June 30, 2005
— Ace Corrected! See Update below.
Sorry, back to Tom Cruise/psychiatric drugs/Scientology. But briefly.
I don't seem to remember Lauer telling the Dixie Chicks they should keep their mouths shut. Nor Sarandon, Robbins, Sheen, Glover, etc.
I can't believe I'm defending Tom Cruise.
But someone has to do it. Cruise has been criticized and ridiculed after a heated exchange with "Today" show co-host Matt Lauer the other day over a rather important topic: the possible overuse of prescription drugs that supposedly treat depression or other forms of mental illness.
It all started when Lauer came to the rescue of Brooke Shields, who while promoting a book disclosed that she had therapy and took antidepressant drugs to combat postpartum depression.
Cruise doesn't believe in psychiatry ("a pseudo science") or antidepressants ("mind-altering, antipsychotic drugs"), and he said as much after Shields made her remarks.
Lauer thought that Cruise was being judgmental, and that he should keep his opinions to himself. He also thought Cruise should stipulate that while the actor didn't approve of taking antidepressants those for whom the drugs had worked should be free to take them.
Why should Cruise keep his opinions to himself? Shields didn't keep her bout with mental illness to herself. She advertised it to sell books. Cruise is entitled to his opinion, just like anyone else.
The problem isn't that celebrities have opinions. It's that the rest of society is quick to treat them as experts. They're not experts. They're movie stars with opinions. And they should be free to express their opinions, and the rest of us should be free to discount them if they don't hold up.
But Lauer seemed to be saying that Cruise didn't have a right to his opinion because many people like the millions of Americans who use prescription drugs might find it offensive.
Cruise held his ground. He didn't just give in to Lauer's brand of "I'm OK, you're OK" psychobabble. When asked if it was OK if drugs worked for Shields, Cruise said, no, it wasn't.
"I disagree with it," he told Lauer.
I'm not so much reversing fields myself here -- I actually do wish celebrities would zip it more; they have the right to speak out, of course, but they're dumb and undeservedly influential -- so much as questioning why Lauer approves of every other celebrity's pontificating but not Cruise's.
Could it be -- possibly? -- that Lauer approves of the rantings of Streisand & Co. whereas Tom Cruise's slam is against something the liberal elite hold dear-- the therapuetic culture?
Matt, either celebrities have the right to opine or they don't. It can't be the case they're to be praised for "bravery" when they opine in a manner you approve of but should shut up when they threaten you or your friends' easy access to mood elevators.
And I have to note here that I come down closer to Lauer's side of the argument than Cruise's. Yes, we are an overmedicated society, and yes, doctors are lobbied by drug companies to prescribe certain drugs, injecting an economic conflict of interest into the patient-doctor relationship, but Cruise is daft in claiming that the one part of the human body that cannot be healed through the effective administration of drugs is the brain.
The weak form of his argument ("let's take a closer look at all this") is strong; the strong form of his argument ("all psychotropic drugs are bad, bad, bad, and all you need is some Vitamin C") is weak.
Still, he has the right to be wrong.
And until Lauer tells Bono to zip it, he is no position to tell Cruise to keep his opinions to himself.
PS, here's an idea: how about bubble-headed morning chat-show hosts keeping their opinions to themselves? You know-- all that jouralistic code of ethics about reporting the news straight and with no editorializing.
Nah. What was I thinking? It's very important that the American public know where Katie and Matt stand on all complex political issues.
Fact-Checking My Ass: Zuke points out that the columnist cited above states, flat-out, that Lauer instructed Cruise that he should keep his opinions to himself. In fact, the transcript does not seem to contain such a clear statement, although some parts may be paraphrased or digested.
Reading the transcript-- Cruise feels that Lauer is suggesting he can't talk about these things, but Lauer says, "No you have that right," or words to that effect. Cruise actually suggests this multiple times, and Lauer's questioning is antagonistic. However, Lauer does say that Cruise has the right to speak out; to say Lauer clearly states that Cruise shouldn't say these things is incorrect.
There may be (at most) implication to zip it here, but no clear statement.
What Lauer does seem to be doing is aggressively questioning Cruise and arguing with him. Which is quite fine, I think. Particularly since what Cruise is saying is sci-fi-quasi-religious dogma.
I guess I have to retract my initial slam on Lauer. And perhaps reduce it to this: It sure would be nice if he questioned other celebrities as vigorously and as argumentatively.... celebrities (including Hillary!) who express views he agrees with.
Posted by: Ace at
08:06 AM
| Comments (20)
Post contains 910 words, total size 6 kb.
And in case that can't wrap their little brains around that, being an ass is still a bad thing.
Posted by: TheDude at June 30, 2005 08:36 AM (47UUL)
The transcript does paraphrase the initial question for some reason but has the rest of the dialogue. I don't think this is a cover-up but if somebody else remembers otherwise, speak up.
transcript
Posted by: Zuke at June 30, 2005 08:37 AM (PJ4Iq)
Sounds like this pernicious little ferret is on anti-depressans and needs his script bumped up.
Posted by: 72 VIRGINS at June 30, 2005 08:43 AM (dhRpo)
What's the problem here? You're right, Lauer only challenges opinions he disagrees with, but that doesn't mean he was wrong to do it here. We should encourage him to do it with the other celebrity nitwits.
Posted by: Zuke at June 30, 2005 08:44 AM (PJ4Iq)
It is axiomatic that when people call for others to "keep their opinions to themselves" it is because they disagree with those opinions.
It would be strange, but not surprising, for a purported daily morning news host, to suggest that the guests that they pay or otherwise invite on his show to shut the hell up.
If one follows the logic or intent of such a claim to its origins, as you did Ace, it invariably leads to the fact that Mr. Lauer did not approve of what Mr. Cruise had to say.
And yes, Tom Cruise is an adult, he is as free and entitled as anyone else to hold unpopular or even bizarre ideas.
Posted by: MeTooThen at June 30, 2005 08:47 AM (9Dvaj)
Posted by: Homer at June 30, 2005 08:48 AM (m2CN7)
One more thing.
Mr. Lauer was, of course, talking with Tom Cruise.
TOM CRUISE.
Got that?
He wasn't talking to, say, a pscyhotherapist, or an expert on psychoneuropharmacology, or researcher from the NIH, or the president of an advocacy group of people with depression, etc.
Nope.
It was Tom Cruise.
Who by the way, seemed to Mr. Lauer, was someone who had done his homework.
Whatever the hell that meant.
Posted by: MeTooThen at June 30, 2005 08:52 AM (9Dvaj)
MeTooThen - The "done his homework" line was crap, but what do you expect? He's not going to be completely antagonistic with such a high-profile guest who I'm sure they'd like to have on again.
Cruise threw it back in his face though with, "And you should. And you should do that also. Because just knowing people who are on Ritalin isn't enough. You should be a little bit more responsible in knowing really —" which was kind of funny coming from Dr. Cruise. He also talks about reading medical studies and journals and the like. I'm guessing these were written by the highly esteemed Dr. Hubbard.
Important clarification: I still don't like Matt Lauer.
Posted by: Zuke at June 30, 2005 09:10 AM (PJ4Iq)
Posted by: Speller at June 30, 2005 09:12 AM (uW2IJ)
Posted by: wretched refuse at June 30, 2005 12:32 PM (dhRpo)
Posted by: Doug Purdie at June 30, 2005 01:55 PM (00DOn)
That's what I find annoying about this. I really wish the media would stick to asking relevant questions. Matt Lauer wouldn't ask a psychiatrist about "War of the World"; so what is he doing asking Tom Cruise about psychiatry? It's like asking Paris Hilton for her opinion of plate tectonics.
Posted by: Morbidly Shy at June 30, 2005 02:15 PM (/Ya+2)
Posted by: Morbidly Shy at June 30, 2005 02:38 PM (/Ya+2)
Posted by: Stace at June 30, 2005 03:36 PM (/xNZg)
Or, if only his "homework" had consisted of reading something other than the High Holy Scriptures of El Ron, may we be spared from further exposure to his wisdom, amen.
The whole "psychiatry = pseudo science" is one of the tenets of Scientology.
I'm not an expert either. So I can't really say that he's wrong. But given Cruise's affiliation with the cult, this whole thing comes across as a case of Scientology speaking through a willing mouthpiece.
Posted by: at June 30, 2005 06:02 PM (4ngLd)
Posted by: Claire at June 30, 2005 07:01 PM (l1oyw)
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