Gordon Ramsay: Thinly-Veiled International Douchebag or Misunderstood Fragile Genius?

In the early 2000's, the US seemed to suddenly develop a taste for being verbally abused by unpleasant British people: in 2001 a quiz show debuted, "Weakest Link," which was primarily known for the sadistic demeanor of its host Anne Robinson, particularly her catch phrase repeated each time a contested was eliminated from the show: "You are the weakest link  -- goodbye!" Then in 2002 came "American Idol," known for contestants who all sounded the same, but known even more for one of the show's judges, real-life sleazy music industry executive Simon Cowell, who clearly greatly enjoyed the opportunity to humiliate singers trying to curry his favor, but on broadcast TV this time. 

And then in 2005 came the biggest douchebag, hello: 

 

Gordon Ramsay, who screamed maniacally at chefs competing to win his favor and a job, in several different series. Like Cowell's smirking insults, Ramsay's screamed insults often had nothing to do with the talents being ostensibly judged: for example, both of them regularly made fun of contestants' physical appearance. They did this on TV, for audiences numbering into the millions. And were paid huge amounts of money for it. And then even more money by way of the exploitative contracts awarded to the shows' "winners."

Then, suddenly, it seemed that America had had enough of such loathsome behavior -- enough of the on-screen part of it, anyway -- and Cowell and Ramsay both... disappeared from TV screens? No, not at all. Instead, they both have worked very hard, in other TV shows, to present themselves as nice guys. And they have both claimed that the earlier bad behavior, the insulting people about things which often had nothing to do with music or cooking, insulting them just because they could -- all of that earlier stuff, they now claim, was an act. Editing was used, they say, to make things look much worse than they were. 

What an incredible load of bollocks, as the British say. Editing wouldn't have been nearly enough to make Ramsay seem like that if he really were a decent person. CGI and dubbing in expert impersonation of his voice wouldn't have done it.

Recently, I was on a Reddit sub having to do with food -- never mind which sub -- and someone posted a link to a video with Ramsay, and I replied, saying something like: Hm, am I going to click on that? No, I don't think so. I've seen enough of him on the promos for those shows where he heaps verbal abuse on people who are in no position to retaliate. More than enough.

And then, to my surprise, I was heaped with verbal abuse by others in the sub, who said that Ramsay was a great chef. So much abuse that I left the sub and haven't been back. 

But, I am autistic, which means that I am constantly misunderstood, and that I constantly misunderstand others. I suppose it is possible that those people agreed with me about Ramsay, and were humorously imitating him with all of that all-caps stuff.

That incident made me curious about Ramsay, and I researched him a little, and I found that he has been associated with restaurants which have had a total of 17 Michelin stars. The Gordon Ramsay Group currently owns 58 restaurants which have a total of 7 stars among them. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London has had 3 stars continuously since 2001.

So, obviously, Michelin doesn't take stars away from a restaurant simply because the owner and head chef has become an internationally-notorious asshole. Hm.

Hey, for all I know, the people who award the Michelin stars are sadistic ass-hats themselves, and admire such loathsome behavior in others. 

Well, I don't admire it. I'm never going to eat at any of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants. There's plenty of good food in the world made by good people. 

If you want to see someone's true character, watch how they treat a creature who's helpless to retaliate: an animal, or a "reality"-show contestant. And in my mind, Ramsay and Cowell are just making themselves look worse by claiming that the horrible behavior we all saw earlier, was an act, urged upon them by others, made to seem what it was not by editing, etc. They're not just sadists -- they're lying sadists.