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Sharon Stone gets a big kiss goodbye from Dior
of TheColumnists.com
Do we live in a wonderful world, or what?
Here we have the famous American blonde actress, theologian and philosopher Sharon Stone, who remarks for all the world to hear that the tragic earthquake in China could be karmic retribution for China’s treatment of Tibet.
According to The New York Times, Ms. Stone was at the Cannes Film Festival when she observed:
“I’m not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. And then the earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you’re not nice that the bad things happen to you?”
Ms. Stone thereby joins the ranks of right-wing evangelicals in the United States who have attributed September 11 and Hurricane Katrina to a God outraged over not-nice carryings-on in the United States such as uppity women and letting homosexuals get married. Maybe failure to wear a flag pin in your lapel. No word what God was vexed about to cause the floods in Myanmar, but we can always hope someone in a powder-blue polyester suit and a Bible will give us The Word.
If the Stone insights into karma caused titters among the Cannes attendees and Times readers, it is well that you weren’t around the headquarters of Christian Dior, the French fashion house that hired Ms. Stone to be its spokeswoman in China. They have dropped her like a hot escargot.
“That bigmouth Americain! We have millions of Chinese buying our clothes and handbags, happily spraying themselves with our stuff, and here she goes and probably causes the Chinese government to ban us! Karma, schmarma! Who’s bright idea was it to hire this woman in the first place? Do we still have the guillotine? Jacques, get your derriere over to Beijing and start groveling. Now!”
Well, you can’t blame the Dior people. There are, after all, somewhere around 1.2 billion Chinese, and half of them are probably women who would love to get their hands on a Dior handbag, or little black dress. And now, who knows? L’affaire Stone may mean they may never have the chance, if the authorities in Beijing are sufficiently annoyed. Never mind the Tibetans. Doing Dior stuff with your upscale women friends is a civil rights issue, isn’t it?
Dior issued a quick statement in China saying they recognized the philosophical speculation a la Stone was “hurtful.”
To her credit, Ms. Stone also issued a statement saying she would “wholly devote” herself to helping earthquake victims.
She probably will. She does seem to be a kindhearted sort, even if she has some unguarded moments. And, after all, if you can’t be unguarded during a film festival in the south of France, is life truly worth living?
It’s not like she took off her top, as a decidedly unguarded starlet did some 45 years or so ago to the astonishment of Robert Mitchum, the American actor who happened to be standing a few feet away.
But think about it. Here we have an American film actress saying something about a Chinese earthquake to the perceived detriment of a French company.
There’s globalization, and then there’s globalization. Just ask Sharon.
©2008 by Charles M. McFadden. The McFadden caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The photo is courtesy of China Daily. This column first posted June 9, 2008.
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