A friend who worked with Lindsay (an actress) called us Saturday and wanted to know if we could write something about Lohan? She'd seen Monday's "Iraq snapshot" -- where C.I. had called out Media Matters for their ridiculing of Lohan -- and she thought we'd be willing to write something.
We are. This isn't an answers piece.
We have no answers.
We do have a series of questions.
Mainly we question Judge Marsha Revel?
Exactly what's going through her mind?
See, we know the bad boys of the entertainment world. We remember, for example, Christian Slater's run-ins with the law. Including his assaulting a police officer.
It's cute how that's forgotten today and really wasn't a big issue in real time. We imagine if Lindsay or Tatum O'Neal or any of the Bad Girls had bit a police officer on the stomach and kicked him, not only would their behavior be described as stereotypically "girlish," they'd never live the incident down. Somehow Christian got a pass.
Why is Lindsay now sentenced to jail and rehab?
The judge would argue that Lindsay failed to attend all of her education classes. Well that would be a reflection on the facility, wouldn't it?
Yeah, it would be and it is. Pass The Blame Cheryl Marshall showed up at the hearing armed with insults aimed at Lindsay while rushing to insist the facility she co-owns -- Right On Programs -- had done nothing wrong.
Really? Because by her own admission, the judge ordered Marshall to have Lindsay attend all classes and, by her own admission, Marshall disregarded that because the judge did not put it in writing.
So explain to us how this Lindsay's fault?
We don't think Judge Revel is a bad person. We do, however, think the judge has overstepped her bounds. She is to be concerned with the law and only the law.
If Lindsay were Robert Downey, Jr., would she now be heading off to prison?
How many ounces of coke did Robert have on him when he was finally sent to jail -- while on probation caught with how much coke?
But Linsday's going off to jail because she didn't attend enough classes?
What we're asking is why the double standard? Why is it that Linsday's a wreck who must be saved? It is because she's a young woman?
The court seems to be suffering from some confusion. Lindsay Lohan is a young adult, but she is an adult. There is no need for in loco parentis. She is an adult.
There seems to be this notion that she's a train wreck that someone else can save.
We'll agree her life has been a train wreck for the last years. But the only one who can save Lindsay is Lindsay. (For all we know, she's already in the process of doing that. It would appear she was taking several smart steps long before this month.) The judge appears to have come down hard on Lindsay not out of hatred for her but out of desire to help her and, in the process, the judge seems confused about the law and her own role.
It's a confusion that's long been present when it comes to Lohan. For example, when Robert Downey Junior was repeatedly in and out of jail and rehab, we don't recall cluck-clucking over his parents. But Dina Lohan is made to be a huge jerk in one press account after another. Strange, we're unaware that Dina introduced Lohan to drugs. But didn't Downey Senior introduce Robert to drugs? Why is it, in the media and in society, a man just decides to do drugs but a woman must be a reflection on low morals and a bad family?
Reality, one answer we do know, drug addiction can strike anyone. Some people are predisposed due to various gentic factors; however, drug addiction is a disease.
What we're wondering is why the treatment Lindsay's receiving currently would be so different, so very different if she were a man?
Sexism can come from all sides -- not just from men. And infantilizing a grown woman to 'protect her' (put her up on a pedestal?) is a form of sexism as well. Wanting to save Lindsay is a wonderful impulse in many ways -- but it's not a valid one because only Lindsay can save herself. The judge's sentence is overly harsh and fails to note that the court obviously erred in the extreme when they elected to send Lohan to Right On Programs.