parent trap

Ahhh, Alec Baldwin has a set of brass balls on him. No, not for berating his pre-teen daughter in a voice mail message. But for doing something so freaking brutally honest and not thinking that it would get out to the media.

Before I get to the meat of the matter, let me first say that talking to children when you are upset is not always the best course of action. Even if your intentions are in the right place (reprimanding your child to ensure there is no repeat of bad behavior), you will always say things you may regret. The whole “pig” accusation was a bit over the top, especially in a world that covets beauty and weight. But the message was still valid. If he is to be believed, and I don’t see why he shouldn’t be, the child was mind-fucking him at a time where he is being manipulated by his ex wife.

We can’t possibly know how difficult the road has been for Alec during the divorce and custody litigation. The justice system, especially family and divorce courts, lean heavily toward mothers. As such, these courts tend to err on the side of caution and side with the mother in all but the most extreme cases. From what I have read, Basinger has pulled out all the stops in an effort to totally ruin her ex-husband. Whether that is justified or not, once you pull your children into the battle to destroy your ex, you lose any and all sympathy with me (having gone through that with my parents, I know there are no winners in that war… just shattered, empty shells of the people you were and could have been). It isn’t clear who leaked that message, but I am gonna go out on a limb and say it wasn’t Alec and probably not his daughter… which leave Basinger and her lawyer. If that is the case, then she willfully released evidence of a closed-court case, thereby committing a criminal act. And keep in mind, this wasn’t done to protect the child, this was done to humiliate the subject of her ire. Whatever Baldwin did to Basinger, nothing justifies using your children to get back at your ex.

As far as the content of Alec’s message to his daughter, I don’t think it was all that bad… I mean, granted, my experiences with my mother make that message seem like a love note in comparison. Aside from the language, his message was in essence, “Hey, look, you have forced me to work within your schedule and now that I have, you still think so little of me that you don’t even bother to meet up to your obligations and that is a sign of disrespect that I cannot abide!”

Is that so wrong? To teach your children that their are repercussions to even the most trivial actions? It may not have been the most kindly worded lesson, but I would hope that everyone took something from the experience. But on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most honest, I would give Alec’s performance a 10.