NEWS: RENDITION: Reese Witherspoon Not My All-American Girl

CELEB: RENDITION: Reese Witherspoon Not My All-American Girl

I know there seems to be no reason for me to be mad at Reese Witherspoon. Election and she had the good grace to give a tearful thanks to June Carter Cash during her Oscar acceptance speech for her Walk The Line win. (I know it’s been ten years but sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night still angry at Julia Roberts for not giving props to Erin Brokovich in her Oscar acceptance speech. I realize I live a very uncomplicated life.)

Anyway, I’m through with Reese. She’s off my list of favorite female celebrities and I’m not just jealous because my boyfriend has a crush on her or because my therapist referred to her as a warm, motherly person thereby insinuating that I was cold and barren. (I’ll tell you that story in a minute.) I’m upset with Reese because of a few seemingly innocent comments she made in a recent interview.

Wow. I thought. What a sexist, pig-headed assumption. This roving entertainment reporter just blatantly assumes that pretty, blonde Reese doesn’t understand that the United States transfers suspected terrorists to countries where controversial interrogation techniques (torture) are allowed.

And then I kept reading. Reese talked to the Associated Press about her thoughts on extraordinary rendition. She thought these thoughts, turned them over in her brain before letting them tumble down the water slide of her throat, out through her mouth and into someone's hand-held tape recorder.

If anything, "extraordinary rendition" sounds a little bit like a psychedelic rock band, it's hardly rigmarole and it is in the popular vernacular. Listen to any of the pleading talk-show hosts from Air America, read The New York Times,watch "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," information on extraordinary rendition is out there. What's not in my vernacular is saying stuff like, "I’m so sad that Ryan Phillippe cheated on me, it’s sent me straight into the arms of Jake Gyllenhaal.”

Maybe I am just looking for something to pick on her about. I am still miffed that she showed me up in church on Easter Sunday by cooing over my therapist’s baby while I sat there unaffected by the newborn, living, breathing thing. Long story short, I go to a super-progressive church. I believe in evolution and science. I'm a lefty liberal but I did attend an Easter Sunday service. Randomly enough my therapist, who I had not seen in months due to her maternity leave, was sitting in back of me. As if that is not exciting enough Reese Witherspoon was sitting next to me with her kids.

I shyly said, "Hi" to my therapist and her newborn baby girl. I tried not to make eye contact, unsure if meeting your therapist's baby presents some kind of boundary issue. Reese, on the other hand, cooed and oohed over my shrink's newborn. My therapist brought it up in a session where I was admitting that I have no interest in having children. She randomly said, "Speaking of that, did you see Reese Witherspoon doting on my baby? She's so warm. She's so motherly. She has that natural instinct."

So, maybe it’s because I’m a soulless, childless woman that I have time to know what extraordinary rendition is before my agent sends a script to me in which I play a woman who is affected by this “rigmarole.”

I really want to like Reese. I want her to set the example that you can be a mother in Hollywood who doesn’t let her bodyguards raise her children. I want her to be the type of entertainer and mother that Sherry Shepherd from "The View" isn’t. You know, a woman who has time to feed her kid and know that the world isn’t flat.

Where is our female George Clooney or even (God, I can't believe I'm saying this) Ben Affleck? Clooney purposely gets involved with political dramas like Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana, and The Good German not just so he can sink his teeth into a serious role after playing a ditz. And even Ben Affleck coming back from Gigli-gate to multiple appearances on "Real Time with Bill Mahr," "Hardball with Chris Matthews" to now being encouraged to run against George Allen for a Senate seat in Virginia?

Reese said that she prefers to keep her ideals to herself in order not to "muddy up the debate."

What debate?

Extraordinary rendition isn’t something you have an opinion on. It’s not like some people think extraordinary rendition is a policy and some people think it’s hair gel and the debate rages on. No. It exists. We torture people illegally over seas and that is against our constitution. There is no opinion. There is right and wrong. Oh, the pastor of our progressive little church would be so disappointed in her.

Reese says,

I see the influence of celebrity on our culture too that's why I think that when you happen to be a smart lady who isn’t addicted to methamphetamines you have almost a responsibility to represent the other side of what it is to be a woman in her twenties in America.

We're all American citizens and I enjoy hearing everyone's opinion. I don’t expect that actors should just act and keep quiet. Why should they? Our own President, the one that none of us elected has gone on record as defining tribal sovereignty as, "It means that. It’s sovereign. You've been given sovereignty and you're viewed as a sovereign entity." It's not all-American to just do your job and keep your head down and shut up. For God's sakes, if anyone, anyone in America has anything smart to say, please fucking say it. See you in church, Reese.

Sorry, but extraordinary rendition is not common in American vernacular.

Huh?

I'm sorry, but Vanessa Lutz gets a free pass on everything she ever does/says for the rest of her life. If I ever get my hands on that little minx I'm gonna marry her so many times.




and color me extraordinarily clueless but that rendition business is anything but common vernacular. Never heard of it before this story.

This whole "article" just an excuse to mention that you sat next to a movie star in church.

Sounds pretty accurate.

I am confused..

what was this about again?

LEAVE BRITN....err...REESE ALONE!

i like her, dont know about her life and really dont care
my sister is a fan

First of all, I think you should find a new therapist. That is a really weird thing for a therapist to say and completely inappropriate.

Secondly, my wife also has an irrational hatred of Reese. She doesn't really have a legitimate reason either.

Celebrities can be private about their political opinions if they want. The worst thing for an actor is to be labeled. And sadly, there is still a debate about it.

Reese says,

I couldn't agree more. Celebrities such as George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins often destroy debate by simply parroting what they hear without truly understanding the issues. This is the primary reason why a dictator such as Hugo Chavez is treated like royalty by these Hollywood idiots while he uses the state to end free speech, free press, and the rights of women.

It is nice to see someone in Hollywood who truly acts like a private citizen rather that an overpaid, underworked, Socialist mouthpiece.

qft you'd think an actress who reads movie scripts half the day would know what words mean. Raise the bar on vocabulary in the work place!

Are you smarter than a...celebrity?

in any case it's funny that she obviously didn't understand the question and came back later rattling off big words to make herself not seem so ignorant. A mistake, since reporters tend to know their English.

I happen to dislike Reese, but I've got to side with her on this. "Extraordinary Rendition" is not in the usage vocab of Joe Sixpack any more than Reese is in his church services. Additionally, it's the celebs who think they're better informed and qualified than the rest of us that irk, not the self-effacing among them.

What question do you think she didn't understand?

I agree... I knew the situation, but I didn't know the phrase.

I don't agree that reporters necessarily know their English, however... there are some extremely foolish reporters, who happen to have good editors. Also, how often do you see a movie that needs the vocabulary bar raised? Seldom, I'd think...

Yeah, I'll bet my entire paycheck that no one at my work knows what "extraordinary rendition" is.

+1 Reese
(Yes, you are a lefty liberal.)

First, way to take something way too personally. If someone told me "hey, you must love sandwiches", I'd think 'Yes, I do love sandwiches', not 'Are you saying I'm fat and have an obsession?'.
Second, the first thing I think when I read "extraordinary rendition" is "really good song cover".

there's nothing extraordinary about a common stereotype either. Whoever asked her what her thoughts were on it obviously knew what it was and was either trying to make her look stupid (and thus tag her with the dumb blond stereotype) or thought she actually knew what it meant and thought she might offer an opinion since she's uh..making a movie about it that's actually named "Rendition"; Go figure. lol.

I could give a rat's ass what Reese Witherspoon knows or doesn't know. Most people are unbelievably stupid.

Responders who are unfamiliar with the term "extraordinary rendition", turn off the television and read a little for Christ's sake. Our democracy is only as smart as you are.

I probably wouldn't know what extraordinary rendition was unless I had heard it well in context. I'm aware of what it is, but perhaps have only heard the term once or twice.

I don't really watch much TV, unless hockey's on. I do, however, spend most of the day reading.

Perhaps you should remind yourself of a few of the things on your "Makes Me Sad" list: namely, close-mindedness, hostility, and judgment.

So we get no opinions now? There is no debate? This is your version of being a good american? Yeah, I prefer Resse's.