Like so many, I enjoyed watching the Charlie Sheen reality show, but after about 2 weeks, I tired of his on-air flameout. I loved 2.5. men, but I was never a 'fan' of Charlie Sheen. I have a strict policy about Show Biz kids and how 'they made it,' but I am a fan of Chuck Lorre, and the writing on the show, the ensemble cast, which includes the classic Holland Taylor who plays the mother.
While the show is a tried and true formula of the buddy comedy, the Odd Couple, Lorre took Charlie Sheen's persona as a whore mongering, drug-addled, alcohol-fueled dissipated bad boy and integrated it as the black hole in a non-nuclear family. the writing was stunning and standout episodes include the Wicked Witch of the West episode after Charlie becomes involved in the satanic ritual of some local pagan goddess. But, as time wore on, the jokes grew stale, and the reruns were better.
Now, after much offstage drama, Sheen's true self as a whore mongering, drug-addled, alcohol-fueled dissipated bad boy, is suddenly a problem. While the show never addressed any drugs other than hard liquor, or addictions other than sex, the offstage Charlie appeared earnest in his attempts to become a family man, and all was well. But like a tiger can never change its stripes, Charlie's true colors resurfaced again and again, and his 'moral turpitude' suddenly politically incorrect.
No longer a value in post modern society, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, is now the anthem of long dead hippies and coke freaks in the post mortem society. While the American 60s, a time of cultural revolution, has hit the Middle East finally, it appears dead in America. No one advocates that people 'turn on' anymore, and cocaine use, once proclaimed by Sigmund Freud as an 'elixer' to cure all ills, and an ingredient in Coca Cola, is now the evil in Crack cocaine that has created a hell on earth.
So, Charlie's unfortunate breakdown or mania or whatever the pop psychologists are calling it, is really just Charlie being Charlie, the whore mongering, drug-addled, alcohol fueled dissipated bad boy, of which there are no shortage in our society, but who simply lack the money and the fame that a Show Biz kid received at birth, and burned as his rite of passage into middle age.
Charlie will survive, but the others end up old, sick, alone, homeless, mentally ill, or worse, the family pariah, where they are 'endured' and cared for by their unfortunate wives and children. Every family has a Charlie Sheen, but very few have $85million or the healthcare benefits to put them into rehab. People don't grow up to become alcoholics or drug addicts because they want to...its usually a depression related syndrome that comes under the forbidden category of mental illness. And, mental illness is rampant in highly industrialized societies, but like the weather, everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.
Perhaps, Charlie Sheen, will conquer his addictions or mania or whatever the diagnosis is, but its doubtful. There just aren't the tools and treatment in place because nobody really knows what to do with the many afflictions of the mind and brain. Putting Prozac in the water is suggested. The many antidepressants out there have shown to alleviate symptoms of depression that usually lead to drug, alcohol, and yes, sex addiction, but there is also a whole population out there who mistrusts and hates Big Pharma.
There is the postscript to the whole story which is out-of-control rage. Is there a drug to control rage? Rage comes in many forms and seems to be the one slender thread between those who self medicate to those who buy guns and shoot people and to those who beat up their kids and spouses and drive recklessly on the highways of America. It is rage, that enrages all of us, but it is rage that is the emotion we all share and need tools and lessons to control. Let Charlie rage. Perhaps, they will shoot him down with an elephant tranquilizer and that will be the end of the story. Otherwise, ignore it, because that's what we do best - ignore it.
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