Tiger King ... holy eff

Didn't care for the after show.

 

I'm not much for woke reinterpretations of popular TV, but a recent column that talked about the show's overall misogyny did make me think. Three of the main characters -- Joe, Jeff Lowe, Doc Antile -- are all vile and yet the directors went to extraordinary lengths to portray their antagonist (Carole Baskin) as a kook and a murderer. And much of the audience, rather than note that 1) Joe absolutely belongs in jail and 2) the Baskins literally risked their life for him to be there, seem to view Joe as a folk hero and Carole as a witch. Why is that?

 

Because Baskin is smarmy and all “I’m all about the non-profit do gooder” when she married into the $$, was a breeder herself, and does nothing to show where her $$ goes.

yes it could’ve been different but let’s not pretend she was the Jane Goddall of tigers.

 

If there was any evidence that Carole Baskin had anything to do with her former husband's disappearance, she's so unlikable you bet your ass she'd be in jail.

She's just unlikable. That's it. And maybe a little bit of a hypocrite.

Joe Exotic is a bad, bad dude. And if that little self-anointing country concert after his drugged-up husband's suicide didn't cement that for everybody, what would?

 

Joe is “sexy” because he’s a gun toting gay man in OK. He’s definitely not a good person but he was new.

 

Most people aren't "good" people. We're average. Even a little shitty.

Joe's a bad guy. The show keeps the viewer from that fact for a long, long time. Too long. But you see in the final two episodes clear enough.

Baskin's an odd person, unlikable, probably the person, in a different life, who would have been a terror in the neighborhood association. She's not Joe. And I think, for a long time, the show wants to make them even. They're not even, unless evidence emerges that she had something to do with her husband's disappearance.

(Because of the show, I fully expect amateur sleuths to try and find that evidence.)

 

Don’t get me wrong, I hated how all of them, Joe, Baskin, other two exploit the poor and disenfranchised. It’s awful.

 

I'm kind of surprised that so many people are like, OK with Joe. Like, I think the conspiracy / murder for hire case against him was incredibly weak, but it's clear there was enough animal cruelty and unsafe workplace charges against him, if the government wanted, to bury him anyway. (It is somewhat crazy to me that the feds give so little shit about the other stuff; that it took an incredibly fishy "murder for hire" thing to even make them care.)

I definitely think there is a lot of misogyny in the backlash toward Carole. That being said, the business with her ex-husband is shady as fuck. My suspicion would be that she might have disposed of him via the tigers, but who knows what actually happened? From the sounds of it, their marriage was chaotic, and I could believe anything from self-defense to a murder. She's a con of a different sort, but ultimately nowhere near Joe.

As far as Jeff Lowe goes, it seems like there's some kind of shell game going on there. Like, maybe he's just the Maven of shitty businesses? It seems like his thing is to seem like an "angel investor" or bank for people like Joe, and they realize too late that they've essentially ceded control to him. It's not really clear where Lowe's money comes from - it has the whiff of drugs, of racketeering or protection schemes - but if the government had that on wiretaps, I doubt they'd be so willing to cut a deal with him on other stuff.

 

He doesn’t cover his bullshit up.

Carol covers hers up.

Doc will fully admit to all his wives.

They are all horrible, but she’s the worst.

 

I've actually been to the big cat rescue, fairly recently probably a year and a half or so ago. It's a great place. It doesn't really deal with big cats a whole lot, it has a few lions and tigers that have been rescued. Mostly it deals with bobcats and servals and other smaller cats that people think would make great pets, but don't. They have some Florida panthers that were held in captivity. They also have a lot of cats that are crossbred and had significant health problems because just because you can make two animals breed it doesn't mean the offspring will be healthy. I don't much know what you mean about Baskin exploiting the poor, she has an army of volunteers, a significant intern program, and some employees. I don't think she entices workers to her facility by giving them drugs. Does that mean she's a great person? Of course not, but I think misogyny lets us all think she really is the terrible person that Joe makes her out to be.

 

Where's all the $$ for the visitors going? Where are the big cats that have been rescued?

IMHO those volunteers are believing in something to donate their time, I don't see it. Admittedly, I took the leap that those people were lined up to go in and were paying big $$ and they were being serviced by the free volunteers and concluded the $$ is going to the Baskins. That's my perception and I'm probably wrong.

 

I don't remember it being that expensive to visit. We were not there for a special event, just a daily visit. Which they cap how many people can go in on any given day, and you absolutely have no contact with the animals other than to see them. And taking care of cats is incredibly expensive. Big cat rescue does not take expired meat from Walmart, they buy what they feed the cats.