Because I Said So: Hatred for trade

Exploiting celebrity account of anger and racism doesn’t fix the real problems

By Kathryn Manning, staff writer
Posted on November 12, 2007

Few things are more marketable than public humiliation. Especially in a country as celebrity-obsessed as the United States, any hand caught in the cookie jar earns celebrities hours of embarrassing coverage, and, even more, makes a hefty profit for the media. But our fixation on “gotcha!” moments is detracting from true problems that members of our society—both the famous and the average—are struggling with.

Recently, A&E cancelled its hit show “Dog the Bounty Hunter” after the show’s star, Duane “Dog” Chapman, was caught using the n-word in a private phone conversation with his son, Tucker.

Chapman’s tirade was against Tucker’s new girlfriend, who happens to be black, though Chapman has stressed that his dislike of her is not based on her race. The conversation was anything but clean, and the versions that have been played on TV are largely edited because of the nasty language. 

Whether Chapman is a sincere racist or was just frustrated with his son’s new relationship, the conversation depicts a man who requires serious help and counseling in some form. Anger management, family therapy or simply a rational discussion is obviously needed. However, instead of searching for mediation for the problem or arranging for his father to receive help, Tucker Chapman took another route: He sold the taped conversation with his father to the National Enquirer.

Last I checked, the National Enquirer isn’t known for its counseling abilities, or even its journalistic reputation. It’s a magazine the boasts ridiculous claims and sensational stories. In selling the phone conversation to such an establishment, Tucker seems to not care about his father’s well-being, or even about the severe social implications of using the n-word. Such an action was clearly intended to exploit Chapman’s flaws and earn plenty of extra cash for Tucker.

The fact that Tucker Chapman chose to sell this story to the tabloids is largely reflective of the culture we live in: Hate has become sensational, and humiliation has become lucrative. If Tucker had spoken to the New York Times, CNN or another respected establishment in hopes of drawing serious attention to racism, the situation would be different. But Tucker obviously realized that he could make the most money by selling his father’s problems to the highest bidder.

This situation with Chapman and his son is not isolated. Alec Baldwin’s disturbing—but private—telephone rant against his daughter was released by his ex-wife earlier this year, causing a feeding frenzy for media outlets. Mel Gibson’s slurs against Jews have also been sensationalized. No doubt both of these incidents exposed serious flaws in these men’s character, but what therapy did the national media actually offer?

Many would point to the Don Imus incident and argue that these kinds of celebrity stories must attract media attention in order to expose society’s problems and remedy them.

However, Imus’ use of racial epithets was very different than Chapman’s or Gibson’s, and certainly different than Alec Baldwin’s angry phone call. When Imus made his racial comments he was not engaging in a private conversation; rather, he was using his public platform to degrade black women. Chapman, Baldwin and Gibson, on the other hand, made their disturbing comments away from the limelight, and thus they should be dealt with away from the limelight.

This is not to argue that private malice is acceptable but public malice is not. I am simply saying if it’s private, keep it private. Get the troubled individuals true help—not a bunch of cameras in their faces.

Many of us know people who are racist, sexist or otherwise prejudiced and who make absolutely revolting comments during private conversations. In fact, I’ll wager that every one of us has uttered our own degrading comments about another group! I’m sure we would address those issues through individual attention instead of media hype; why should celebrities’ private struggles be any different? Oh wait, that’s right: Celebrities’ problems make more money.

By making critical issues like anger, hate and racism into marketable commodities, we downplay the seriousness of these problems and overlook the real treatment for individuals who are dealing with them. True progress won’t be made until our culture decides to fix its faults rather than sell them. 

Kathryn Manning is a senior history and political science major.