Ed the Sock posts a must-read rant on fame, decency, and Jian Ghomeshi

You know some people that you're sorry success happened to? The kind that use it as a 'Hulk-Smash' that validates their insecurity-bred sense of superiority? Yeah, I know a few too, but I didn't think of Jian Ghomeshi in that way because, honestly, I never thought about Jian Ghomeshi. He was host of a show I didn't listen to, plugged into a self-congratulatory ecosystem of self-appointed intelligentsia, we didn't often run into each other, though if we literally had I might have sported a bruise from him too.

But I did see Jian Ghomeshi places and he repelled me because he just oozed smug. Out of every pore. You know the vapour in cartoons that winds across the room and taps Porky Pig on the shoulder? Like that, but made of smug.

I saw him as an entitled, arrogant empty shell that lefties projected their hopes into. Now it seems that my Spidey-sense was right on target. Oops, bad imagery.

I talked about his 'alleged' beating of women before. This time, it's work revelations that got me stirred up.

According to numerous stories, some published some not, Ghomeshi was a workplace tyrant, yelling at people for headphone levels and other minor crap. Why? because he could. He was inappropriate with women at work. Again, because he could be.

First of all, Ghomeshi isn't unique. Okay, the bedroom abuse he doled out may qualify as somewhat atypical, but not the abuse in the office.

The TV biz is way too tolerant of shitty behaviour by 'stars'. They're allowed to get away with things because applying common standards of decency to them might somehow rob them of their muse, putting everyone out of work. 

This also applies to some executives who are left in place because they get results, regardless of the pirate galley they run.

Talent is a mystery to many, including many who think they have some, so those basking in the brilliance are afraid to do anything to upset the alchemy that turns a shithead into gold.

Some argue that, like Green Lantern's ring needed the yellow weakness to operate properly, childish tantrums are essential to a artists output.

What a bunch of bullshit.

Nobody is above treating people, especially subordinates, with basic dignity. If you can't do that, you're not fit for human society. Go live in the woods, Ted Kasczynski's shack is vacant.

Some might say, Ed, who are you to judge? To them I say: what kind of idiot are you?

I've been a media figure for 27 years. I've had very successful series run for multiple seasons. One of those series involved scantily-clad dancers, hot tub performers and occasional porn stars. Somehow, I never groped an ass, stared at boobs or made filthy remarks to women. Yes, it can be done, you just have to see people doing their jobs as people and not game pieces for your Monopoly board. 

Example of the former - when visiting his production office, I once saw George Stroumboulopoulos personally offer a kosher pizza place money to deliver all the way downtown from Thornhill, so that an Orthodox Jewish intern would not be excluded from a staff pizza party. An intern. Contrast that with "hate-fuck".

Among the lessons to take from this scandal for others of Ghomeshi's stature is that if you act like a prick when you're at the top, there'll be a feeding frenzy the second there's a chink in your armour. (I use that word in the proper sense, not as Rob Ford might at Steak Queen.)

Fame is a privilege. Talent has something to do with it, but more often it's timing. Being famous doesn't mean you're above the rules, it means the spotlight is on you to set an example. And when you need ME to start extolling the virtue of rules, the slippery slope has slid to the bottom.

Stars who get famous and say 'I don't want to be a role model'...too bad. You are one, the cost of public success. Grow the fuck up.

I like Superman because he has the power to do anything he wants, and he uses it to get kittens out of trees. Supes uses his strength to benefit people, not himself.

This is the opposite of opportunists like Jian Ghomeshi. Power is their penis extension and they metaphorically outshine the late John Holmes.

CBC is singled out this time, but all broadcasters enable shitty behaviour from their meat puppets. They think they're protecting valuable assets. They're not, they're guaranteeing decay.

No successful show is the result of one person. It's a choir that's heard as a solo. Allowing one person to belittle, menace or mind-fuck staff means the staff will be operating at less than their best, so expect diminishing returns. 

Hiring talented people doesn't benefit if their talent is submerged beneath a raging ego. A proper whistle-blower office where grievances can be effectively addressed in confidence will let workplaces reduce the bullying and increase the productivity of staff.

Again, why do I have to be the one to tell you all this?!

So why don't we use the Jian Ghomeshi revelations for more than some vindictive snickers, which I've engaged in too, and open a discussion about the workplace-enabling of assholes?

I mean, don't stop the snickering, but let's use the media focus to take a step forward rather than just dancing on Ghomeshi's grave?

Yeah, I know, but I like windmills.

I'm Ed the Sock, and I'm nobody's puppet.