Orly Taitz - The Fame Monster

"Let's play a love game - Play a love game"
Do you want love? - Or you want fame?"
- Lady Gaga, The Love Game

Latest news from Birtherville has it that the Media Sensation Known as Orly Taitz (MSKOT) has had a double-dose of disappointment in the last few weeks.

First she had her Quo Warranto case in Washington D.C. dismissed quite harshly, which means her attempts to get standing and force discovery against Obama are pretty much done now. And then, just to add insult to injury, she was told that the Tea Party in Pleasanton, California, didn't want her to come address the crowd after all - she was "too controversial," even for them, they said.

The commentary on these two events from the peanut gallery - which, of course, includes yours truly - has been laughter, derision, and dark amusement, and with understandable reason. It's a sad and terrible thing to watch someone tilt so furiously at what can only be the most obvious of windmills.

And yet, like people faced with a train wreck, we can't stop watching.

Years ago, there was a Life In Hell cartoon: "Annoying Performance Artists Magazine" had Binky exclaiming "Help! I'm covering myself with stinging red ants!" - or words to that effect. At times, while reporting on Taitz and the other Birthers, it has seemed as though she's been giving those poor ants a real workout. And here we are, laughing at her self-inflicted pain, when we really should be asking her if she's seen a therapist, lately.

Of course, her cheering squad at World Net Daily, and on various forums, think she's doing a great job. She's keeping the flame alive, and not letting "the usurper" get a moment's peace. "Obummer" has had to spend two million dollars* defending himself from the defender of Natural Born Citizenry, and if they have any say in it he'll be spending every cent he has, right down the penny in his loafers, until 2012 or 2016, when it will be a very moot point.

So who needs therapy, then? Her for charging the windmill? Them for egging her on? Us for laughing at the whole thing?

But hey, we can't be in the wrong, can we? It doesn't matter if she's stupid or crazy - so long as she's wasting American taxpayers' money tying up the courts with this nonsense, then we, as taxpayers, have the right to call her out.

That goes double if, as some have suggested, there are racist or Islamophobic tendencies at work, either in her or her fan base - maybe both. We don't have to stand quietly for that shite, ever.

Me, I'm starting to wonder. Maybe - just maybe - this isn't about misplaced patriotism or defense of the Constitution with Orly. Maybe this isn't about insanity or stupidity, or racism, or fear of a secret Muslim in the White House.

(It isn't even fear of a secret Socialist in the White House, either, unless you have clearly not been paying attention to what President Obama's done since he took up residence in D.C. Socialism, ye be not here. )

I think this is all some kind of call for attention gone horribly awry.

I think the Media Sensation Known as Orly Taitz started out wanting something, and got it, and became overwhelmed by it and unable to turn away. Not even when she was facing $20 K fines, not even when she was being told off on live television, not even when she was being made a national laughingstock and international embarassment.

I think this is all about attention. I think Orly Taitz has become MSKOT, and MSKOT is a Fame Monster.

Let's consider the facts, as we know them.

* Orly Taitz is not stupid. She is very clearly incompetent when it comes to legal matters, as the horrible state of her legal briefs will attest to. But she passed a legal course that entitles her to practice law in California, and is a licensed Dentist - both of which take some doing. A truly stupid person would not be able to do both of those things, unless she cheated her way through the exams.

* Orly Taitz is not insane. I know there are those who disagree with me on this point, and there are times I haven't been so sure about that, either. But in hindsight I think her inability to sound rational is partly due to the fact that English is clearly not her first language. When she gets flustered, she starts losing her ability to concentrate and starts tripping all over herself and freaking out.

* Orly Taitz SEEMS TO BE more than a little needy of attention. And if we are willing to take the stories of her wild affair with Charles Edward "Anarchy" Lincoln III at face value - a dicey proporition, yes - then we must also ask if she is more than a little needy of love.

So if she's not stupud, and she's not crazy, and yet she's willing to risk destroying her marriage, professional reputation, and standing in the political community just to feel loved and wanted, then we have that one glaring possibility left. And that is that Orly Taitz really wants attention, for whatever reason.

Doesn't that make a lot of sense?

Doesn't that explain why a person who is not stupid would go out of her way to front for some really stupid beliefs and theories?

Doesn't that explain why someone who is not crazy would go out of her way to champion some really crazy ideas?

Doesn't that explain why someone who has a successful dental practice and legal career would toss them both to the winds to fight for those beliefs and ideas?

And doesn't that explain why she'd toss her marriage aside for an affair with CEL III while engaged in the fight for those beliefs and ideas?

Of course, I could be wrong. She could really believe everything she's saying and doing. She could be a true believer. She could be anything at all.

But I think she's turned into a Fame Monster. ANd if so, I think she'll keep doing this for as long as she's able. Because once you go Fame Monster, you never go back.

You just reinvent yourself, over and over again.




* A well-repeated but obvious lie, as this Mother Jones article points out.