Why
Patti Blagojevich's Jungle Jaunt
Must Go On
By Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune
I don't know whether to be proud or
ashamed of this, but I was all set
Tuesday night to leap up from the
couch and call the toll-free number
(877-553-3707) to vote to save Patti
Blagojevich from elimination on "I'm
a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!"
It turned out she didn't need my
vote. The male contestants on the
NBC reality show (7 p.m. Monday
through Thursday until June 24)
chose Blagojevich, the wife of
indicted former Gov. Rod
Blagojevich, when the hosts asked
them to grant weeklong immunity to
one the five remaining female
contestants.
Why would I be proud?
Because my better self recognizes
the courage and determination Patti
is showing by subjecting herself to
the indignities of this game.
Because my better self is able to
get past the grudges I hold against
her husband and to see her as yet
another victim of his absurd and
ethically blinding ambition.
Because my better self sees stoicism
and nobility in Patti's decision to
accept a position on the cast after
a federal judge barred her husband
from traveling to Costa Rica. It
admires her for performing
frightening, nauseating stunts while
enduring the hardships of camping in
the rain forest. And it appreciates
her Midwestern reserve in the midst
of what looks at times like a
Hollywood cartwheel contest.
Why would I be ashamed?
Because my lesser self enjoys
watching a Blagojevich eat insects.
Because my lesser self has an
infamous thirst for primitive
pretrial justice that's slaked by
the sight of our allegedly felonious
former governor being humiliated by
proxy.
And, all legal and political
considerations aside, my lesser self
is a rubbernecker who's taken a
hometown rooting interest in the
human demolition derby of a
prime-time gross-out contest.
So you see my ambivalence.
It's related to my ambivalence about
Patti, who hasn't been charged with
any wrongdoing. She seems to me like
a caring mother who'd be living a
low-key life today if she hadn't
been drawn into the mad orbit of a
charismatic young lawyer with too
many schemes and not enough plans.
Yet she also seems like an enabler
of if not a partner in her husband's
allegedly hinky enterprise.
A federal complaint says she's heard
on a wiretap recording egging on her
husband as he considers using his
power in an unwholesome way. News
accounts have cast the hairy eyeball
on the real estate commissions she
was paid by insiders. And on Monday
night's premiere of "I'm a
Celebrity..." she parroted for a
national audience and her credulous
fellow competitors the narrative in
which her husband is the victim of
an evil system and an unfair
impeachment process.
I found myself wondering if the main
purpose of her participation in the
show was not to earn money -- surely
her father, powerful Ald. Dick Mell
(33rd) would dig deep to protect his
daughter from such degradation --
but to sway the hearts of
prospective jurors who might also be
fans of excruciating TV programs.
Either way, the effort strikes me as
more pitiful than outrageous, making
me more proud of my impulse than
ashamed.
Patti Blagojevich must win because
if she loses, the sad story will be
the same, only sadder. |
|
