April 20, 2010
"I have some idea of the pressure of finding your own identity with a famous father."
Said Michael Douglas... at the sentencing of his 31-year-old son Cameron, who received a 5-year sentence. Or... wait... no... Michael Douglas wrote that. He didn't show up in person. [ADDED: No, Michael Douglas was there. He wrote a statement — 5 pages — and he also appeared. Sorry. I got the sense from that quote that MD was distanced, but that's not right. I'm genuinely sorry. I can't imagine the pain of seeing your son sentenced to prison.]
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25 comments:
When you are 31 years old you should be your own man.
What a crock of bullshit.
Michael Douglas, who watched the sentencing from the second row in the gallery, had sent a five-page, handwritten note asking for empathy.
And you, a law professor!
I'm sure Michael Douglas realizes this has much less to do with Finding His Identity than it does with the incredibly destructive power of addiction.
Had he not shown, I could dig that too. His presense will have made a routine formality into more of a circus.
So he wrote it and showed up . . .
Good for MD.
I've known two fathers whose well educated and privileged sons served time for dealing. In the long run, for both kids, it was a good thing.
Strangely, the two I knew were not addicts--except to money. It's easy cash until it isn't.
"I can't imagine the pain of seeing your son sentenced to prison."
Shuts down the money train, don't it? Shame.
The younger Douglas was making a small fortune selling heroin out of one of New York's poshest hotels for years - with his parents knowledge.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Perhaps if he'd been a better example as a father when it counted (let's remember Michale Douglas himself was an avid drug user), the judge would have taken his letter seriously.
The judge wasn't too impressed with Douglas' letter:
"Let's dispense with the notion that Mr. Douglas is a victim," said the judge.
You would do well to read the sentence, Ann, before grieving for the Douglas', who have been enabling their son's drug problem for long enough.
Don't go ragging on the Obligatory Quote. The entire public relations industry could come crashing down!
It really is a terrible thing for a parent to endure no matter what you may think of him.
"It really is a terrible thing for a parent to endure no matter what you may think of him."
I'm thinking of all the terrible things that the parents of Mr. Douglas' victims have been forced to endure since Mr. Douglas began selling heroin on the streets of New York out of one of the poshest hotels in the city.
All those parents of children who were poisoned by Douglas are who I'm thinking of tonight. Not some fucking scumbag dealer's drug abusing father.
Tonight, the victims' parents can breathe a sigh of relief that one of the sources who has been hooking their children on heroin has been put behind bars.
Not for long enough, but for a good long time. I save my sympathy for those parents.
Not Michael Douglas ... who himself was aware of his son's drug dealing and did nothing about it. And who himself was a notorious drug abuser and enabler.
This fucking scum needs to be swept from our streets and Mr. Douglas is a good start.
They'll get no sympathy from me.
Unfortunately, MD provided as bad an example to his son as KD provided to his.
WV "hesseses" Somebody has a slow leak tonight.
I am sorry for what Michael Douglas is going through. I hope his son straightens out his life. Unfortunately there are times that prison is warranted. I am not a big fan of many drug crimes, but Douglas should not get a different standard from others in that position.
New "Hussain" Ham, you are going all Singa-Saudi on Douglas.
This was happening with a buddy of mine and his son. When the kid stole his stepmother's jewelry and when his dad took the distributor so he couldn't drive away, the kid took the distributor from a neighbor's car and drove away with that one, daddy said enough is enough. He turned his own son in to the cops and the kid went to jail for 2 years. Now the kid is a well-respected real estate agent married to a well-respected graphics designer and is doing just fine, thank you very much. What his dad did was in the long run the best thing for the kid. Nothing else seemed to make a dent on him. Every time he got a job he used the job to deal drugs. Something had to be done. Stepmother said do something or it will be me or him, so my buddy did.
What about the pain of knowing that your own son was a drug dealer as well as a user. Which pain lasts the longer.
Woops, I only noticed the "supervised release" part.
Good night, John Boy.
Because pretty close to 100% of the children of famous fathers have turned to drug dealing.
Wait. They haven't?
Never mind.
I remember watching Brando speak to the Judge in behalf of his son.. (he blamed himself for not being a good father.. or something)
I guess they are not allowed to speak no more.. Or maybe MD is not as big as Brando ;)
Because pretty close to 100% of the children of famous fathers have turned to drug dealing.
Well, no. But if you come from a broken home in which one or both of your parents had a substance abuse problem, odds of you being messed up are pretty high.
Whether that's because of the environment, or because you share genes with your whack job parents, is something the jury's still out on.
Who gets to determine who is "fucking scum" and who isn't?
Seeing a son sentenced to prison is one kind of pain, watching a child succumb to drug addiction is another.
Sympathy is different from compassion. Sympathy is about shared affinity, like feelings or mutual understanding.
True compassion allows for a deep awareness of suffering without precluding or dismissing the need or desire for justice.
"I'm sure Michael Douglas realizes this has much less to do with Finding His Identity than it does with the incredibly destructive power of addiction."
No. it has to do with the incredibly destructive power of being a selfish degenerate. The drug "addiction" is just the excuse.
"Well, no. But if you come from a broken home in which one or both of your parents had a substance abuse problem, odds of you being messed up are pretty high."
Bullshit. There are millions of broken homes and millions of drug using parents out there. Yet, the vast majority of the children who grow up in that environment do not turn into drug addicts. And none of them have the advantage of millions of dollars to smooth things over. This guy could have come from a loving great home and he still would have turned into an addict. Some people are just that way.
While I agree that being a "selfish degenerate" trumps addiction (every addict is a "selfish degenerate", but not every "selfish degenerate" is an addict), what did you mean that "addiction is just the excuse"?
And, while I also agree, that "some people are just that way", most addicts family-of-origins are quite dysfunctional. Also, millions of dollars is of no advantage. Addiction doesn't care.
"what did you mean that "addiction is just the excuse"?"
I mean that addicts are just selfish people with compulsive personalities. The addiction is just a manifestation of their underlying moral failures. You could get rid of the drugs and they still will find some other self destructive thing to do. You see this all the time when people come our of rehab for one thing and immediately find another form of "addiction". They just use the drugs or the gambling or whatever as the excuse to behave in nasty, selfish ways.
I really don't buy the concept of addiction. There are millions of people who drink, do drugs, gamble and so forth, yet still live productive lives. The people who don't live productive lives and just throw their lives away on drugs are not addicted to drugs. They are just degenerates who have found drugs as a way to express that. Take away the drugs and they still would be the same selfish, self destructive person.
"Some people are "are just that way"?
Selfish degeneration has been plaguing mankind for thousands of years. Brother against Brother, nation against nation, each continuing to judge their own needs to be greater or more worthy.
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