I am generally not a great fan of people telling actors that they should stay in their lane, but occasionally they really should stay in their lane. Bette Midler demonstrates a clear example of this.
It all started with a tweet by Dr. Jen Gunter
Why is Marianne
Williamson trending? She is a two bit, grifter whose books are an
atrocity. She apparently met Jesus at a party. Not an analogy, she says
she shook his hand. I read her books so you don’t have
to!— Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) December
20, 2020
Which caused Bette Midler to write the following
No, she
didn’t & you didn’t. You didn’t read
her books; you know nothing of what she stands for or speaks about. Go
collect your check from your alt-right bosses & find someone
else to smear. And BTW, I too met Jesus at a party, and shook his hand.
Prove I didn’t. https://t.co/LNK5Edc1dY—
bettemidler (@BetteMidler) December
20, 2020
It is hard to surprise me these days, but I must admit I hadn’t considered Bette Midler attacking Dr. Jen Gunter as being alt-right as one of the missing ingredients of 2020. Bette Midler’s defense was much appreciated by Marianne Williamson
Thank you, Bette. The difference between you & those who are lying about me is that you were there, you knew what people were going through and you knew the part I played in the community. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for showing up for a sister. I appreciate it deeply.
— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) December 20, 2020
Unsurprisingly, Dr. Jen Gunter actually knew what she was talking about.
Hi @BetteMidler
here are some page numbers and quotes from Williamson’s book on weight
loss when I read it last year. I accept your apology. https://t.co/e82dfuBUBm—
Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) December
20, 2020
Bette Midler is probably not going to admit that she is wrong about Marianne Williamson, but hopefully this will be a lecture in humility, making her actually do a little research before tweeting, and especially before accusing someone like Dr. Jen Gunter as being alt-right.
Okay, but it’s weird that Dr. Gunter didn’t provide page numbers and quotes for the “meeting Jesus” bit, which appears to be what Midler was denying. The citations simply don’t address Midler’s criticism.
That doesn’t mean that Midler was correct, of course, but Dr. Gunter appears to be seriously missing the point.
Bette Midler said to Dr Jen Gunter that “you know nothing of what she stands for or speaks about” which is much broader than her Jesus claim. Williamson is a dangerous quack, who Dr Jen Gunter has addressed before (as the tweets she linked to clearly shows), so Midler is completely wrong about this.
Midler actually doesn’t mention the Jesus thing at all.
Midler doesn’t understand how proof works. She made a claim that she met Jesus at a party, so it is her obligation to provide proof of such an extraordinary claim.
The reason I found the Jesus thing to be most consequential is because that’s the ONLY specific thing Midler referenced:
Although this isn’t discussing Williamson’s Jesus incident, it’s at least referencing it. Meanwhile there’s no reference to anything specific that might be refuted by “please feed my hunger and restore my right mind”.
Again, I’m not saying that Williamson isn’t full of shit. And I’m not saying that Midler’s statement
isn’t a broad one. But there’s only one thing Williamson said that Midler even referenced, so I find it odd that this is the comeback.
Anyway, I’m not trying to fight you or anything. I just find this a bit wanting as a comeback. I’m sure Dr. Gunter’s writing on Williamson is worthwhile, it’s just that she’s not well represented here where the rhetorical opponent is Midler & the only specific Midler mentions goes unaddressed.
Did that next-to-last Tweet™ quote from Gunter get pasted in where you intended another one from Williamson to go?
Met Jesus at a party?
I can accept that – for certain value of people named Jesus of which there’s a few.
Met the specific ancient Judean Jesus (or Yeshua) of New Testament fame OTOH, not-so-much.
Marianne Williamson: The woo peddler of choice for those who think Deepak Chopra is too sciencey.
Pierce, yes, thank you for pointing out I had put the wrong tweet there.