The antics of Charlie Sheen have been in and out of the spotlight for decades now. What's different about today's center spotlight media chokehold is that his previous escapades were somehow managed or manageable.
Legendary stories of sex, drugs and violence perpetuated by Charlie, hard to ignore, would surface and disappear. With too much money to be lost by those benefiting from his fame, handlers and PR people must have undoubtedly worked overtime behind the scenes, practicing safe and effective damage control.
But Charlie is having none of it, no longer. Offering no apologies for living a life the way he sees fit, regardless of how unconventional that life may be, he's bulldozed his way into the public eye and seems intent on staying there.
Freedom to live as one chooses is the benchmark of living in a democracy. If looked at a certain way, Charlie is simply living his unique American dream, and to him, this can be summed up by the simplicity of his oft-repeated mantra of "winning."
A lot of mean things are being said about him. To some he's sad and pathetic; to others, the greatest thing on Earth. Wherever you fall on this spectrum, how he acts and how others react to his actions - this can be a great springboard for discussion.Contradictions abound.
Certainly there is something admirable about breaking loose from the machine, at considerable risk to an already deeply flawed public image and just kind of hanging out there on your own. How far he is going to distance himself from the PR machine, though, is questionable to some. Exhausting the talk show circuit and brazenly thrusting his unorthodox personal life on the public, not only painting with excessive detail a world where multiple partners are porn stars and recreational drug use is SOP, he not only wants it all out in the open as an idealistic, desirable and healthy way of living but he wants us to buy into it.
Not too sure how the notion of his life as an example and aspiration will be swallowed by a public brought up to chase an American ideal of a balanced and healthy functioning family unit where simple pursuits like homeownership, putting children through college, achieving a satifying career and being financially sound enough to enjoy a couple vacations a year are the norm. During a confusing political time and a struggling economy where these time-honored traditions and pursuits are becoming more and more difficult to achieve for so many, only time will tell how all this will pan out.
If anything, Charlie Sheen is offering a source of entertainment to some, a pretty standard text book example of schadenfreude. As cruel as this phenomenon can be, maybe Charlie doesn't truly see it this way, if he's as self-actualized as he wants us to believe.
Legendary stories of sex, drugs and violence perpetuated by Charlie, hard to ignore, would surface and disappear. With too much money to be lost by those benefiting from his fame, handlers and PR people must have undoubtedly worked overtime behind the scenes, practicing safe and effective damage control.
But Charlie is having none of it, no longer. Offering no apologies for living a life the way he sees fit, regardless of how unconventional that life may be, he's bulldozed his way into the public eye and seems intent on staying there.
Freedom to live as one chooses is the benchmark of living in a democracy. If looked at a certain way, Charlie is simply living his unique American dream, and to him, this can be summed up by the simplicity of his oft-repeated mantra of "winning."
A lot of mean things are being said about him. To some he's sad and pathetic; to others, the greatest thing on Earth. Wherever you fall on this spectrum, how he acts and how others react to his actions - this can be a great springboard for discussion.Contradictions abound.
Certainly there is something admirable about breaking loose from the machine, at considerable risk to an already deeply flawed public image and just kind of hanging out there on your own. How far he is going to distance himself from the PR machine, though, is questionable to some. Exhausting the talk show circuit and brazenly thrusting his unorthodox personal life on the public, not only painting with excessive detail a world where multiple partners are porn stars and recreational drug use is SOP, he not only wants it all out in the open as an idealistic, desirable and healthy way of living but he wants us to buy into it.
Not too sure how the notion of his life as an example and aspiration will be swallowed by a public brought up to chase an American ideal of a balanced and healthy functioning family unit where simple pursuits like homeownership, putting children through college, achieving a satifying career and being financially sound enough to enjoy a couple vacations a year are the norm. During a confusing political time and a struggling economy where these time-honored traditions and pursuits are becoming more and more difficult to achieve for so many, only time will tell how all this will pan out.
If anything, Charlie Sheen is offering a source of entertainment to some, a pretty standard text book example of schadenfreude. As cruel as this phenomenon can be, maybe Charlie doesn't truly see it this way, if he's as self-actualized as he wants us to believe.
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