I don't feel sorry for Charlie Sheen
Am I supposed to feel sorry for Charlie Sheen?Â
Let me be clear. I don’t feel having HIV should be stigmatized. We’re well past that point as a society. I lived through the ‘80s, and I remember how it used to be; people with HIV are human beings who should not be shunned. And, of course, we should have some degree of empathy for anyone who’s sick. He was certainly a very good actor once as well.
Thus, I also feel some empathy for the central tragedy of Charlie Sheen as a public figure, for the fact that his early promise ("Platoon," etc.) descended into a pit of porn star-fueled debauchery, squandered talent, bizarre rants about "tiger blood" (takes on new meaning) and the like, and now illness. I also feel a certain empathy for anyone in the throes of addiction.
But I’m not going to lionize Charlie Sheen because he’s now sick. I don’t feel sorry for alleged women beaters, sorry. I find it hard to feel sorry for a guy who is a known woman beater, whose "girlfriends" are an endless stream of porn stars, and who – and this is the worst part – might have played Russian Roulette with people’s lives. He’s probably the worst spokesman for the HIV-positive cause. We should have shunned him as a public figure years ago for allegedly beating women and calling them repulsive names.
His debauched lifestyle of drugs and porn stars is repugnant, but that’s his problem. This is America, and if you want to bring porn stars home to the parents, that’s your right. But don’t ask me to feel sorry for you if that doesn’t work out so great in the end. Knowingly exposing people to risks of infection? That, frankly, should be a problem for law enforcement. And if he wasn’t a celebrity – if he was just some guy without power or fame – there’d be a police investigation by now instead of a big, softball interview with Matt Lauer.
Think I’m being too harsh? Well, you don’t get to go around society knowingly endangering other people’s health. Did he …
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