Jane Fonda's Recidivism: Get a life!

Hanoi Jane, America's Sweetheart's image on tee-shirt

Jane Fonda, aka Hanoi Jane, finally came clean and so much as admitted that she really is unrepentant. She proved it by wearing a tee-shirt displaying a defiant and young Fonda at work in Vietnam, demoralizing U.S. troops in 1972 when interviewing and discussing her role in a new movie.

I thought she actually apologized for nosing in on foreign affairs some time ago, didn't she?

Evidently, she didn't really mean it--her fingers must have been crossed behind that yellow-striped back of hers--because these days, her response when asked about her wearing the inappropriate tee-shirt is, "They (the vets) need to get a life."

Tragic.

What kind of ego, what kind of low character does (and continues to do) what she has done? Think about it.

Wearing this kiss off tee-shirt is not just a silly, sad and unexpected response to one to two questions about an indiscretion of youth. It is a painful revelation of a rather immature, although aging woman who seems incapable of telling the truth.

Point in fact. When I was in my early thirties, in the 80s, I used her exercise books and tapes. They were helpful and extremely challenging. There were two or three of them, one of them aerobics and another was a step routine, the other I can't remember. I probably worked out to them two to three times a week, when I wasn't running four miles. Indeed, I was in pretty good shape. Frankly, however, I didn't carry on this heavy routine just for health's sake; I was addicted to it as well as using it to support my eating habit. Having always loved eating, it worked fine. But there were always areas that didn't respond as well. Fonda's body, though, always was perfect. Right on, I thought to myself. If she can do it, I can do it too. I just worked harder.

Fonda to Vets, "Get a life."

Someone might ask, well, if you didn't respect Fonda, why in the world would you buy her tapes? I'm not sure, except maybe I thought she had changed, or that I could forgive her. I don't know really. But I did know I liked the results, so I stayed with her. It was stunningly obvious the workouts she performed were working for her. Her brand had changed from traitor to harmless celebrity person in a leotard with pink and purple stripes.I can't believe I was so unprincipled at the time. I bought it all.

Much later, come to find out (no one knew), Ms. Fonda was in and out of plastic surgery suites for all kinds of liposuction and tummy tucks, arm contouring, you name it, she had it done. So, not only was she a traitor who refused to own up to her treasonous behavior, she was a snake oil salesman making zillions on her new brands of self-improvement. In the meantime, she was fooling vulnerable women into thinking all they had to do was one more rep of this or that exercise and they'll look like Jane.

No one looks like Jane except what the unauthentic Jane asks her doctors to make her look like. I feel sorry for the women who are dealing with body dysmorphic disorder, anorexia or who had eating disorders. She really did a number on them. I honestly don't see the difference between Fonda and some of the baseball and football players who use steroids. It's all a sham any way you slice it.

Then there's the unauthentic time when she became a Christian. As a Christian myself, I can't comment on that more than it seems if one is truly repentant for one's missing the mark, should not one stand up foursquare and admit it, instead if insulting the people whom you have hurt? It seems to be another deep flaw in Fonda's character, or perhaps it's a developmental issue--that she would consciously demean and attack Vietnam veterans and/or those who have already been so sorely affected by that damnable war. It's as if they're ex-husbands or someone she has total disregard and disgust for. They don't need a replay of her hard hearted treatment. There's nothing like humility when faced with public disgrace. She should learn from that, but her ego is so huge, I can't see that ever happening.

Moreover, her portrayal of Nancy Reagan in the above mentioned movie, "The Butler," holds a strange irony for me. Ms. Fonda said in an interview that "...she happened to know that Mrs. Reagan knew she was playing her in the movie..." She says this with an almost teenaged nanner nanners as she relates breathlessly this fact to the interviewer.

Ironically, it seems she yearns for a type of legitimacy by suggesting that because Mrs. Reagan not only knows about her role, she encourages it somehow. What difference does that make? In other words, Mrs. Reagan, because she thinks you're a good selection to play a cameo role, somehow approves of your dismal form of participatory politics? It's like the Capitol One credit card ad where Alec Baldwin is insisting because he's played a pilot in a movie he's capable of flying an airplane. It's really Freudian when you look at it.

This is so Fonda. I'm ashamed of myself for spending any money on her. But I can repent by advising Ms. Fonda that she is going upstream and will die on the rocks if she continues her head strong defiance. Some huge and uncomfortable truths are always at the end of big stories such as hers. This type of ego driven strutting has all the authenticity of a lightening storm at Disneyland. The real stuff comes when there aren't any lies left to tell.

Thanks for the read.