A Buggy Theory
Wherein Our Heroine
Doesn't Buy it.
Though I have not renewed my
subscription, Vanity Fair continues to come to my house (yes, I am frivolous and
shallow). What was once a fun diversion seasoned with some serious reportage
has become increasingly Hollywood-centric and dull. However, when this giant
brick of glossy paper arrives I can't help but page through it, whereupon I get
sucked in by the train wreck effect: it is horrifying, but I just can't look
away.Yesterday's train wreck
included an article about Hollywood and the Kabbalah - or at least the trendy
version of the Kabbalah that is popular among the glitterati. Apparently, the
quasi-religious fad which is marked by miles of red string is making Hollywood
types "nicer," a phenomenon attributed to "The Butterfly Effect," described in
this example by a Hollywood
agent:If you scream at your assistant, which you're allowed to do - I mean, not allowed to do, but you can get away with it ostensibly - you know, your assistant may not be in a position where she or he can yell back at you. What they may do is go out to dinner that night and scream at a waiter. Just because it's got to come out, they'll scream at a waiter. You have to understand that you're responsible for that waiter's evening getting ruined.
So,
let me see if I have this straight: it is better to be nice to your assistant
because loss of control and exhibition of unprofessional and abusive behavior
might eventually ruin a stranger's evening? It is not enough that screaming at
the assistant is very likely to ruin the assistant's day/week/year? Why is the
non-localized effect of such bratty behavior more compelling than the local one?
Never mind. I retract the
question. The answer, should there be one, is probably liable to make me throw
up, and who knows - that barf might end up ruining the day of someone in Lower
Mongolia.
Posted: Tuesday - February 08, 2005 at 06:44 AM
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