Charlie Sheen: Hero?
So claims Brendan O’Neill:
Charlie Sheen is my hero. Not because he goes on five-day benders, takes binbags of drugs and cavorts with ladies of the night. That would be recklessly self-indulgent behaviour in anyone over the age of 21, never mind in a 45-year-old actor with a primetime TV job and a wife and children at home. No, he’s my hero because he refuses to allow his behaviour to be psychologised. He refuses to genuflect before the Oprahite altar of psychobabble and blame his antics on his “inner demons”. Instead he’s fighting like a terrier against experts’ attempts to brand him as “disordered” and in the process has made himself into a one-man army of resistance to the tyranny of therapy that has the twenty-first-century in its grip.
Easily the most shocking thing about the Charlie Sheen affair is not his recent debauched behaviour – Stop the press: Hollywood actor behaves hedonistically! – but rather the unstoppable march of a zombie-eyed army of therapists who want to diagnose Sheen from a distance as “mentally ill”. Every cod-psychologist in search of a headline, and increased business, is offering to write a prescription for Sheen. Under the headline “Addict or Bipolar? Examining the ‘Passion’ of Charlie Sheen”, Time magazine admits “it isn’t possible to diagnose patients at a distance”. And yet it proceeds to do precisely that, employing two experts to discuss whether Sheen is suffering from narcissistic personality disorder, bipolar mania, depression, anxiety or addiction.
In a TV interview, ABC’s Andrea Canning asked Sheen if he was bipolar. When he said “no”, and hinted that some people claim to be bipolar simply to excuse their erratic behaviour, she looked at him as if he was – in that other favoured phrase of the therapeutic industry – in denial. Even the brain-invaders at Psychology Today magazine have got involved, claiming that “the life and times of Charlie Sheen are a serious issue for us all”. Why? Because apparently he is in the grip of a “Mood Disorder” (I think we used to call this “being moody”) and his failure to deal with it contains a lesson for everyone: “When you’re in the depths of a Mood Disorder, you swirl in an ocean of mental, physical and spiritual chaos, [and] it’s only when you reach the safety of the shore that you realise just how dangerously ill you were.” How do we reach the “safety of the shore”? Through the therapeutic intervention and guidance of psycho-experts, of course! On the back of their pseudo-diagnoses of Mr Sheen’s alleged various mental illnesses, psychologists are cynically seeking to boost their own professions.
There is a grain of wisdom in this. But, despite his amusing pushback against the therapy crowd, Charlie Sheen is not my hero. Charlie Sheen is what happens when an Arthur Kade actually achieves success somewhere other than in his fevered mind. There is admittedly something amusing about watchng a guy prattle on about how he is simply better than everyone else — better brain, better heart, better constitution! — but when a guy is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, he starts to believe his own P.R. campaign. And indeed, measured by the shallowest criteria of success imaginable, Sheen is a raging success. Unimaginable wealth! Not one, but two porn stars, in house! All the 7-gram rocks of cocaine you can consume!
Measured by more sane standards, a guy whose children are carted away on Day 1, and starts a Twitter account proclaiming what a “winner” he is on Day 2, is the very definition of a miserable failure. Which is what makes the disconnect between reality and his self-perception so jarring, and yes, God help me, amusing. But it’s not laugh-out-loud funny. You’re always vaguely aware that, as he prattles on how he’s not bipolar, he’s a “bi-winner” — winning over here! winning over there! — that the person he’s trying to convince most is … himself.
I’m pretty much on board with Mr. Brendan. Something tells me Mr. Sheen will die happy with lots of toys and family about many many moons from now. I don’t think he’s about to spiral into a gutter of rage and financial problems like Mel Gibson. I think the kids were fine for now where they were. But they’ll be fine with mom too.
happyfeet (ab5779) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:12 amBrendan should try living with his hero for a few weeks and see if his opinion changes.
daleyrocks (ae76ce) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:13 amYeah, but Manson cornered that market 40 years ago.
To be sure, I think we tend to label far too many things in psychological terms, as if everything is a psychological disorder. But Sheen ain’t the proper flag-bearer for that cause.
Kman (5576bf) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:15 amalso I hope he rapes CBS for a kajillion dollars
CBS is holes.
happyfeet (ab5779) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:22 amCharlie Sheen should get together with Tom Cruise. Dynamite, bay-bee!
daleyrocks (ae76ce) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:30 amBrendan O’Neill is a Scientologist? Who knew?
Vinnie Barbarino (848837) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:33 amOn one of the afternoon talk radio shows, they had a mashup of Mel Gibson’s previous recorded rant and Charlie Sheen, just goes to show they weren’t acting
narciso (bf58f6) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:33 amthey really are that certifiable.
Emilio, on the other hand, got his pile and made a clean getaway.
Go figure.
Bigfoot (8096f2) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:37 amAnd the march of morality continues onward!
This is like living in a little town with Church Going Biddies ….
Torquemada (2a42d3) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:46 amof = on
Torquemada (2a42d3) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:48 amIf only “race-baiter” was in the DSM-V, we could diagnose Obama at a distance.
Brendan is spot on about the psychological castration of men before the feminist panel. If anything, Sheen is merely reacting to others who are judging him as if he sacrificed a kitten to Baal and ate its organs.
If only he could have clipped his balls and stuffed them in Denise’s purse, none of this would have happened, surely.
We’ve become a nation of self-congratulating eunuchs. So High-friggin-Five to everyone who plays it safe, and always ALWAYS gets his wife’s/girlfriend’s permission before they do anything.
I wonder what Kay Hymowitz (sp) would say about Sheen.
lulz (10b9bb) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:49 am“Charlie Sheen is my hero.”
You must have some pretty low standards, if that guy qualifies for herohood.
Dave Surls (6a2c64) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:50 amGreetings:
I’m afraid that I had major misgivings about the “Two and a Half Men” program even before Mr. Sheen decided not to, in the words of George Bernard Shaw, “keep his skeletons in the closet” but rather “make them dance”. I found the program to be problematic in its exposure of the once quite young actor to all kinds of sexual innuendo and banter and the depiction of two more “Stupid White Guys”, something of which today’s television programming has an enormous a surfeit. I suppose that the march of vulgarity through our media is largely unstoppable at this point, but it strikes me as peculiar that all these psycho and other analysts who have emerged from their offices find no real problem with the program itself.
11B40 (0af5f6) — 3/3/2011 @ 9:01 ami think we do psychologize too much. i agree to that extent.
But on the other hand, i really think that sheen is nuts. and those who think he might be bi-polar strike me as really credible right now. his mind is operating in a way that is just… abnormal. its all sad and i can only say i hope he pulls out of the tailspin.
ugh.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/3/2011 @ 9:08 amWe’ll see what Mr. O’Neill has to say on the day Sheen is found dead from an overdose or takes his predilection for beating up women to murderous excess.
Angeleno (4e9907) — 3/3/2011 @ 9:21 amWe’re looking at a cocaine addict who’s compounded his problem with way too much booze. I’ve seen it before, the symptoms are text book, the extreme arrogance, the obsessive self-aggrandizement, the ostentatious sexual exploits, the threatening behavior, and the violent physical outbursts.
Charlie Sheen is headed south, and he’s long past the mid-point in his death spiral. He no longer possesses the ability to save himself. Unless his father and his brothers intervene, Charlie is living on borrowed time. I give him a year, two at the most.
ropelight (ebd008) — 3/3/2011 @ 10:06 amI agree with ropelight, who states accurately that Charlie is living on borrowed time. Frankly, I want to see the guy flame out sooner, as I am tired of all of the attention this sick little man has generated. It’s so sweet when a Hollywood egomaniac gets his just rewards-think Mel, Mikey Jackoffson, and rottencrotch Lohan.
I still find it overly offensive that this dufus (Sheen)thinks himself deserving of 2-3 mil per TV show episode. There are millions of decent, hardworking Americans, who live per year on the amount of $ Sheen boy smokes up per evening. It’s time to hurt Hollywood’s bank wad, by boycotting their miserable filthy fare.
DakMan (ecf5f8) — 3/3/2011 @ 11:10 amCharlie Sheen defies consensus he’s like Justin Bieber
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/3/2011 @ 11:52 amThat’s not very fair to Bieber.
Yet.
Dustin (75f8e1) — 3/3/2011 @ 11:57 amPublicity stunt.
Bill M (14cfff) — 3/3/2011 @ 1:10 pmThe fact that we can’t tell the difference between statements made by Sheen and statements made by Gaddafi should count for something. (See the Guardian quiz).
Rochf (ae9c58) — 3/3/2011 @ 1:42 pmExactly, A.W.
People who cheer Charlie Sheen’s meltdown because it’s entertaining are the type of people who see a man on a ledge and shout “JUMP!”
L.N. Smithee (763601) — 3/3/2011 @ 1:58 pmCharlie’s cheerleaders remind me of the fools who cheered OJ in his white Bronco during the infamous “low-speed chase” many years ago. Same blithe stupidity.
Angeleno (4e9907) — 3/3/2011 @ 2:06 pmCharlie Sheen is like a living breathing Jerry Springer show, on steroids.
JD (2da347) — 3/3/2011 @ 2:12 pmYep. A true humanitarian who really tries to make this world a better place by improving the lives of the unfortunate. I mean look at the guy..he can’t stop helping people. Let’s see what has he done to be a hero?? Like a wuss he buys porn sluts beautiful cars ..I guess that would make him generous..the problem is its only to meet his own sexual needs 24 hrs a day. I think thats all I can think of..he parties and has sex. Nothing else. Great hero…ask him to pay your rent or share the hung=dreds of hokers he embedds??? I doubt the narcissistic selfish spoiled brat with a god complex would care. Do you idiots that worship him even know what he says about you???? Fans should just sit at home in their small homes and watch the show. Nice ego!
tom (e0c4cd) — 3/3/2011 @ 2:28 pm“Do you idiots that worship him even know what he says about you????”
tom – Do not judge him. We are all loving children of God.
daleyrocks (ae76ce) — 3/3/2011 @ 2:37 pmJesus loves us all, but Charlie is his favorite.
For my part, drugs and hookers are forgivable, it’s eight years of the West Wing that really burns my bisquit.
Say, why didn’t Charlie have the good grace to stage his meltdown back when his daddy was the President, to be the embarrassment that show so richly deserved?
papertiger (b417ca) — 3/3/2011 @ 2:58 pmpapertiger – I was laughing so hard I could barely type #26.
daleyrocks (ae76ce) — 3/3/2011 @ 3:06 pmHad never heard of Brendan O’Neill, so Patterico’s use of him here made me look him up. Lo and behold, another once-upon-a-time Trotskyist well along on the well trod trajectory to the other extreme, with a bit of the deliberately contrarian show-off thrown in. Perhaps that goes some way toward explaining his astounding defense of Charlie Sheen.
Angeleno (4e9907) — 3/3/2011 @ 3:29 pmI saw Charlie Sheen’s initial interview on Good Morning America Monday morning, before all the commentary started. My un-influenced view was that Sheen is showing the permanent after-effects of heavy drug use. I’ve seen those kind of herky-jerky body movements and fast talking in people before, and invariably they were drug addicts.
Unlike some of you, I actually like his TV show. It almost never fails to make me laugh out loud. Yes, it can be raunchy, and the characters are made to look like idiots, but that is true with almost any comedy. The show is crafted about as well as a sitcom can be, right down to the vanity cards at the end–which acknowledge and embrace the DVR.
norcal (b13c77) — 3/3/2011 @ 5:28 pmSorry for being off-topic. I’ve written a new blog entry on Brett Kimberlin. Feel free to chip in there or here if and when Patterico writes up any new related stuff.
Brett Kimberlin Admits To One Crime
Prepostericity (8005e4) — 3/3/2011 @ 6:32 pmI’d pay good money to see Charlie in a NC-17 type over the top movie. Like the Hangover, but with the pictures in the end credits acted upon in the movie. So would a bunch of my friends.
Jim (ad29d8) — 3/3/2011 @ 7:47 pmFactoid: Martin Estevez picked the name “Sheen” as his stage name as a mark of admiration for Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.
kishnevi (68db61) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:30 pmComment by Bigfoot — 3/3/2011 @ 8:37 am
Emilio still acts, but his main focus is now on producing and directing. So he’s still in the business, not just nearly as visible as he once was. In terms of acting ability, I would probably rate him the best of the family, and probably the best of the “Brat Pack”.
He also seems to have kept his sense of perspective. The story is that when one fan met him on the street and enthused that Men at Work was the funniest film of all time, Emilio commented that the fan must not have seen all that many films.
If one doesn’t believe in God, or an afterlife, then what is wrong with his lifestyle? Bill Maher is jealous because he can’t even buy hookers that look as good as Sheen’s. To the non-believer, this should be heaven. Why all the hand-wringing.
Rupert (b34f41) — 3/3/2011 @ 8:43 pmIt’s not sheens self destruction that bothers me; lots of folks do what he is doing. It is the medias obsession with it. They have gone ‘wall to wall’ covering it. All Sheen, all the time.
At least OJ had murdered someone.
SGT Ted (5d10ae) — 3/4/2011 @ 6:42 amSure, it’s annoying the way the Cult of the Diagnosis has taken over in our society.
But, seriously, the last time I dealt with a guy who sounded like Charlie Sheen, I was threatening to arrest him if he didn’t stop dancing in traffic and screaming at random pedestrians.
Mars vs Hollywood (0a8bef) — 3/4/2011 @ 12:39 pm