(Feed) Don’t apologize, Mark.

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Don't apologize, Mark.
21 January 2012, 12:36 pm

I don’t usually give much thought to Mark Wahlberg, though when I do I find him mildly interesting, but I cannot get behind the mockery of his Men’s Journal 9/11 statements. I’ve heard countless, non-”delusional”, unfamous men say similar things. It’s normal to imagine ourselves courageous in such a scenario. What happened on those planes on 9/11 should still make one’s blood run cold. The kind of powerlessness experienced by the doomed passengers and crew is terrifying. Mark Wahlberg obviously loves his family, and instead of finding his comments offensive, I just think he sounds like a normal father. I don’t believe he meant to call into question the courage of the passengers on those planes — we know that there were acts of tremendous bravery in the midst of the horror — but simply express his own reaction to such horrific crimes.

Give him a break. We allow other celebs to say much stupider things. Someone out there bought Scarlett Johansson’s CD of Tom Waits covers. People still ask Jennifer Aniston what she thinks of American politics and actually report her answer as if it’s actual news.

The backlash against Wahlberg’s comments bespeaks a deeper, more pervasive sickness within our own culture. There is a large swath of American citizens that seem to view anything resembling masculine “swagger” as delusional, stupid and even dangerous. Maybe Wahlberg wouldn’t prevail against armed hijackers in a similar scenario. Perhaps he is taking his job as action hero a little too seriously. Whatever. At least he can imagine himself doing something to protect his family. His critics seem to be unable to imagine a scenario in which they would ever risk their precious lives for anyone, regardless of blood relation, let alone a stranger. They’d trip and fall into that lifeboat in a heartbeat and spend years playing the victim on the endless Oprah wannabe interview circuit.

Perhaps Wahlberg is delusional, but at least in his head he’s saving innocents and protecting his family. What are your fantasies about?



Source: the Hyacinth Girl

[Eric]

As I mentioned there, he's getting called out on being too arrogant, and I don't think that's indicative of any deep social sickness.

In the other thread I said that pre-911 we looked at hijacking in a much different way.  Wiki has that called the "Common Strategy":

Before the September 11, 2001 attacks, pilots and flight attendants were trained to adopt the "Common Strategy" tactic, which was approved by the FAA. It taught crew members to comply with the hijackers' demands, get the plane to land safely and then let the security forces handle the situation. Crew members advised passengers to sit quietly in order to increase their chances of survival. They were also trained not to make any 'heroic' moves that could endanger themselves or other people. The FAA realized that the longer a hijacking persisted, the more likely it would end peacefully with the hijackers reaching their goal.

[AdmiralDigby]

As I mentioned there, he's getting called out on being too arrogant, and I don't think that's indicative of any deep social sickness.

In the other thread I said that pre-911 we looked at hijacking in a much different way.  Wiki has that called the "Common Strategy":

Before the September 11, 2001 attacks, pilots and flight attendants were trained to adopt the "Common Strategy" tactic, which was approved by the FAA. It taught crew members to comply with the hijackers' demands, get the plane to land safely and then let the security forces handle the situation. Crew members advised passengers to sit quietly in order to increase their chances of survival. They were also trained not to make any 'heroic' moves that could endanger themselves or other people. The FAA realized that the longer a hijacking persisted, the more likely it would end peacefully with the hijackers reaching their goal.

Exactly .
Pre 911 attitudes are 180 degrees from post 911 .

[Eric]

April thinks this is larger than just Marky Mark and that other celebs have said far worse (she has points on both), but I'm still gonna have some laughs at the idiocy of his statement.

This thread is too.

[Eric]

For old time's sake: 

Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch - Good Vibrations

[AdmiralDigby]

April thinks this is larger than just Marky Mark and that other celebs have said far worse (she has points on both), but I'm still gonna have some laughs at the idiocy of his statement.

This thread is too.