So I was in a bad mood – because I’m on too many drugs, because I’m paranoid about being able to choose the right hospital to give birth in, because a film synopsis is not coming along, take your pick – and then I was reminded of how much I love Arnold Schwarzenegger:
There’s been too little Schwarzenegger in my life as of late. Maybe it’s because I married a dude who’s obsessed with Jim Jarmusch and Lars von Trier (oh, and speaking of that – um, yeah, Cannes…). Or because getting older means, to a certain extent, letting go of past joys. Or maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones. I suppose everyone has an excuse for having too little Schwarzenegger in their lives, and mine are all good ones, but still. In times of crisis, a lack of Arnold only makes your problems worse. Don’t let it happen to you.
Natalia A. 
I realize I’m on very shaky ground because I’m about to defend a philanderer.
Did anybody else notice just how NICE Arnold was to his maid AND her children in the home videos of the boy’s birthday party?
Also, I’m so used to seeing famous men ditching their lovely famous wives for “trade-ups”, same look-type, but 1-2 sizes smaller and 10-20 years younger than the dumped wife.
Is it really stupid of me to look at the older, plus-sized lady who has managed to ignite some kind of joy (maybe even love)in a wealthy, famous guy like Arnie, and want to believe that maybe he’s not such a pig after all?
Yeah, it’s still a bit humiliating for the ex, but she’s a Kennedy. I’m sure she’ll be ok.
And I’ve always loved Arnold’s movies. He’d have to do something truly vile to make me change my mind about that. So far, the worst he’s ever been is a bit of a cad. Not bad enough to make me stop enjoying his flicks.
I missed Twins when it came out all those years ago. I think I’ll go watch it today.
I’m not a saint when it comes to relationships, I suspect most people aren’t, so seeing bile poured out on Arnold over all of this feels so silly.
You’re married with a child on the way. Don’t you see how this kind of thing destroys women? Cheating, I mean. I wonder what you’ll talk like if your husband does this to you.
If my husband does this to me, then I would still want it to remain a personal matter. I wouldn’t want it to affect anyone’s career, and I wouldn’t want random people discussing it with any authority either.
Cheating sucks, but like I already said, most people aren’t saints when it comes to relationships. And you don’t even need to physically screw someone else in order to screw over your loved ones either – how many people simply check out of relationships along the way? How many people stop giving a damn?
I can’t pretend to be some self-sacrificing Mother Theresa when it comes to love, most people can’t either, end of story.
And what about allegations of sexual harrassment, should we ignore that too?
No, duh. It’s shitty, and he himself admitted as much. Famous, powerful men get away with even worse, but that doesn’t somehow make it OK in his case. Though I’ll always like his movies, I’m not above admitting that yeah, it made me really upset and uncomfortable to read about it at the time.
That depends on the level of sexual harassment, Tabby. To the best of my knowledge, Arnie is an incorrigible flirt. I vaguely remember something some tabloid dragged up a number of years ago about a woman who alleged that Arnie had touched her inappropriately, before he was married. But it was a Juanita Broddrick kind of complaint. Like why the hell did the woman wait 20 some odd years, until right before an election to drag out her dirty laundry?
I’ve never seen any articles about Arnie taking serious liberties with a woman’s physical space. He’s a big man. If he so much as got too grabby, he could leave bruises without even meaning to. And I’ve never seen an article where a woman reported bruising or other physical injuries.
My guess would be that he’s just not used to women saying no, so he’s not shy about asking. He’s as old as my dad, and I’d still take him up on a 3 day fuckfest, if he asked me, and if there weren’t another lady in his life.
As long as he’s not a rapist, and as long as he hasn’t abused his position as governor, using public money for private gain, and as long as he didn’t harass any of his staff while he was in office, that’s good enough for me.
I LOVE Arnie’s movies.
Well, the man himself has said he was wrong on those occasions – so I trust his opinion of himself and of those incidents.
But I do find it strange when people, for example, compare him to Polanski – an unrepentant criminal who gave drugs to an underage girl and freaking raped her, and still doesn’t see the error of his ways, despite being a father himself.
Arnold has NEVER raped a child. That WOULD be cause for me to boycott his work.
Polanski is a NASTY thing. I’ve never so much as looked at any of his so-called ‘art’.
Accusations of affiliation with Nazis are a tad problematic, tho. I’m going to have to look into those a little more carefully. That’s the sucky thing about online ‘journalism’. Talented, level-headed writers like Nat are hard to find. It may take me a day or 2 to sort the tabloid smear artists from the unbiased folk who report for the greater good.
Apparently Arnie has donated large sums of money to holocaust survivor charities. Even this gesture of goodwill is getting hyped as an attempt to ‘buy people off’. This is how some people make their living. And that’s the way it is…
I have a friend who worked in the California statehouse before and after he became governor, and she said the norms about sexual harassment changed markedly and for the worse after his inauguration. Everyone knew he’d gotten away with it, and so that became the culture. I am not a fan.
Sexual harassment is a big part of the film industry, and I think people want more of it in government – it’s going back to the good old days, etc. So I’m not surprised to hear that, truth be told.
Yes, sexual harassment in the film industry, just like a high probability of rape during active military duty is to be expected. That’s not to condone it; it’s just one of the risks of the job. With people like Anne Heche talking about how sleeping her way to the top is “better than working [her] way to the middle”, why would we expect anything else?
I do expect much more from an elected official, tho. What happens in a person’s private sphere (an affair, gender orientation, a one-time drunken college bar brawl, etc.) shouldn’t be perceived as something that would effect a person’s performance on the job.
Public sexual harassment is quite a different matter. That’s abuse of power. Joy, why didn’t any of your friend’s co-workers come forward?
btw, I don’t vote conservative, and if I were a US citizen, a gun to my head couldn’t convince me to vote republican. So I guess you could say I’m not a fan of Arnold’s politics either. I was a fan of his movies, but I am giving that fandom some serious reconsideration.
At least the mother of his love child will do well financially, respect or no respect. She’s set for life.
The two-party system in the States is so ridiculous, that I don’t really buy most Democrats OR most Republicans, tbh. I just can’t unequivocally support one side of a mostly meaningless battle. Having said that, this is how we get shit done for now, so I try not to be defeatist about it (and tend to vote Democrat).
The state of California needs a porn star to run it, truth be told. Most porn stars have a way more realistic approach to life than mainstream politicians.
I hope Arnold goes back to making movies. Funny ones. His sense of comic timing has always been pretty impeccable, imho.
Women didn’t come forward for all the usual reasons that women don’t come forward after being harassed. My friend reported an incident to her (male) boss and was told, literally, that things were different now that Arnold was governor. Leaders set the tone.
I know what you mean, Joy. Sux that the only way for women who have been wronged on the job to get some twisted kind of ‘justice’ is to sneak into a guy’s private life and expose what he’s done to his wife. The people he employs don’t matter, but catching him pulling his pud somewhere else does. People’s priorities are just so messed up!
I’ve always liked Arnie’s comedy too, Nat. What Joy said is starting to make him look like a big self-serving creep, tho. I’m taking a break from his movies for now. I think I’ll go see Pirates 4 this week.
Leaders do set the tone – and the funny (sad, really) thing is how most are the same about it, underneath it all. I’m a cynic.
They are the same, I have come to believe. My younger sister was “lucky” to work for a congressman some years ago. When she tried to complain about harassment in the office, everyone said “but he’s a Democrat.”
You’re right that at least Schwarzenegger was able to acknowledge it as an individual. Most are immune…