They tried to make me go to rehab.....

So, Mark Owen* has followed Tiger Woods in becoming the latest in a long line of celebrities to enter rehab. After a string of affairs and a bit too much of grandpa's old cough medicine, the Frodo Baggins of key-change driven up-tempo fiasco has decided he's got a problem. And we all know what any self respecting celebrity must do after being a bit of a t**t; stick a label on the condition and work it out with a group of other self-serving egomaniacs.
I have no inside knowledge of this story, but I would be willing to bet this little holiday in a home for the bewildered coincides in some way with one of our esteemed tabloids running a story on one or more of his affairs.
I suppose this relates to something else that I've been thinking about lately (and discussing with another student who works in a school) concerning naughty children. When I was at school there were very few kids with 'syndromes', just a handful who had a genuine problem with dyslexia and a hardcore of naughty little sods who were mostly kept away from the other kids 'cos they were disruptive and unruly.
Why do we feel the need to absolve ourselves from responsibility both as individuals and parents? Putting a tag on someone who behaves in a manner unacceptable to others is both unhelpful and counter productive. Instead of discipline and a happy home life for kids we pump them full of mood changing drugs. Rather than telling an overpaid pop star to keep it in his trousers and stop sniffing his ill gotten fortune away (i'm not suggesting Mark Owen is on drugs, just speaking generally), we elevate them to 'victim' status and give them a spread in 'Hello magazine'.
Here's Chris Rock on crazy kids (contains very strong language and may offend):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF4YQZIsRrM
and also an old article which makes some good points:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/132774/is_rehab_the_new_black.html?cat=2


* I have met Mark Owen on a T.V shoot, (I was in one of the other bands on the show) and he seemed a thoroughly decent chap. I'm not singling him out as any worse or better than any other celebrity rehabbers.