The Hypocrisy Of It All

I don't think there's anything that bugs me more than hypocrites. Lately I've been experiencing more and more of this until my blood is about to boil. Case in point....Pat O'Brien, co-anchor of The Insider....a tattletale celebrity news show that spends most of its time talking about who's in rehab and who's out of rehab. Well, let's face it, rehab is the new AA lately. We've followed Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse and, more recently, Eva Mendez and Kirsten Dunst as they have entered "Club Rehab." These are usually the lead stories on shows like The Insider and Entertainment Tonight and then usually make the "Hot Topics" the next day on The View.

So last week, Pat O'Brien went into rehab. Yes, this is the same Pat O'Brien who was in rehab once before after leaving sexually explicit voicemail messages on a coworker's cell phone, while heavily intoxicated. He then poured his heart out in a primetime TV special with Dr. Phil, apologizing to his family and coworkers for the pain he's caused. I'm sure his wife wasn't thrilled when she listened to the tapes of those calls. While I have no problem with him entering a rehab facility again, my problem lies with these same shows that don't make this a news story. It's all very hush hush with Donnie Osmond filling in for Pat O'Brien....yet they never say why.

Today, I was watching Oprah and she had the entire cast of The Cosby Show returning on her stage, on a set designed exactly like the old Cosby living room. They all looked great and most of them have become very accomplished. And then, via satellite, we get rewarded with the great "Bill Cosby", who appears with his holier than thou attitude passing himself off as father of the year. This is the same Bill Cosby who recently settled, out of court, a sexual harassment suit. One might say that the suit was not valid but then, how does one explain, the dozen or so other women who came forward with the same story. I just don't know how people can still fawn all over Cosby when they know darn well what he's done and, reportedly, has been doing so for years. He puts himself out there as such a family man and I just wonder how all those fathers, of the girls he reportedly sexually harassed, feel about him.

Recently, in the Philadelphia area, we had a news anchor, Alycia Lane, suspended for allegedly assaulting a NYC police officer. This would be the same, recently divorced, Alycia Lane who sent several emails and bikini clad photos of herself to a married NFL network anchorman. Unfortunately, these emails and photos were intercepted by his wife, who then fired off a scathing email of her own to Lane. No hypocrisy involved here but the hypocrisy lies in the fact that Channel 3 News, WCAU, went on like nothing had happened and, when she no longer appeared as the nightly news anchor, they didn't even announce that she had been suspended. Isn't this news? Why wasn't it reported?

Why are all these celebrities, who have power, barred from having their own stories reported and talked about? They seem to protect their own yet everyone else is fair game. So these were my ruminations on a day where the snow is falling and my car, which is supposed to be very upscale, doesn't work in the snow.