UPDATE: Elmo's accuser has recanted. I would guess that there was some sort of lover's tiff at the base of this—most likely that the accuser was dumped and retaliated with this story. We'll never know. That does not, I believe, invalidate anything that follows.
What is it about Elmo the Muppet and sex? Do you remember the Tickle Me Elmo craze? I'm sure you remember the year parents paid outrageous sums to get the doll but do you remember the Elmo sex craze? There was one in the mid-to-late 1990s. Young women have decorated their adult beds with childish toys since time immemorial but there was something different about Elmo. Most such plush toys get pushed aside when more adult activities took place but for some reason it became a big thing for a woman to to do outrageous things with her Elmo while naked. Put him in between her breasts or upper thighs and squeezed until he'd made his famous sound for example. When between the upper-upper thighs, the reaction after the third squeeze was particularly stimulating for all involved.
Fortunately for Elmo all this happened before the craze of girls willing putting up incriminating photos and video of themselves on the Internet really took off. But now it looks like Elmo's lucky streak has run out:
But it's not just what they write, it's also the stuff they have the good sense to let you figure out for yourself. For the puppeteer in question will now be leaving the show even though the people who make the show claim he has been vindicated!
But here is the thing, the news story doesn't tell us anywhere the real reason Kevin Clash is leaving the show nor does it tell us the simple truth that Kevin Clash cannot protect his reputation because it is now irredeemably trashed.
Here are the two most important facts in the story:
We can start to wonder can't we? But I want to focus on the writing style because there is something about this gutter style journalism that makes for great writing. Not in Proust, even though the relationship Clash had here is very much like one that Charlus has in The Novel. He never had the knack for this sort of touch.
But Evelyn Waugh sure did. Notice in the following how he never tells us what makes the scoutmaster naughty or what the instrument was being used for* and how that makes this writing so powerful.
The point of the above is not just that sin is banal but also that it only can be so because we are so unaware of ourselves as sinners. And thus a woman having an extramarital affair harasses others for what she believes to be there sins and Sebastian, who claims to be aware of his own wickedness, delights in that of scoutmasters.
A bonus point for Catholics: Notice the point Waugh makes here about human nature and its fallibility. Waugh thinks sexual sins are not something other people do but something we do. That is an important issue given the nature of the relationship between Sebastian and Charles. That is an aspect of Waugh a lot of Catholics have a hard time swallowing.
And not just Catholics. The modern secular view is that the sexual relationship between Sebastian and Charles is just fine and should be accepted if not glorified. Proust couldn't bring himself to say such a thing and perhaps couldn't even quite believe it himself but he sees love differently. One of the odd outcomes of this, as Waugh himself seems to have realized, is that it was much easier for Waugh to create gay characters who were happy and well-adjusted than it was for a writer like Proust.
And we cannot say that that is because Proust really knew what it was like to have a loving sexual relationship with another man and Waugh did not. If anything, the reverse was the case.
* For those who didn't know, the instrument was used to induce abortions.
What is it about Elmo the Muppet and sex? Do you remember the Tickle Me Elmo craze? I'm sure you remember the year parents paid outrageous sums to get the doll but do you remember the Elmo sex craze? There was one in the mid-to-late 1990s. Young women have decorated their adult beds with childish toys since time immemorial but there was something different about Elmo. Most such plush toys get pushed aside when more adult activities took place but for some reason it became a big thing for a woman to to do outrageous things with her Elmo while naked. Put him in between her breasts or upper thighs and squeezed until he'd made his famous sound for example. When between the upper-upper thighs, the reaction after the third squeeze was particularly stimulating for all involved.
Fortunately for Elmo all this happened before the craze of girls willing putting up incriminating photos and video of themselves on the Internet really took off. But now it looks like Elmo's lucky streak has run out:
It’s not a sunny day on “Sesame Street,” as the show revealed Monday that the puppeteer behind Elmo has been accused of having a sexual relationship with an underage boy.That's the New York Daily News, God bless them. People who hate the gutter press imagine that it's easy to do what papers like the Daily News do but it isn't. That is brilliant writing. The New York Times writers and editors couldn't do that.
But it's not just what they write, it's also the stuff they have the good sense to let you figure out for yourself. For the puppeteer in question will now be leaving the show even though the people who make the show claim he has been vindicated!
“We took the allegation very seriously and took immediate action,” Sesame Workshop said in the statement. “We met with the accuser twice and had repeated communications with him. We met with Kevin, who denied the accusation. We also conducted a thorough investigation and found the allegation of underage conduct to be unsubstantiated.”But he is till off the show:
“Although this was a personal relationship unrelated to the workplace, our investigation did reveal that Kevin exercised poor judgment and violated company policy regarding internet usage and he was disciplined,” Sesame Workshop said.
In light of the incident, Clash will be moving away from Sesame Street for the foreseeable future.
“Kevin insists that the allegation of underage conduct is false and defamatory and he is taking actions to protect his reputation,” the Workshop noted. “We have granted him a leave of absence to do so.”No doubt Stalin liked to insist that he'd "granted Trotsky a leave of absence" too. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at the meetings where the exact terms of Kevin Clash's departure were negotiated.
But here is the thing, the news story doesn't tell us anywhere the real reason Kevin Clash is leaving the show nor does it tell us the simple truth that Kevin Clash cannot protect his reputation because it is now irredeemably trashed.
Here are the two most important facts in the story:
- This was a same-sex relationship. You can pretend all you want but society isn't fully accepting of homosexuality and it never will be. The most gay men can hope for is tolerance and tolerance always comes with limits, which brings us to the second crucial fact.
- Kevin Clash is 52 and his accuser is 23 and the relationship seems to have started a number of years ago.
We can start to wonder can't we? But I want to focus on the writing style because there is something about this gutter style journalism that makes for great writing. Not in Proust, even though the relationship Clash had here is very much like one that Charlus has in The Novel. He never had the knack for this sort of touch.
But Evelyn Waugh sure did. Notice in the following how he never tells us what makes the scoutmaster naughty or what the instrument was being used for* and how that makes this writing so powerful.
"Oh dear, it's very difficult being a Catholic."As I write this, a married public official has had to resign because of an affair he was having. The interesting thing about it, from our perspective, is that he was found out when the woman he was having the affair with started sending harassing e-mails to people she considered his enemies. Think of how stupid that was! But for her, in love, it probably felt just fine. The power of erotic love is such that we all feel like we live in some protected sphere of inviolable purity when we are basking in Eros' lap.
"Does it make much difference to you?"
"Of course. All the time."
"Well, I can't say I've noticed it. Are you struggling against temptation? You don't seem much more virtuous than me."
"I'm very, very much wickeder," said Sebastian indignantly.
"Well then?"
"Who was it used to pray, 'O God, make me good, but not yet?'"
"I don't know. You, I should think."
"Why, yes I do, every day. But it isn't that." He turned back to the pages of the News of the World and said, "Another naughty scout-master."
"I suppose they try to make you believe an awful lot of nonsense?"
"Is it nonsense? I wish it were. It sometimes sounds terribly sensible to me."
"But my dear Sebastian, you can't seriously believe it all."
"Can't I?"
"I mean about Christmas and the star and the three knights and the ox and the ass."
"Oh yes, I believe that. It's a lovely idea."
"But you can't believe things because they're a lovely idea."
"But I do. That's how I believe."
"And in prayers? Do you think you can kneel down in front of a statue and say a few words, not even out loud, just in your mind, and change the weather; or that some saints are more influential than others, and you must get hold of the right one to help you on the right problem?"
"Oh yes. Don't you remember last term when I took Aloysius and left him behind I didn't know where. I prayed like mad to St Anthony of Padua that morning, and immediately after lunch there was Mr Nicholas at Canterbury Gate with Aloysius in his arms, saying I'd left him in his cab."
"Well," I said. "If you can believe all that and you don't want to be good, where's the difficulty about your religion?"
"If you can't see, you can't."
"Well, where?"
"Oh, don't be a bore, Charles. I want to read about a woman in Hull who's been using an instrument. Thirty-eight other cases were taken into consideration in sentencing her to six months – golly!"
The point of the above is not just that sin is banal but also that it only can be so because we are so unaware of ourselves as sinners. And thus a woman having an extramarital affair harasses others for what she believes to be there sins and Sebastian, who claims to be aware of his own wickedness, delights in that of scoutmasters.
A bonus point for Catholics: Notice the point Waugh makes here about human nature and its fallibility. Waugh thinks sexual sins are not something other people do but something we do. That is an important issue given the nature of the relationship between Sebastian and Charles. That is an aspect of Waugh a lot of Catholics have a hard time swallowing.
And not just Catholics. The modern secular view is that the sexual relationship between Sebastian and Charles is just fine and should be accepted if not glorified. Proust couldn't bring himself to say such a thing and perhaps couldn't even quite believe it himself but he sees love differently. One of the odd outcomes of this, as Waugh himself seems to have realized, is that it was much easier for Waugh to create gay characters who were happy and well-adjusted than it was for a writer like Proust.
And we cannot say that that is because Proust really knew what it was like to have a loving sexual relationship with another man and Waugh did not. If anything, the reverse was the case.
* For those who didn't know, the instrument was used to induce abortions.
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