Saturday, November 27, 2010

Weasel of the Week: Michael Brea

Mr. Brea is a struggling actor, whose only credit of note was a gig on Ugly Betty a while back. Brea made headlines this week when he brought home a Masonic sword, then proceeded to slash his own mother to death, claiming that she was possessed by the devil. Brea claimed it was "God's will". I call it blasphemy, as well as murder.

If I had a dollar for all the people who used this same excuse for their crimes, I'd be rich. Let's face facts, folks. Michael Brea is the one who is not of sound mind, deceived by voices in his head that he thinks are coming from God. His mother didn't deserve this, right before Thanksgiving. Appropriately, Michael Brea, as of press time, is at Bellevue in New York, in their prison ward. He let his frustration over being unable to land another acting gig distort his sense of reality.

The articles I read tell of a quiet young man, and, predictably, those around him cannot understand why Brea attacked his own mother. This scene has played out so many times, it has become a cliche unto itself. Brea's actions suggest that he, not his mother, was possessed. For him to claim he was acting as an agent of God is a hollow, defensive mechanism. Any lawyer that buys into this will begin arguing for an insanity defense. Did Brea really know what he was doing? That will be for the courts to decide. For now, he gets a set of weasel ears for his blasphemy after the fact.

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