Wednesday, January 9, 2008 12:24 AM CST
COLUMN: Dr. Phil's visit to hospital to visit Britney same as being held 'involuntarily'
By HARRY REYNOLDS, Editorial page editor
hreynolds@jg-tc.com
I’m not too keen on television’s self-help advocate Dr. Phil making a surprise hospital visit to singer Britney Spears last week. She didn’t ask him; he shouldn’t have been there.
Having said that, however, what I find more distressing is the fact Spears was being held involuntarily at the facility.
According to one psychiatrist, Dr. Jeffrey Sugar... “There’s a difference between being detained involuntarily for psychological treatment and being forced to endure Dr. Phil involuntarily.”
Like what?
Legions of homeless people — of which rank an estimated quarter million Vietnam veterans — are neither subjected to an involuntary visit from Dr. Phil nor involuntarily held for mental health treatment.
In either case, Spears was stripped of the right to run — or ruin — her own life. She apparently presented no threat to anyone else.
Spears was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angles last Thursday after a stand-off with police in connection with a child-custody battle.
Most people who engage in a stand-off with police end up in jail. As would certainly be the case if a homeless military veteran attempted such a thing.
Spears was released from the hospital Monday, presumably deemed capable of self-determination. So, I guess she can return to the fun-loving activities which so engage tabloids, TV entertainment shows, national media, and the paparazzi.
In a world mindful of equity, media vultures — so-called correspondents for 24-hour news networks (CNN, FOX, etc.) and the paparazzi — would all have been justifiably committed long ago.
Sometime back, members of these fine networks parked outside Paris Hilton’s door for hours in hope of catching the master self-promoter exit on her way to serve a smidgen of time in jail.
In the midst of this world-shaking, history-altering event, there came a bulletin announcing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace was stepping down.
Pace, being one of the key architects of the war with Iraq, stood no measure against Hilton.
In light of the vital importance of covering Hilton’s leaving her abode for the calaboose, the network declared it would return to Peter once the nation was saturated with Paris.
We live in a whacky world where individuals do whacky things. No matter our IQ, we are all quite capable of doing stupid. This trait embedded in our genes.
It is, I would submit, an inalienable right of every human being. Unfortunately, it is not included in the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights.
Spears, only alive roughly a quarter of a century, has been doing more than her portion of stupid. She has:
n Employed an umbrella against another vehicle.
n Appeared in public without underwear (or, so, they say, I not having been able to confirm it with my own eyes).
n Shaved her head (a bad case of lice, perchance).
n Propped one of her children on her lap while driving (gasp!).
n Run over a photographer’s foot (good for her).
n Crashed into another car in a parking lot, leaving without notifying the owner.
Spears brought a lot of the bad publicity on herself.
Great wealth brings with it the power to hire a chauffeur (who could do all the banging, crashing, etc.)
It takes a combination of things to spawn celebrity sensationalism. The first being the willingness of the celebrity to do all sorts of weird things in public.
The second being media obsession with scandal and celebrity.
And finally, the inclination of bored, intellectually lazy people to devour such garbage.
We’re all paying for this ride at the expense of attentiveness to the important things in the world.
Do I think Spears is nuts? Like a fox. No more than Paris Hilton, Alec Baldwin, Dr. Phil, or any other celebrity starving for attention.
Some of the experts in the field of nuttiness urged Spears be put on suicide watch. Which means, I suppose, Spears was asked if she had even contemplated suicide.
To which, Spears more than likely denied. Which, in the eyes of mental health experts, means she’s a prime candidate.
The question is the same Catch 22 well-intended individuals and busybody crusaders fire at someone quaffing a bottle of brew, “Can you stop drinking?”
To which, might come the rejoinder, “Mind your own !@#$% business.”
More than likely, though, will be the retort, “I don’t want to stop drinking. ”
And comes the smug, “You’ve got a drinking problem.”
The summation of this little diatribe is the proposition people should leave other people alone until they are asked not to leave them alone.
Britney Spears was held involuntarily for mental health treatment. Psychiatrists, psychologists and other experts justified in the name of Spears’ welfare.
Which, I submit, was none of their business — including Dr. Phil’s — until such time as Spears asked for their help.
Spears may, or may not, need mental health treatment. That’s her decision to make.
An act of lunacy, it might be argued, was for Dr. Phil to barge in on Spears.
Oh, well, that’s show business.
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pj1983 wrote on Jan 9, 2008 9:46 AM: