Lecturing vs. Personal Behavior

The Far Middle episode 127 is all about heading in the wrong direction. In this installment’s sports dedication, Nick connects the episode’s release date of October 25 to Jim Marshall of the Minnesota Viking’s infamous wrong-way score back on October 25, 1964. “The play epitomized life and the imperfections of human beings even more than it epitomized football in competitive sport,” says Nick.

While Marshall’s gaffe 59 years ago today is one of the NFL’s most famous screw-up plays, Nick argues Marshall’s body of football accomplishments most certainly earns him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Incidentally, Marshall was a key piece of the Vikings Purple People Eaters defense, which ranks among Nick’s ten greatest NFL defenses of the Super Bowl era.

From Marshall, Nick connects to public figures lecturing on how individuals should live their lives and act, while at the same time those same figures’ behavior and lifestyles differ from what they preach. Nick’s case study is Jane Fonda.

“This is not a hit piece on Jane Fonda,” says Nick. “But the discussion is designed to expose the utter inconsistency between what she advocates for and what she does, because the stakes are high for society and each of us.”

Nick proceeds to expand upon his recently authored essay on Fonda, “Jane Says ‘End Fossil Fuels Now’…But Jane’s Addiction Is to Fossil Fuels.”

In his examination of Fonda, Nick discusses a serendipitous moment earlier this year between seeing she’d be speaking in Pittsburgh, while at the same time coming across a lifestyle interview she gave to the Wall Street Journal. Nick then provides an assessment of how her political action committee’s goals, her environmental views and rhetoric run counter to her daily routine and personal behavior. “When one considers the carbon footprint and fossil fuel inputs that come with a day in the life of Jane Fonda, I’m afraid I've got some bad news for the Code Red crowd,” says Nick.

As the conversation concludes, Nick dedicates the episode to all those who served in Vietnam, reflecting, “Vietnam vets are getting up there in years these days, and we need to honor them while some of them are still around to enjoy the respect that they so deserved and were so wrongfully denied for too many years.”

In closing, Nick wraps with a positive connection to Jane Fonda, highlighting her Oscar performance in Klute, “a dark thriller done right.”

Fun Far Middle connection: Jim Marshall and Jane Fonda were born nine days apart back in December 1937.