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| Joe Exotic and Tiger friend |
It seems that during every crisis there is something that catches our attention as a distraction from the thing we are really facing. 9/11, earthquakes here in California - we had one near Palm Springs last night, runs on the stock market, riots and wars somewhere in the world focus our attention on something grim. We often need a distraction to look away if only for a brief time. Days after 9/11 and the unrelenting covering of that tragedy, I remember we went to see the movie RAT RACE. Silly yes, but I got two hours away from reality and some good belly laughs to boot. This worldwide Pandemic is no exception. While I can't speak of what people in China or Italy, France or Spain are watching, reading or doing in their time of "shelter-in-place," I do know what America is watching.
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| Viewing Netflix documentary JOE EXOTIC: Murder, Mayhem & Madness |
People in the United States and even maybe around the Netflix world are watching TIGER KING: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. This seven part, mini-series, a form of docudrama made for Netflix is so wild and well, crazy, that no fiction writer could make this stuff up!
It relates the tale of Joe Exotic, a Gay renegade combination of Oklahoma cowboy, Gay queen, animal lover and snake oil salesman who created a larger than life persona. Truly, there has never been someone quite like this.
Born Joseph Schreibvogel (A German name that translates to "writing bird") Joe Exotic among other names, legally took the names of his last two husbands so legally he was Joe Maldonado-Passage.
This docudrama chronicles his beyond reality lifestyle, one so bizarre that as detestable as he and many of his competitors are, you just can't turn away. Why? Because you simply can't believe what you are seeing not only just from him but from some of his competitors and the fact that there are more exotic tigers living in the United States than in the wild. Unacceptable!
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| Carole Baskin, Joe's nemesis of BIG CAT RESCUE in Florida |
Joe manages to gather them in Wynnewood, OK, a bleak place in the middle of Oklahoma that apparently gave no oversight to his G.W. Zoo. Joe's nemesis is Carole Baskin, who runs BIG CAT RESCUE in Florida who in her own right is a suspicious and shady character. She tries to shut Joe down thinking he is profiting from the breeding and selling of his 200 Tigers, lions, cheetahs and a whole bunch of other wild creatures.
Baskin is no saint. Her millionaire husband disappears after their marriage and she suddenly has a fortune to continue their rescue of big cats. The husband is never found (Joe speculates that the body was fed to the big cats in Baskin's care) and we learn that she makes a healthy profit pleading for volunteers to help run her own zoo (that are not paid) acting like a 60's flowerchild. She and Joe have a web presence and they capitalize on it. The images of her with a wreath of flowers in her hair, flowing blouses, with animal prints everywhere - house, clothes, vehicles, she tries to create an image of a loving, caring woman. She is not.
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| Joe with two of his five husbands |
Joe is no stranger to the matrimonial aisle. He meets his first husband in the 1980's, a bouncer at a Gay bar who dies in 2001 from HIV complications. In 2003 he meets another 19 year-old, John Findlay. Joe, Findlay and Travis Maldonado marry in 2014 (you see the wedding tape). Travis may be straight but is enticed to stay for pot and toys. He accidentally shots himself in the G.W. Zoo gift shop while talking with Joe's campaign manager. Finally Dillion is found on Grindr and in 2017 they marry. Gives new meaning to ménage a très, no? Some say Travis and Dillion were straight.
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| Joe ran for President and when that failed for the governor of Oklahoma. He got 19% of the vote! |
The animosity builds and Joe gets distracted. He runs for President then Oklahoma governor getting 19% of the vote in a campaign you might only see in an X-rated movie house. He blatantly copies Big Cat Rescue's logo, makes threats online about killing Baskin. The final straw and the one that got him in jail was his attempt to have Baskin murdered. He gave $3,000 to one of his employees to make the hit, but the employee, no stranger to the legal system and prison, takes the money and had a good time before returning. Nevertheless Joe was tried, found guilty for that and Federal Game law violations and is currently serving 22 years.
How much money can there be in holding big cats? I saw an article today that estimates that Joe, today, is still worth $10 million. That's a lot of cats!
The draw though is that, well, it's utterly disgusting and mesmerizing. I have long been a non-fiction fan because you just can't make this stuff up! It seems that people and events stagger the mind that until they happen, make us unable to consider, even think about. It's a train wreck from beginning to end and, like a crash on the freeway, we just can't look away. I would even question that you could "design" this, but as you watch you clearly see it was. Every step was choreographed with, however, not a clear ending in sight.
Except for the murder-for-hire attempt, is Exotic any different from Buffalo Bill Cody? Or the Ringling Brothers? They had wild beasts they exploited making money off the public paying terrible wages as they tintilated the public while fattening their wallets. While Joe may have paid his employees less than minimum wage he did give people, many felons, a second chance. Baskin, wealthy in her own right, uses "volunteers" for free and lived a pretty good lifestyle, wealthy herself. So who was living off the fatted hog?
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| Maybe he should have called himself Joe Cody or Joe Ringling. Truthfully is / was there any difference? |
This documentary also highlights the perils and danger of these "private" zoos, shelters ... whatever you want to call them. We need to remember that wild animals are, well, wild! One of the cats nearly bites off the arm off one of his employees, others are scratched and mauled. He was lucky. Here in California a "pet" wild chimp literally bit the face off its friend and handler. It had been there for years when suddenly ..... More than we should, we read about or see and hear stories of patrons getting killed or maimed in private zoos, far more often than an official zoo. As I said, these are WILD animals and you can never let your guard down. Why do we go? The thrill, the danger? Clearly the folks visiting any "shelter" or private zoo could be putting their own lives in danger. However, if someone puts on a show, there will be an audience. Making a buck is the American way.
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| The "Donald" as Joe. Rumors on Facebook said junior compared himself to Joe. Someone took him up on a potential look alike. But, it's all fake news, right? Remember his ancestors were German and his mother was Scottish and his wives Slvenian. |
Remember, a good many American heroes of the past on closer inspection today could be considered murderers, cheats, land grabbers, crooks, sexual predators. This modern era looks at things very differently TODAY as they did back THEN. It's only now that we are re-writing what is and is NOT acceptable. Consider ... Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, the glass ceiling, the good old boy network, equality for African Americans, women, the LGBTQ community, the faces of immigration, even religion!
As much as many in this country would love to believe this is a "white" country the reality was we never were. There were already people here, we forcibly brought people from Africa, and not a few either. Immigrants came from England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany at first then the flood came from everywhere. Each wave was never welcomed. The Chinese were brought to build our railroads and forced to return to China. Mexicans were good enough to pick our crops but not to live here, at least not permanently. It's happened to them all. We didn't want Catholic Irish or Italians, Jews were marginalized, Nordic folks were only good for the lumber industry. The list goes on and on.
Here in California we are to shelter-in-place until the end of April after already doing it for two weeks. So I say, why not? It's better than the show in D.C.
Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed!
Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!
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