I agreed to go in order to see my wife's college town, take in a football game within their new stadium, etc., but for my girls, it was all about celebrating their love for Chip and Joanna Gaines. Therefore, we took in the obligatory Magnolia touristy settings (Silos, restaurant), and Angie picked up a cookbook (which she's never cooked anything out of, yet it sits proudly at the end of our breakfast room table collecting dust).
Overall, we western white people idolize and absolutely crave fame despite the fact that there's only an infinitesimal chance we'll ever see it. To us, it's the ultimate means to fortune and perhaps "changing the world for the better". Therefore, the next best thing is living vicariously through those who have achieved it. And this is where the Chip and Joanna Gaines of each American generation come into play for so many of us.
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New and newish Samson guys know the uniqueness of attending a Samson meeting. They feel the atypical within most every word spoken, and it simply doesn't feel at all natural, safe, or even (for many) very productive. I've heard guys describe it as simply coming together with "a bunch of losers / freaks".
Well, I can tell you based on what I know (key phrase) of Mr. Chip Gaines, he ain't no loser, therefore he certainly will never be a Samson guy.
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Chip Gaines represents the ideal red-blooded American husband / father / businessman. He's white, has perfect teeth, is rich, funny, and absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt in love with his wife, Jo.
Joanna Gaines is the daughter of immigrants. She's the more subdued, less outgoing of the two who's constantly feigning over her husband.
Think of them as the inverse of the Arnazes (Desi & Lucille) from the 1950s. Yet, the "I Love Lucy" show was simply a massively popular television situation comedy featuring two vaudeville actors (along with their two co-stars). "Fixer Upper", on the other hand, attempts to be much more grounded in reality (television) than "I Love Lucy" ever was.
But is it really, or are we as the audience simply being taken, yet again, for a Hollywood ride whilst all the while being measured up to a standard that's not at all grounded in reality?
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As I've written on this blog repeatedly, women (white women especially) crave security in and through their husbands. And this feminine attribute, I profoundly believe, is what the popularity of the Gaines' influential television empire is built on. Therefore, at the epicenter of that is Chip Gaines, or at least the Chip Gaines persona that is solicited to his fans as husband, father, contractor, and hardworking cowboy.
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Not long after the "I Love Lucy" / "Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" ended its run in the '50s, the Arnazes divorced due to Desi's infidelity / substance abuse. And this split was well documented, blindsiding and shocking the American public. Lucille Ball, like so many divorcees, never fully recovered from this despite her hasty second marriage.
Chip Gaines has maintained repeatedly that his love for his beloved Joanna will endure, and that they'll never split under any circumstances. And by God, it's as if it's been decreed by Moses himself simply because he said it on TV.
Similar to Ms. Ball's emotional fallout to her failed, very public marriage, her Hollywood career also fell apart soon thereafter, and this was due to the fact that what her husband had represented to her (& to the American public) was now seen as a ruse. In other words, he was simply a "loser" just like most every other American husband.
Oh, if only Samson Society had existed back in 1960...we would have welcomed Desi.
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So, why choose to not elevate / idealize TV personality husbands whether they're from the 1950s or today? Who instead, but a true loser, would "invest" in anything but attempting to obtain a marriage, family, bank account, notoriety, and influence similar to Chip Gaines'?
Because we don't know anything more than what is pitched to us through the TV screen, within the books, or through their websites about any of these people. And the key word here is pitched. Therefore, what we do know cannot be, under any circumstance, trusted.
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Below are the economics of being an entertainment celebrity within our western culture. It is not complicated.
How does Chip Gaines make his fortune? The same way Desi Arnaz did. Loyal viewership. (All eyes on me.)
Viewership brings in more ad revenue to networks, which in turn increases the already massive pay of TV stars. Loyal viewership (week after week after week of time wasted) is cultivated by precisely nurturing the pitch week to week, and this is done through pre-scripting and masterful editing. Publicists work diligently behind the scenes 24/7 along with teams of personal assistants to fine tune the illusion in order to sell it again and again (eventually into syndication) as a believable, entertaining narrative.
Women are fairly clear cut when it comes to what they perceive as either secure or insecure. Therefore, relative to TV personalities, the executives have learned how to carry forward, whilst localizing (whether it's 1958 or 2020), that Desi Arnaz image.
So...I'd like to personally circle back to this notion of security and how fundamentally important it is to women.
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+/-10 years ago, my wife was in her late 30s. At the time, we had two daughters, one in first or second grade and another in kindergarten. And that was to be our family since we'd chosen to wait 6 years into our marriage to attempt to get pregnant. All was good. Very good, in fact.
Then Angie accidently became pregnant a third time. And my wife isn't a woman who relishes pregnancy. Quite the opposite. Mainly due to the discomfort and (for her) constant anxiety relative to the health of herself and the baby.
Ever since this accidental third (high risk) pregnancy, she's been suspect of my penis and its ability to get her pregnant. Therefore, intercourse is tainted with that reality. Every. Single. Time. And this is the case despite her now being nearly 50 and experiencing perimenopause. In other words, there isn't any amount of seduction I can perform on her that might circumvent her now insecurity in me and my curs-ed dick.
Therefore, our sex life has changed dramatically. But, it's taught me so much about her (for the better, actually). Angie works full-time as a CPA, and her career is important (to both her and our household income). Plus, rearing children is exhausting due to it being loaded with heady responsibilities that are constant. Therefore, the impact of being outnumbered with three offspring can and has been overwhelming to us (along with every other family who's experienced this reality).
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I'm not a TV personality. Instead, I'm quite the loser / freak with a lot of problems who's invested himself in a ministry called Samson Society. I do not radiate constant secureness when I'm around my wife, nor do I know how to renovate houses (as they do on Fixer Upper). I don't drive a pickup truck or wear cowboy boots. And I'm usually not all smiles all the time - as if I just got laid by my smitten wife (because I likely didn't). Come to think of it, I'm not even sexually attracted to the mainstream American female!
And I'm at peace with all of that.
You, dear reader, should be too. To hell with TV personas like Desi and Chip. Good riddance. They are the cultural bane of Hollywood despite their being consistent big time money-makers who do so much indirect harm to us, all in the name of entertainment.
I'm simply calling it like I see it.
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| The opposite of a Samson Society guy. |
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