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Christopher Reeve: Hero?
First off, I hate Katie Couric. She’s a self serving fraud not to mention a plain ol’ bad interviewer. 99% of her “questions” begin with “I know that…” leaving the interviewee to merely agree with what she just said.
Anyway, she led her segment off this morning by calling Christopher Reeve a hero? Huh? Hero? What for exactly? Geesh, every other morning, they let us know a body count from Iraq but she doesn’t ever feel compelled to bless those guys with the label of hero? You know, the guys that put their lives on the line for a cause they may or may not believe in. But Couric’s low voice sad “praise” was just to bookend her own “admiration” for him as evidenced by her oft repeated personal interviews with him.
But what gives with sucking up to Reeves? Here’s a guy who was living a pretty good life…a life that most people would never have. Then he had an accident. Suddenly, he’s a “hero” because he opens a foundation and goes on the road to fight for a cure? Excuse me? Did he give two sh**s about paralysis before his own accident? So he wanted to walk again. Who wouldn’t? He just had a little “clout” to have his own name in the spotlight and get some attention to this “cause.” Don’t you think “Joe Blow” from nowhere USA was trying to do the same for years before Reeves unfortunately joined that club? For my money, Reeves (or anyone else) would be a real “hero” if they take on a cause like this without having any personal stake in the outcome. You know, like those soldiers that Bush and Co. have sent out to die in Iraq.
Yeah, it’s unfortunate what happened to Reeves. And his family. I wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on anybody. So this isn’t a rant against him as such as much as against all the “tributes” toward him just because he was a famous actor. ACTOR. For every lament given to Reeves in the next week, it would be nice to see the same go 10 fold to all the true heroes who actually put their own lives on the line everyday.
The following is a rant from another guy on the net who feels A LOT stronger against Reeves than most. I’d link to it but I’ve cleaned up the language for the forum here. While I’m not certain that I agree with absolutely everything he says, I do think that his statement has some merit at least in general terms as to the way society prioritizes who will be “special” and who won’t be.
Update (10-11-04): Christopher Reeve passed away October 10, 2004 due to heart failure. The title to this article was inappropriate given this tragic event, so I changed it:
Christopher Reeve is was an ###hole.
For those of you who don’t know, Christopher Reeve is the guy who played “Superman” in all four coma-inducing movies during the 80’s. Before I even get started about his injury, I’d like to point out that “the curse of Superman” is bull####, and I’d love nothing more than to punch the guy who came up with it. Just like the E! True Hollywood Stories “curse of The Little Rascals,” it’s much publicized Hollywood trash. Half the time they try to pass off a tragic event due to a “curse,” it turns out that the actors died at the age of 86. Yeah real tragic, dumb###. An actor got murdered or paralyzed after living a healthy youth? Excuse me while I $$$$ myself in awe at the mysterious power of the curse.
In 1995 “the curse” struck Reeve as he was riding a horse called “Eastern Express.” The horse was running around, trying to get the gangly ###hole off of his back when he finally came to an abrupt stop before a jump, leaving Reeve’s #### in ruins. Reeve became paralyzed from the neck down after the accident (more like conspiracy, another reason to add horse to the dinner menu).
Why is Reeve an ###hole?
Simple: because he’s selfish. Reeve didn’t give a #### about paralysis before his accident, but now that he’s paralyzed, suddenly he opens up a paralysis foundation and cares about the plight of cripples? Where was his foundation in ’95 when he played the role of a man with spinal cord injury? Sure, some of you might argue that he’s doing a good thing by bringing attention to paralysis, but the underlying message being sent here is that nobody gives a #### about cripples until a celebrity becomes one.
What really p####s me off about Reeve is the sheer arrogance. Look up a Reeve biography and you’ll find praise like “he has now found new meaning in life.” Let me tell you something: any time you find new meaning in life because of a debilitating injury, your “old” life didn’t have much meaning. Paralysis could strike anyone at any time, and if you’re living your life in such a way that all your goals require the use of your arms and legs, then your life probably doesn’t mean much to begin with. I’m sure people who were born paralyzed don’t appreciate being told that their lives “have meaning too,” as if they need affirmation from people who spend most of their lives working to pay off stupid bull#### like sports cars, expensive houses, and other junk that they don’t need.
The “still living life to the fullest” doctrine p####s me off even more because you can almost hear a voice in your head that finishes off the sentence with “…as a cripple.” What does it mean to “still live life to the fullest”? Why should it require any extra effort or energy, or the addition of the word “still” in front if you were living your life “to the fullest” to begin with? What can physical mobility afford you that pure thought can’t alone? It’s so gracious of Mr. Reeve to acknowledge that you can “still” live a meaningful life, even as a cripple. I’m sure that people who struggle with paralysis every day are exuberant at having someone champion their cause, it’s just too bad that Reeve is in all likelihood doing it because he cares about himself first and foremost. Would he have opened up a paralysis foundation before the accident? Doubtful. Of course, we can never know for sure, but the fact remains that he didn’t open up a foundation before the accident, and he poured his heart and soul into research afterwards, so the only conclusion that can be made is that he’s doing it simply because he himself needs treatment.
The fact that he’s helping thousands of people as he helps himself is a side effect of his cure; not necessarily his intention. I have little doubt that Mr. Reeve would work as hard to find a cure for paralysis if he was one of only a hand full of victims, so I don’t think he deserves praise for this “good deed,” because if it was intentional on his part to help these people, he probably would have had a paralysis foundation before the accident occurred.
I didn’t have any beef with Reeve before his accident, but it’s the praise he collects for his selfishness that makes him an ###hole in my book. If tomorrow Reeve selflessly dedicated all of his time and effort–or even half of it–towards finding a cure for cancer or heart disease, he’d have my respect (not that he’s trying to earn my respect, but having my respect is an awesome privilege). Hell, he’d earn my respect if he just cut the condescending bull#### for a few minutes, such as this prize quote “I’ve noticed that there are very few roles for people in chairs… I would like to see people with disabilities featured sympathetically.” No s###? As opposed to all those other movies that show people with disabilities being demonized? Like it happens so often anyway. Why should people with disabilities be featured any more sympathetically than people without disabilities? If his goal is to live a normal life, how normal could his life be if all his future roles were “sympathetic”? Oh look, here comes the cripple, everyone act sympathetic regardless of the plot, because real life cripples never experience conflict or drama. If I were in a wheel chair, I’d want an ### kicking role where I would spend the entire movie running over people’s fingers and tossing old ladies off of cliffs, not some suck-a## sissy role where I’d sit around and cry like a p#$sy.
Before you send me email b#####ng about me picking on cripples, ask yourself the following question: why is it any more acceptable to pick on non-cripples? Sounds like discrimination to me. If you’re the type of person who would be offended by an article picking on Christopher Reeve without giving second thought to other celebrities I’ve picked on, chances are good that you’re racist*.
*Note: I know that “race” doesn’t have anything to do with being crippled. I’m just connecting the dots here people, quit emailing me.
930,356 People didn’t realize that Christopher Reeve was such a self-serving ###hole before reading this article.
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