The Lessons of Travolta

Over the last few days, people have been all flustered about John Travolta, star of Wild Hogs and the Look Who's Talking series. He's a prominent member of a small cult based on giving money to the corpse of a mediocre science fiction writer. And his son recently died. According to a disreputable British tabloid, Travolta has recently been questioning his faith and contemplating leaving the cult because they refused to accept the reality of his son's medical condition, possibly leading to the boy's death. These reports were published without any source or evidence other than anonymous eyewitness accounts of Travolta driving a golf cart around his vacation home late at night and stuffing his face with fast food. But there are so many internetters out there with a hard on for Travolta's cult's destruction that this made up story became the talk of the web. Someone even set up a petition where people could pledge their support for an actor they've never met if he decided to leave his cult. See, unsubstatiated rumors also suggest that the cult has information about Travolta's secret sexuality, which they're using to blackmail him into continuing to send money to a corpse. And many people who spend far too much of their time online believe that signing electronic petitions are a viable alternative to actual work. But in the last several hours, Travolta's spokesperson issued a statement saying that all these rumors are completely false and that Travolta still is and always will be a cult member. Case closed? Maybe. But it's important to take a few lessons away from this debacle. It may be true that Travolta's a closeted homosexual. It may also be true that his cult is holding him hostage with this information. And it may be true that based on the teachings of this cult, Travolta's son was denied medical attention he needed. But if so, all of this is still Travolta's fault. He's an adult, and he made adult decisions for himself and his family. He may very well be wrestling with these decisions. If so, very few of us could possibly imagine the torture he's currently going through. So why don't we all show a little human decency and stop harassing a man with a dead child just because we're eager to see the collapse of his dumbass religion?