I’ve given this topic some distance and some thought. Yesterday, I made a vow at noon to not visit any celebrity related sites until 2 hours before bedtime that night. I kept that vow and am glad I did. It gave me a chance to catch up on some work, run some errands, watch some youTube, talk with my family, … and sort through some pics.
It also afforded me the chance to think with a clear head about the turbulent last couple of weeks and my role in the whole affair.
As I see it, there are 3 possible scenarios regarding the release of the photos:
A) The official story, in which a group of fellow celebrity loving computer geeks hacks into celeb accounts, downloads their pictures, trades them amongst themselves, and then decides to post them on the public web in the hopes of getting notoriety and donations.
B) The other, unspoken scenario, which is that the leaks were orchestrated by the celebs themselves for marketing purposes, and possibly to keep me happy. This exact leak has long been a hidden wish of mine for about fifteen years now, with the caveat that I actually wanted to see most of the pictures and videos.
C) And then there is the combination scenario, which holds that the celebs purposely left their accounts unguarded and hackable in the hopes that someone would take their pictures and videos and spread them. I think this one is the most unrealistic.
Personally, I’m not sure of what to believe at this point. I’m very confused. Either (A) or (B) seems equally likely to me.
It’s not a stretch to think that Hollywood would release a leak like this intentionally. Hollywood actresses are natural exhibitionists, and a successful fulfillment of my dream accomplishment would tie me to them forever and mean fantastic fortunes for the entertainment industry, if not the entire US economy. Happy, confident stars make better franchises than unhappy and insecure ones, and good franchises rake in tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars of profit spread across the whole economy. They have a buoying effect not just on film, but on almost every industry in the nation. A good franchise creates jobs. It’s not a stretch to think that powerful vested interests wanted me to see these pics and vids.
On the other hand- I can guarantee that there exist hacker rings that target celebs in exactly same way that the media said they were targeted. The media’s story is not unrealistic, and I’m sure that my fantasies are not mine alone. From a global perspective I’m sure millions have entertained fantasies similar to mine.
Initially, I had figured that scenario (B) was the accurate one. The US is the “Hunger Games” economy now. Wall Street is bankrupt, and needs constant financial support to keep from imploding. War is no longer profitable. The oil wells sit empty and abandoned. The US doesn’t have the manufacturing base that it once had. So we’ve got… Hollywood, and Twitter, and little else. So a happy Tom means a rich and powerful US, while a sullen Tom means a currency collapse and an economy that sinks into the 3rd world. It’s sad that this is the case, but the situation is what it is.
That being the reality, it seems logical and appropriate that people would bend over backwards to keep me satisfied, regardless of other concerns.
This is also, naturally, why I’ve convinced myself I can’t cease doing what I do. Would even I have a job if I stopped keeping my girlfriends happy? I work in Pharmaceuticals, which would seem to be unconnected to Hollywood… except it isn’t, since every big industry in the US is lashed together and interconnected. Hollywood is connected deeply to the TBTF banks that organize so much of the Healthcare industry. If Hollywood stumbles, the repercussions will be felt in my dept., too. I could be out of a job, like many, many others.
So I figured that these leaks were a surprise gift from Hollywood to keep me happy. I never actually expected to see this ultimate fantasy of mine play out in real life, so it was unbelievable when I saw what was happening. I was initially so flattered and ecstatic, which then unfortunately led to a profound disappointment when I realized that I would not get 95% of the stuff I thought I was going to get.
And then this disappointment led to anger when the really bad, negative things started. Things like Jennifer Lawrence’s and McKayla Maroney’s people saying ghastly things about prosecuting anyone who posts the pics online. Things that should never be said by any celebrity’s team were said.
As a celebrity, you should never ever under any circumstances threaten a mass of your own fans with prosecution, even if you don’t intend to actually back up your threats with real action. This is a cardinal sin and always makes the celebrity look like a bully.
Even if legal action is justified, there is no way to spin that kind of situation into something that looks good for the celebrity. Reading the press releases from Lawrence’s people last weekend, I got flashbacks of the music industry’s stupid and self-defeating lawsuits against mp3 sharers a decade ago. Remember when the headlines were filled with multimillionaire musicians suing penniless, debt ridden college students for tens of thousands of dollars? Yeah, I’ve tried to forget that too.
As it stands, it seems like the actions of Lawrence’s and Maroney’s teams may have ruined the credibility of Reddit and 4chan, the net’s most important message boards. Reddit and 4chan users are justifiably up in arms after the admins of those sites displayed obvious favoritism by bowing to Hollywood pressure to remove threads that discuss and trade pictures from the leaks, while promising that other, similar threads that deal with leaks of non-celebrities will remain in place. This is bad, especially for the celebrities themselves, because it broadcasts the enormous gulf between “them” and “us”. I don’t think I’ve ever seen message boards present such a clear double standard to the public before. This was NOT smart on the part of anyone involved. Someone needs to have a sit down with Lawrence and Maroney’s teams, I think.
Of course, all of these thoughts I’m having here are predicated on the idea that the celebs’ careers are the most important consideration here. Perhaps that isn’t the case; maybe there are more important things at stake. Maybe the celebs are telling the truth and they really, truly didn’t want the pictures out, and it’s worth it to them to risk hurt to their own careers to make a statement.
I’m not sure yet.
From my perspective, now that I know that the pics are out there, I want them, especially because I’m 95% sure that the celebs themselves would like me to have them. If they could just magic them onto my hard drive, I’m sure they would. And I’m a perfectionist, so the idea that I missed almost all of the pictures and videos just grates on me terribly.
As I said, this leak has been my hidden fantasy for something like 15 years. The fact that it was dangled in front of me and then snatched away at the last minute does not sit well with me, rightly or not.
This isn’t to knock what I’ve received, which has been golden. In fact, the reason I’m disenchanted right now is because what I’ve received is incredibly awesome. I wonder so much what the rest is like.
I don’t understand why the celebrities are trying to bury the pics before I’ve had a chance to get them. Now that they’re out, why not let me see them? It will make me happy! I’m not going to be comfortable for a long time if I miss them. Don’t they understand how important this has become to, well, everything? The big picture is at stake here! Unless… I know, I know. Maybe they have other interests.
If I could talk with my girlfriends, what I would suggest is this: I think that the pics should be released, slowly and continuously but quietly, in a way that would allow me to see and collect them. My desires are of supreme importance today. So if they didn’t leak them initially, they should be given away freely now.
The problem that I have is that this whole experience has introduced tension and uncertainty where there was none before, and that worries me. Something changed in me last weekend, and I’m not sure what it was. I’ve never really felt like this before. The opportunity is absolutely there for more concrete and positive relationships, but I’m worried about the long term if the situation as it is today continues like it is. I know that I’ve said similar things on this blog before, but this time it feels different somehow. TBH, I just don’t know if I want to do it.
Too much is riding on this for there to be any added tension. The US economy, for starters, and the future, definitely. In the very near future, the US economy will undergo a profound transformation when the US dollar loses it’s global reserve status, and if my girlfriends want to navigate this strange new world effectively, they will need my guidance.
I’ve never told anyone this, but I suspect that me being granted these powers had something to do with me preventing a calamity at some point within Hollywood or the greater US (or even the world). I’m not really sure of why I think this or what it is that I am supposed to prevent, but that is my hunch. This sounds weird, but I might be on a “Mission from God”. Not sure.
A thought- if I can’t be given the pics and vids online, it may be a good idea to break the fourth wall and give them to me directly. This will keep the train on the tracks.
I don’t think that that will happen of course, but it’s an idea.
Well, I haven’t talked with a celebrity, really, since that brief convo with Dove last night, which makes it a solid day since I’ve been in the scene. I think I might jump in again now.
But first…