- commentary
- THURSDAY OCTOBER 25 2007 8:00 PM
RENDITION: Reese Witherspoon Not My All-American Girl
Submitted by SleepyLady
Edited by erin_broadley

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 its 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, Im through with Reese. Shes off my list of favorite female celebrities and Im 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. (Ill tell you that story in a minute.) Im upset with Reese because of a few seemingly innocent comments she made in a recent interview.
Before her latest film, if anyone had asked Reese Witherspoon what the term extraordinary rendition meant, she might have answered with a blank stare.
Wow. I thought. What a sexist, pig-headed assumption. This roving entertainment reporter just blatantly assumes that pretty, blonde Reese doesnt 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.
I dont think I realized what the term was called. The term is not really in the popular vernacular. It sounds like public policy rigamorle. It doesnt sound like anything that you would connect with the torture and detainment of innocent people.
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, "Im so sad that Ryan Phillippe cheated on me, its 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 therapists 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 its because Im 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 doesnt let her bodyguards raise her children. I want her to be the type of entertainer and mother that Sherry Shepherd from "The View" isnt. You know, a woman who has time to feed her kid and know that the world isnt 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 isnt something you have an opinion on. Its not like some people think extraordinary rendition is a policy and some people think its 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 and to think that my opinion is any more informed than anyone else's or taken as thus is erroneous."
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 isnt 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 dont 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. Its 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.




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Comments
Vivec
I'm lost
April 2007
OCT 25, 2007 08:18 PM
crispy
NEWSWIRE
Philadelphia, PA
OCT 25, 2007 08:19 PM
wheezy_e
Boulder City, NV
April 2004
OCT 25, 2007 08:21 PM
rev123
USA
OLD SKOOL
OCT 25, 2007 08:22 PM
apesamongus
Atlanta, GA
July 2002
OCT 25, 2007 08:25 PM
Tinyhobo
Boulder City, NV
December 2006
OCT 25, 2007 08:25 PM
DevilsReject
Cleveland, OH
February 2007
OCT 25, 2007 08:31 PM
Crissis
Ecuador
January 2007
OCT 25, 2007 08:31 PM
FearTheReaper
NEWSWIRE
I'm lost
OCT 25, 2007 08:45 PM
jpaul256
Spring, TX
June 2006
OCT 25, 2007 08:47 PM
grrowler
Sarasota, FL
October 2007
OCT 25, 2007 08:48 PM
TakFuji
I'm lost
February 2006
OCT 25, 2007 09:17 PM
apesamongus
Atlanta, GA
July 2002
OCT 25, 2007 09:23 PM
Clidna
Canada
January 2005
OCT 25, 2007 09:27 PM
TheRealTexaSGuy
Tacoma, WA
December 2003
OCT 25, 2007 09:33 PM
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