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Don’t look for Tom Petty at the communion rail any time soon. The rocker doesn’t have a reputation for being a political activist in his music, but with a song set to be released next week, “Playing Dumb,” he implicitly takes on the Catholic Church for “covering up” the clergy sex abuse scandals, according to a new cover story in Billboard.
I think the Catholic Church has a lot to do on this score, hopefully the new Pope will be able to get something done.
That said, I do think that the music and Hollywood scene has its own secret dirty underbelly regarding sex, party sex, drugs and young party girls. Maybe he should stick to trying to clean up his own backyard.
Tom Petty has every right to do this and I was glad to hear the news. This cover up had been going on for a long time now. Granted, the current Pope has done more than the last one. However, this can only help the Catholic Church to improve more rapidly and get its act together. The leaders failed in their watchdog role and we are talking about people victimized when they were children. They should take Petty's song as a constructive critique and support him rather than oppose him. Tom Petty's message will hopefully help the Church leaders get the message that this can't continue. If nothing else, it keeps the idea fresh that the clergy abuse of children was and is inexcusable.
I doubt too many posters will be opposed to Petty. He is standing up for people abused as children. IMO it would be sick to oppose that. I have a strong opinion on this one in favor of the song and its message. Thanks, Tom!
I saw a show a few years back, they were interviewing people about Tom Petty and I remember George Harrison saying he is quite honest, says it like it is. That was good to know.
The Catholic church lost a lot of support during it's years of cover up. I'm one, I have little respect for a "church" that would cover-up and deny such crimes against children. I grew up Catholic.
IM not Catholic but admire the new Pope and what hes doing... he has showed himself to be modest, honest and the real deal who wants to change mistakes in his church.
I wish Hollywood/rockers/celebs would be exposed about all the sex/drug partying that goes on. They keep it under wraps pretty well but I get the impression from tidbits here and there that there a lot of parties with pretty young things either invited with the explicit agreement that they are there for sex. I suspect that there is a lot of exploiting and broken promises going on, probably underage girls.
Circle of control, clean up your own house is usually my opinion.
I wish Hollywood/rockers/celebs would be exposed about all the sex/drug partying that goes on. They keep it under wraps pretty well but I get the impression from tidbits here and there that there a lot of parties with pretty young things either invited with the explicit agreement that they are there for sex. I suspect that there is a lot of exploiting and broken promises going on, probably underage girls.
Circle of control, clean up your own house is usually my opinion.
"Cleaning up one's own house" would also have been good advice to share with the Catholic leaders who can still be fairly harsh with people who have had a divorce, etc, but until recently (under this new Pope) had failed to discipline priests that had molested children. In fact, law enforcement should have been contacted in these cases. Don't you agree? They were protected for a long time instead.
If you have any recent "dirt" on Tom Petty, please share the specifics. I'll bet it does not compare to child molesting. Just my two cents.
Oh I'm ok with the cleaning up the Catholic priest abuse mess. No problem there. Yes law enforcement should have been contacted. People within the church should have broken ranks and shined the light on the coverup. Which is my point.
As someone who has been on tour forever with multiple bands, invited to celeb parties etc. I bet he has first hand knowledge of back stage party antics, big name celeb party antics that do not pass morality muster. Just because they are rock stars or big name actors does not let them off my hook. As a rocker/celeb he could make a difference because he has credibility in that industry. Underage girls/boys, drugs. The entertainment industry acts like porn is just some big joke.
Its always the keeping quiet that the biggest part of the problem. The family member that doesn't want to turn in another family member for molestation, priests covering up for priests, hollywood covering for hollywood, music industry keeping peccidillo's quiet.
So my suggestion is why doesn't he write a song about that?
Oh I'm ok with the cleaning up the Catholic priest abuse mess. No problem there. Yes law enforcement should have been contacted. People within the church should have broken ranks and shined the light on the coverup. Which is my point.
As someone who has been on tour forever with multiple bands, invited to celeb parties etc. I bet he has first hand knowledge of back stage party antics, big name celeb party antics that do not pass morality muster. Just because they are rock stars or big name actors does not let them off my hook. As a rocker/celeb he could make a difference because he has credibility in that industry. Underage girls/boys, drugs. The entertainment industry acts like porn is just some big joke.
Its always the keeping quiet that the biggest part of the problem. The family member that doesn't want to turn in another family member for molestation, priests covering up for priests, hollywood covering for hollywood, music industry keeping peccidillo's quiet.
So my suggestion is why doesn't he write a song about that?
If there were a requirement that a whistle blower or someone expressing disapproval of horrendous actions had to be perfect before doing so, then these things would never be opposed or stopped.
You mention celeb parties and that you bet he has some first hand knowledge, etc. You failed to specify a specific thing he has done wrong and failed to answer my question. Furthermore, there is almost always plenty of media coverage when rock stars or actors have drug issues or commit violence. Robert Downey Jr's drug problems and Lindsey Lohan's myriad array of legal/ethical issues were covered in great detail by the media. The Tommy Lee abuse of Pamela Anderson got significant media coverage and so have Phil Spector's even worse crimes. While there are always going to be some that will get away with it, they are seldom "let off the hook" and that is as it should be. It is easy to find these stories and they are definitely not swept under the rug.
If you think the music industry has been successful in keeping its peccadillos quiet, you just have not used "Google" enough and don't watch the news! The media is all over it. LOL!
The entertainment industry, aside from some of their support for some charities which is admirable, does not claim to be a moral example for people like Catholic priests do. So there is the hypocrisy and trust issue, too; especially when people are treated worse for a divorce than is an authority figure for molesting a child repeatedly.
So my suggestion is please realize these people were abused by priests when they were very young children. We are talking about children 10 or under in many cases abused by priests and not a 17 year old groupie backstage after a rock concert. Most likely the second one is a one time only instance as these bands travel to different cities while touring, where as those abused by the priests were repeated. The priests were also religious authority figures for the children, unlike the rock stars. Neither passes "morality muster", but it is obvious which is worse. It is also obvious which one is an actual crime! Plus we as a society generally hold priests to a higher standard than rock stars, but in the case of abusive priests, they were worse. Priorities!
So if priests are covering up for other priests (as you agreed in your last comment), it goes without saying that other people have to get involved in exposing it, denouncing it, and eliminating it. I don't have serious hangups about who does that. We do agree about the "keeping quiet" part being a problem, but the silence was far more evident for the priests for a long time (until recently) than it has been for most celebrities/entertainers. Furthermore, some of these celebrities willingly volunteer that they are in drug rehab, etc, while the priests that were protected by the church keep their issues secret as long as possible.
This is a link to a trailer for a documentary that may help you change your mind about Tom Petty's song regarding this matter. I think the reason he and others have not sung the same song about celeb/rock star parties, drugs, etc, is that there are already a hundred or so reporters getting us all that information already and often right after it happens. That information has been public knowledge for quite awhile and it almost always involves other adults and rarely children.
Last edited by chessgeek; 08-03-2014 at 11:35 PM..
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