Over the Edge

Everywhere you turn there's some kind of program or therapy designed to deal with behavior that's destructive, anti-social, or just downright stupid. There's anger management, twelve-step meetings, rehab. What it really does is get your money. Even Dr. Phil is just more TV bait meant to hook you into buying the sponsors' products. Why doesn't everyone simply grow up? It's all about what I call "socially acceptable tantrums." What's a tantrum, after all, if not a glaring grab for attention, a way of saying "I want what I want, I want it now, and I don't want to have to do anything to get it." Nothing, that is, except turn everyone else's life into a shambles. A famous TV star gets roaring drunk and crawls around on the floor half naked eating a hamburger while his daughter videotapes his self-degradation. Tantrum. Another star loses it and verbally abuses his child on her message machine, calling her a "little pig." Tantrum. That's right, I said "socially acceptable." If they did what a five-year old does and cry hysterically while pounding the floor with their fists with any kind of regularity they'd be locked up in a mental home. Instead society goes "tut tut," the person "accepts responsibility," enrolls in a program, and shells out big bucks to someone with a degree claiming expertise.