Kirk Cameron

One thing I don't like to talk about here at RJ Battles is politics. There are a lot of reasons for that, but the main one is the same reason that I don't talk about politics in real-life: even if it were possible to change other peoples' opinions, it wouldn't be worth all the arguing.

The online version of my local newspaper allows readers to post comments about news articles. I try not to read them (without success) because the comments usually make me dislike my fellow humans. Even if I agree with what a certain reader has posted, most of the time they've made their case in such an obnoxious way that it cancels out any positive feelings I might have.

Sometimes someone will post something so wrong- so clearly wrong- that I'll be tempted to respond. Arguments will form in my head until I have the perfect reponse but I don't post because I know that it's nearly impossible to change peoples' minds and even more unlikely that someone is going post afterwards and admit that they were wrong.

Everyone knows that it's frustrating to hold a certain view and then hear someone argue against that view with misinformation or plain lies. And I don't know why I care so much what other people think or say but I do and I guess I'm not alone.

If Cyndi Lauper started going on TV and saying that abortion was wrong and should be outlawed I'd be really upset. I like Cyndi and I care what she thinks and it would bother me if she went around saying things that were just wrong.

I don't care about Kirk Cameron and I never did. When I was a kid I watched Growing Pains ,along with everything else that was on at the time. Even then Kirk Cameron seemed bland; I didn't understand how he had any appeal to anyone. No great acting talent, not funny, and handsome only in the most basic, forgettable way.

I don't think I knew until after 1990, after I'd already lost interest in Growing Pains, that Cameron had become a born-again Christian. Since the show went off the air in 1992 he fell off my radar, and most everyone else's, completely. Once in a while, though, he'd pop up on TV. VH1 would do a show about the 80s and Cameron would be there talking about how important his family was to him, blah, blah, blah.

He's spent the last twenty years making Christian entertainment, and since since I haven't seen any of it, it wouldn't be fair for me put entertainment in quotes like I'd like to.

Anyway, a lot of people are upset with Kirk Cameron because he went on Piers Morgan and when he was asked if homosexuality is a sin he said it was "unnatural, detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization".

That doesn't really bother me. It doesn't bother me that he believes that and it doesn't bother me that he's willing to go on TV and admit that to the world. Maybe because I'm not surprised. I don't know.

I saw that a lot of people responded on Twitter. My favorite post was from Billy Eichner (@billyeichner)-
"So great to hear what Kirk Cameron thinks about gay people. Anybody know where Tina Yothers stands on the death penalty?"

I do feel bad about something else he said though- Morgan asked Cameron how he'd react if one of his children (he has six) told him they were gay. Cameron said he wouldn't have the same response as Morgan (basically, "Good for you"). Instead, they'd sit down and have a "heart to heart" (that phrase makes me cringe and it falls under the other definition of "gay": very lame) and Cameron would explain that you can't always act on your feelings.

This bothers me because, like I said, there are six Cameron kids. It's very likly that at least one of them could be gay. We'll never know how many young people have killed themselves because they had a secret that they felt they could never tell.

It's been my experience that Christian men who speak out against homosexuality sound exactly like alcholic Christians who speak out against drinking. In other words, homosexuality is something that they've experienced, if only in fantasies.

It's also been my experience that men who are completely straight are usually not hostile towards gays at all; they might see gay male celebrities as ridiculous, and they might find gay men in real life annoying, but basically they don't care. The real hatred usually comes from the "straight" guys who are fighting their own temptations. Just think of the anti-gay politicians who get caught trying to hook up with Congressional pages or in airport bathrooms.

But back to Kirk Cameron and what really bothers me about him. I read (on Wikipedia, so who knows but I tend to think it's all true- it hasn't been removed) that after Cameron became a born-again Christian he insisted that Growing Pains be squeaky-clean. Writers had to remove anything that was too sexual. Can you imagine what a drag it must've been to work with him back then? He was seventeen years old and telling grown adults what they could and couldn't put into their scripts.

But that's not even the worst of it. Julie McCullough was hired to play the Seavers' nanny in 1989 and after eight episodes she was fired because she had posed for Playboy and Cameron said to the producers that letting McCullough star on the show would be "promoting pornography" (this is what Wiki said Cameron said).

I feel so bad for this poor girl. She's a young actress and finally lands a role on a popular TV show only to be fired for such a stupid reason. I'm imagining her calling and telling her mother the bad news. McCullough says that one of the cast member's was offended that she'd posed naked and right away her mother would assume it must be Joanna Kerns, the mother, Maggie Seaver. McCullough's mother is shocked- Kerns seems so nice, you wouldn't think that she'd be such an uptight prude. "No, Mom, it wasn't Joanna Kerns." At this point she'd be confused. Maybe she'd think it was the daughter on the show, Carol Seaver. Maybe Tracy Gold blames the media and models for promoting an unhealthy body image to young woman. "No, Mom, it was the guy. The 17 year-old guy, Kirk Cameron. He thinks it's wrong that I posed naked in Playboy and he doesn't want me on the show."

I guess that in his autobiography Kirk Cameron denies having McCullough fired but I think he's not telling the full truth. Maybe he never said "Fire her", but I'm sure he made it very clear without actually coming out and saying it that he did not want her working on the show and as a result they let her go.

By the way, I read that Kirk Cameron did not invite any of his Growing Pains co-stars to his wedding. I'm guessing none of his Growing Pains co-stars cared much.