Thought I’d Get All the Controversy Out of the Way At One: So, Racial Weirdness at Sears, and the Tiger Woods Scandal
So, I’m still swamped with this freelance project (launching
soon!), my regular job, writing a proposal for a possible book project, and
trying to manage Los Angeles-related things remotely, as we’re still in Carmel
and will be for the rest of the holidays (with the exception of next week, when
I’ll briefly be in New York for three days).
Was I going to rest during December?
Yeah, not happening yet.
Anyhoo, the place where we’re staying has basic cable but no
DVR, so we’ve been watching regular “with commercials” tv lately, and I just
wanted to comment on this Sears “Black Friday” series, which I think is totally weird. Maybe it’s because I do marketing
and advertising for my job, but am I the only one who has noticed that the ad
agency that made this series is attempting to thread the “diversity” needle by
employing a multi-ethnic cast of actors, which results in some curious dialog
when two African-American actors have to say to a Caucasian actor “is this
where we get the Black Friday deals?”
You be the judge.
I laughed out loud when I saw this the first time, and then I looked the series
up on YouTube and was equally entertained to see that it’s just as awkward when
it’s a Caucasian couple acting the African-American Sears guy “Hey, isn’t it
Black Friday?”
Nope, Sears, it just sounds weird no
matter WHO says it. It probably would
have been better to just go a different direction and use “Door Busters” or
some other term.
Also, regarding Tiger Woods cheating on his wife: I’m not trying to be anti-man here, but if
you think it is possible for a man to have that much money and that much power
and that much a*$ thrown his way on a regular basis and totally ignore it, you
are out of your mind. I don’t care if
he is the greatest golfer in the world—this is an inhuman amount of temptation
for any man, and I do not think it is possible for them to turn it down again
and again. You might not agree with me
on this, but I basically think men are exerting all the self-control they can
muster when they enter into regular marriage, which goes against their basic instinct
to have sex with any and every woman they see.
Being “married” takes away a certain amount of this circumstantial
temptation, as it takes them out of the realm of singles bars, puts them at
home with families, etc. But, come on—marry
a guy who has unlimited money and people to cover for him, who enjoys the
continually intoxicating power of success and people fawning over him, and is
always expected to be perfect? Come
on. It doesn’t matter if you’re a
Swedish supermodel, or Jerry Hall, or any of the other people who have married rock stars or famous actors or athletes over the years. These men are only human. Sooner or later the temptation is
going to get to them. I’m not saying it’s
right. I am saying, though, that there
seems to be a different set of rules for
the rich and powerful, so I don’t know why we’re getting all bent out of shape
when Tiger Woods does what ANY man would do in that situation. I’m just being honest, and it’s totally okay
if you disagree with me. But, listen, if
Tiger Woods can’t do it, no one can.