Fish Wrapping
Cia Belli,
Well, I was just stumbling out of bed and in the midst of making my first cup of mother’s milk (I mean coffee) when I was pissed off and disgusted about some story on the news.
Why should we turn off the news?
Because it is ALWAYS bad and it is rarely true or the whole story.
News stories are poorly vetted at best and completely manufactured at worst.
How do I know? Recently I was privileged to be attending an event that a certain celebrity also attended. He will remain nameless because he deserves his privacy.
That very day I saw a story about how he and his family were all breaking up. The newspaper headlines were screaming about all the “drama” occasioned by this and the writers greedily embellished the stories by adding their own salacious lies.
And yet, I went to dinner that very evening and there was the family all sitting down happily and enjoying a dinner. There was NO drama, and NO weirdness. It was obvious that everything was fine among them and that these stories were patently false. I had the proof right there in front of me.
I have also personally met members of his family and I can tell you that the stories thrown at us by the media are opposite of the truth.
I have been fortunate enough to meet several other celebrities who are polar opposites of the insulting and vicious ways they are portrayed by the soulless media
It is a shame because these are good and honest people of good will.
Why does the media do this?
A long time ago during the silent film era, a man named Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle, worked his way up from tar paper shack poverty to riches by working as an actor and comedian. He was adored by his fans of which there were legions.
In his day he mentored Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
One day Mr. Arbuckle was giving a party at the St. Francis hotel in San Francisco. Also attendant at that party was a young girl named Virginia Rappe.
At this party Ms. Rappe was accompanied by a woman named Maude Delmont. Remember that name.
Unbeknownst to anyone at the party except for Ms. Delmont, Ms. Rappe was suffering from a medical condition known as chronic cystitis or in layman’s terms, a chronic bladder infection.
Ms Rappe had a botched abortion just prior to this party and this may or may not have been the cause of her condition.
During the party, Ms. Rappe imbibed alcohol and suffered severe abdominal pain. Anyone who has had a bladder infection knows how painful they are. Alcohol intensifies the symptoms and hers was so bad that her bladder burst the day after she was taken from the party to the hospital. Witnesses testified that Mr. Arbuckle had tried to help this woman as she was obviously very sick.
When she was taken to the hospital, Ms. Delmont told the doctors and informed the police that Mr. Arbuckle had raped Ms. Rappe. After her bladder burst from infection, Ms. Rappe unfortunately died. The doctors who examined her found no evidence of rape and determined that she had died of peritonitis (inflammation of the lining of the abdominal wall due to a bacterial infection or a ruptured internal organ) which was secondary to a bladder infection. Obviously the rape story was entirely fabricated.
Now, Ms. Delmont had a reputation for procuring young girls for parties who would then claim they were raped by a prominent producer or executive who would then be blackmailed by Ms. Delmont.
Word went out, based on this highly questionable woman’s false statement that Mr. Arbuckle had raped this girl and because he was heavy, had burst her bladder. The medical evidence was clear in that as a result of a severe bladder infection her bladder had burst. There was no evidence of rape.
Additionally, I’m sorry but very heavy men have sex with small women all the time, presumably and I have never heard of anyone having their bladder burst as a result of this. I don’t think it is even medically possible. Ribs would have to be broken and other trauma would be evident if this were to occur which is highly unlikely if not impossible.
There was ZERO evidence that Mr. Arbuckle had raped Ms. Rappe but William Randolph Hearst, the news paper magnate, ran story after story of entirely made up scenarios that painted Mr. Arbuckle as a rapist and a murderer.
The San Francisco District Attorney who had his sights set on becoming governor, picked up on the scandalous lies and pushed them as truth for political reasons.
Despite his innocence, Mr. Arbuckle, a loved and admired actor and comedian, was virtually lynched by the media and Mr. Hearst. His career was shattered and his personal life was destroyed. He was shunned by the film industry and his films were also destroyed.
Later the judge who heard the case and the jury found him innocent and even apologized for the destruction of his personal life and his career. It was characterized as an injustice by the judge but that particular story was not spread far and wide like the rape, murder accusation. In fact, few people know about it today.
I have found no evidence that Mr. Hearst had ever issued a retraction or even the fact of Mr. Arbuckle’s exoneration by judge and jury.
Later Mr. Arbuckle had the opportunity to ask Mr. Hearst, whose newspaper chain dominated the entire US, why he had viciously destroyed his career.
The answer?
It sells papers.
It sells papers.
I know I repeated this but I want it to sink in.
If one had a skeptical mind and had the ability to assume the worst, one could ask why Ms. Delmont brought Ms. Rappe to a party in the condition she was in. Obviously she was gravely ill and according to reports, Ms. Rappe had reacted badly to alcohol at other parties.
One could also ask why she was so ready with the lie that Mr. Arbuckle had raped Ms. Rappe?
And more importantly: WHO WAS PAYING MS DELMONT? Why would she concoct a story if she was not being remunerated in some fashion?
None of these things were ever asked. A good journalist who had truth as his goal would have followed this story down and gotten the actual truth.
Finding the truth now via books and websites is simple. Cobbling together the facts and finding the truth would have been simplicity itself at the time.
He could have saved the life and career of a good man who had helped so many people and had made so many happy.
I submit the hypothesis, subject to proof or disproof that Mr. William Randolph Hearst’s involvement was not limited to creating and embellishing stories. I believe Ms. Delmont was sent there with Ms. Rappe for the very purpose of spinning a lie that would sell papers.
A good man who had created a wildly successful life making people laugh and forget their problems, who had lifted himself up from abject poverty to being a leader in film and a fore runner of the best and brightest in the industry had been summarily destroyed because one man wanted to sell papers.
And I am sorry to say, the media has not changed one bit.
Bad news is trumpeted gleefully while great news is ignored.
Wild accusations are made and no responsibility is taken when they are proven false. The stories simply disappear and a new lie is pushed out to take its place.
If one lives on a steady diet of media, one can start to think that people are truly evil. One can think that the world is a bad and dangerous place.
One can think that the majority of people are bad.
And this is the worst lie.
We are not treated to pictures of people taking food to sick neighbors. We do not see the lengths people go to relieve another’s pain. We do not see the innate good in all of us. Instead we are told our neighbors are evil, they think wrong thoughts and they do awful things.
Some people do awful things but NOT the majority.
The people outside my front door are good and honest people. They work hard and every day they do the best they can to ensure their survival and the survival of others.
Most people are GOOD.
If a “friend” of mine talked and acted in the same manner the media acts and talks, I would cut them out of my life without a qualm.
There is no place in my world for that kind of negativity.
If you are feeling depressed for any reason, turn off the news for 10 days and don’t read the newspaper. See how you feel afterwards.
So I am turning off the news and turning on cooking shows, home improvement shows, foreign language courses and talking to my neighbors.
I anticipate that my life will make a dramatic turn for the better and I urge you to do the same.
Hope this helps
XO Chris
P.S. For more information on the life of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, read the book “I’Fatty”. I read it and found it very enlightening not only about a good man destroyed for the “benefit” of an evil one but also for insight about how the media really works.
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