Charlie Sheen

I'm working on a longer post, but if I don't finish it today, this will be my post for the day. It's obviously a symptom of our celebrity-obsessed culture, but what the hell, I want to say it ...

I don't find Charlie Sheen to be amusing. The reason for this is because his condition has led him to (I'll say allegedly for legal reasons) physically assault his wife and another woman.

I think Charlie Sheen is addicted to cocaine and has developed the megalomania common to users of the stuff. If he was already manic-depressive, the highs and lows of cocaine addiction are going to make things even worse.

I didn't mind Charlie Sheen back in the 1980s or 1990s. I thought he was innocuous as an actor. I smiled when he was at the Hollywood Madame's trial and he said "It's starting to add-up" when asked on the stand about the number of times he used her escort service. (I was of the opinion then, that these were very high-priced escorts and that they were doing all right in their line of work.) I really liked how Sheen's private-life image was used for humour in "Being John Malkovich." The idea that Malkovich and Sheen are close friends, given their widely disparate films and personas was funny, as was Sheen telling Malkovich that having sex with a possessed, lesbian witch (or whatever) was awesomely cool. I also liked Sheen playing-up his womanizer reputation in the "Scary Movies."

I don't think Sheen's addiction problems are funny, but were it not for the alleged assaults, I could still see some reason why guys would find him entertaining and inspiring. He's a multi-millionaire. He'll eventually go to rehab. He might even get some career-mileage out of his fall and comeback. So if some guys thought the whole "goddesses" thing is funny, or that the cocaine-fuelled rants are entertaining, well, okay. I don't agree but I can see it.

But Sheen has allegedly been abusing women, including the mother of his children. That's not funny and it renders everything else unfunny. Like a lot of people (less fortunate people), Sheen needs help. Whatever else it's making him do, his addiction is causing him to damage people and that's not funny.