentice aired. I wonder how Trump rationalizes a man like Pete Seeger – a musician who has had a long and successful career without seeking the spot-light; Seeger is loved, and represents in his music and his life all the virtues that Trump would scoff and eschew. Trump equates winning with accumulating wealth and accolades. But Seeger is a successful person who has done it on his own terms and his own way. To my way of thinking Seeger is the winner, and Trump is sort of a pathetic loser. He’s got this over-blown ego, can’t maintain a relationship to save his life, and he doesn’t have a wit of taste or class. He has to know deep down that no one really genuinely likes him – they just suck up to him because of his wealth and power. Aside from that, Trump has played by the rules of the game as it is laid out, while Pete Seeger has shown the true courage and creativity it requires to live a life that is unbounded.
I run into kids once in awhile who have placed a high level of personal value on material wealth – they brag about BMW’s and how they can “do whatever they want” because they have a lot of money. They’re living in an illusion and I feel badly for them. Material wealth comes with its own demands and chains. Success doesn’t have the first thing to do with how much crap we can accumulate.
madbob@madbob.com
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Racing, Reading, and Pro-Creation...
Something hit me like a freight train late on Sunday. It started brewing in my guts and then spun into my head. I couldn’t sleep, I was sweating and my head buzzed. My stomach was in complete turmoil and I spent several hours sitting on the toilet. Monday was hellish. The lack of sleep coupled with the fever and stomach cramps made work practically impossible. I came home at lunch time and slept for two straight hours – shivering and shaking under the covers. After the nap, I decided I’d mustered enough energy to head back into the office for a few more hours. The afternoon was better and once I made it home everything was fine. My stomach was calming down. Trish had a fire going and there was a pot of rice on the stove. I ate gentle foods, watched television and wondered at the strange foreign invader that had rampaged through my system and then disappeared as quickly as it had come on. This morning I feel just fine – a little bit tired, my stomach slightly uneasy – but a hundred times better than yesterday morning at this same time.
Saturday was a day of racing. The 50-1 long-shot “Mine That Bird,” ridden by jockey Calvin Borel, took home the roses at the 135th Kentucky Derby. Borel’s post-race interview bought me to tears as the ever-emotive 42-year old with Cajun roots spoke of his deceased parents and how proud they would’ve been if they were there to see their son have success in the greatest race of the year.
That same evening Nascar superstar Kyle Busch took the checkered flag at the Richmond 400 on the evening of his 24th birthday. Busch is only the second Nascar driver to ever win a race on his birthday – the other is Cale Yarborough, who accomplished that feat not once, but twice during his illustrious racing career. By the time you read this the Darlington 500 will be in the books.
Sweet Thursday
Speaking of books I stumbled across a John Steinbeck novel called “Sweet Thursday” the other day. This is a sequel I never knew existed to one of my all-time favorite Steinbeck books “Cannery Row.” The story picks up on the adventures and exploits of the characters who inhabit Monterey’s cannery row. It is a good, fast read and I found myself laughing out loud and even shedding a few tears when it was over.
What’s in a Name?
I also saw a fantastic film over the weekend called “Rachel Getting Married.” Trish picked it up and I have to say, when I saw the title and that it starred Anne Hathaway I rolled my eyes and almost thought out loud: “chick flick.” But this couldn’t have been further from the truth! The movie turns out to be a tense drama about a self-centered addict sister named Kym who gets out of rehab to attend her sister Rachel’s wedding. Her reprieve from rehab takes everyone off-guard and over the course of the film the complex, intertwining circumstances that lead all the character to where they are now are revealed in layers. It is a nail-biter from start to finish. I really think this is one of the best films I have seen ever, and frankly I am perplexed by the film’s title. It doesn’t represent anything about the film. I don’t know what it could’ve been called – but it feels almost like they got to the end of the process and then just sort of said “call it whatever.” Maybe they’d lost faith in the film. I don’t know – but it is good. Check it out if you’re looking for a really provocative glimpse into a well-intentioned but extremely flawed family.
The Male Birth Control Injection
Apparently science has come up with an injection that temporarily sterilizes men in such a manner that they could go off the injection and father children if that was their desire. Personally I would’ve been all for this back when I was a free and single man. Right now I have no such worries or issues – I’ve opted for an even more effective and permanent solution to the problem of pro-creation. But hey – I’m all for more birth control in this here over-populated world of ours.
Isn’t it funny – we have on the one-hand all these folks going to incredible, expensive measures in order to pro-create: surrogacy, in-vitro fertilization, etc.; and then we have all these other folks who seems to pro-create at the drop of a hat. It feels like there is an answer in there somewhere and that it starts with an “a” and ends with “doption,” but who am I to say?
madbob@madbob.com
Saturday was a day of racing. The 50-1 long-shot “Mine That Bird,” ridden by jockey Calvin Borel, took home the roses at the 135th Kentucky Derby. Borel’s post-race interview bought me to tears as the ever-emotive 42-year old with Cajun roots spoke of his deceased parents and how proud they would’ve been if they were there to see their son have success in the greatest race of the year.
That same evening Nascar superstar Kyle Busch took the checkered flag at the Richmond 400 on the evening of his 24th birthday. Busch is only the second Nascar driver to ever win a race on his birthday – the other is Cale Yarborough, who accomplished that feat not once, but twice during his illustrious racing career. By the time you read this the Darlington 500 will be in the books.
Sweet Thursday
Speaking of books I stumbled across a John Steinbeck novel called “Sweet Thursday” the other day. This is a sequel I never knew existed to one of my all-time favorite Steinbeck books “Cannery Row.” The story picks up on the adventures and exploits of the characters who inhabit Monterey’s cannery row. It is a good, fast read and I found myself laughing out loud and even shedding a few tears when it was over.
What’s in a Name?
I also saw a fantastic film over the weekend called “Rachel Getting Married.” Trish picked it up and I have to say, when I saw the title and that it starred Anne Hathaway I rolled my eyes and almost thought out loud: “chick flick.” But this couldn’t have been further from the truth! The movie turns out to be a tense drama about a self-centered addict sister named Kym who gets out of rehab to attend her sister Rachel’s wedding. Her reprieve from rehab takes everyone off-guard and over the course of the film the complex, intertwining circumstances that lead all the character to where they are now are revealed in layers. It is a nail-biter from start to finish. I really think this is one of the best films I have seen ever, and frankly I am perplexed by the film’s title. It doesn’t represent anything about the film. I don’t know what it could’ve been called – but it feels almost like they got to the end of the process and then just sort of said “call it whatever.” Maybe they’d lost faith in the film. I don’t know – but it is good. Check it out if you’re looking for a really provocative glimpse into a well-intentioned but extremely flawed family.
The Male Birth Control Injection
Apparently science has come up with an injection that temporarily sterilizes men in such a manner that they could go off the injection and father children if that was their desire. Personally I would’ve been all for this back when I was a free and single man. Right now I have no such worries or issues – I’ve opted for an even more effective and permanent solution to the problem of pro-creation. But hey – I’m all for more birth control in this here over-populated world of ours.
Isn’t it funny – we have on the one-hand all these folks going to incredible, expensive measures in order to pro-create: surrogacy, in-vitro fertilization, etc.; and then we have all these other folks who seems to pro-create at the drop of a hat. It feels like there is an answer in there somewhere and that it starts with an “a” and ends with “doption,” but who am I to say?
madbob@madbob.com
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