Royal Purple

Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Web Extras

Bremer [Click to enlarge]

Whoever originally said actions speak louder than words really screwed things up for people searching for a way to right a wrong. I love it. Apologies, for example, aren't a get out of jail free card. Ladies, I know you expect flowers by the dozen or some nice bling to seal the deal of forgive and forget. And men? Well, some ego stroking and physical lovin' usually gets the job done. Isn't that the way it should be? Anyway one can offer an insincere "I'm sorry." It's those who know the right to switch to flip that deserve the forgiveness.

Actress Lindsay Lohan didn't apologize for her behavior last year so much as take ownership of it. She issued a statement a few weeks ago admitting she has been out of control and went on to explain how not having a father in her life has been difficult and may have materialized itself into episodes of acting out. I'm paraphrasing of course.

Is this not the oldest public relations trick in the book? You fall apart, get the public to sympathize and the pieces magically come back together. This fish ain't biting. The problem I have is, for all its intensive purposes, this statement is meant to wipe the slate clean and warrant respect for the troubled young star for accepting responsibility. Surprisingly, it works. To quote Whoopi Goldberg on "The View", "Good for her."

It's ironic that I have endless sympathy for Britney Spears but disdain for Lohan. The difference is I feel Spears truly has an illness and is on the verge, if not already, experiencing a mental shutdown. The behavior she's exhibited is not only reckless and irresponsible, but incredibly unorthodox. I think she's confused, scared and has no one to trust or turn to.

I guess I could feel the same way for Lohan. After all, it can be argued that she too is battling an illness of addiction. But, the endless trips to rehab, the supposed slip back to the bottle on New Year's Eve, the multiple DUIs. Now we're supposed to forget it all because she admits she's been out of control and basically blames it on her father? Give me a break.

Again, actions speak louder than words. Though she has gone through of the motions of change, they don't hold any real weight if it isn't sincere. I think everything she does to clean herself up is just a desperate attempt to clean up her image. It doesn't matter what your excuse is, how sorry you are or the revelation you've had. Just do it for yourself. And then come back and tell us what a mess you were. In her eyes, it's her career at stake, not her life.

Perhaps I'm being so hard on her in particular because I believe she truly does have talent. Not only is she wasting it, she seems to think that indirectly pointing blame and doing the mature thing of taking responsibility will garner respect and sympathy. Maybe I can't feel the same for her as Britney Spears because she hasn't hit rock bottom. At this point she still has control. I just hope it doesn't take a complete loss of that control to get back on track.

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