Garth Drabinsky

SHAMEometer rating out of 100:
91

Who:

Canadian cinema and theatre mogul who, with business partner Myron Gottlieb, cooked the books of their ailing company, Livent, in the 90s, and bilked investors of approximately C$500 million. Convicted on March 25 in Toronto.

Shamelessness:

Called a "tyrant" by many. For instance, would chew out his cinema employees for leaving (God forbid) kernels of popcorn on the lobby floor. Officially labelled a crook after the March 25 ruling by Ontario Superior Court Justice Mary Lou Benotto who found Drabinsky and Gottlieb guilty of fraud and forgery in their running of their company Livent Inc. Both face prison terms of up to 14 years.

Drabinsky & co. took kickbacks, and manipulated the grosses to make their theatrical shows look more profitable than they really were. Livent accountants joked about being fitted for pinstripe suits, because they'd all likely go to jail. (Note: Another member of The Hall of SHAMEless, Conrad Black, sat on the Livent board.) Meanwhile, shareholders, musicians and artists lost money or never got paid.

Furthermore, Drabinsky slapped libel suits against critics. Most notably in 1995 against Alex Winch, then a Toronto investment analyst, who wrote a letter to Forbes magazine accusing Livent's accounting of being a tad aggressive. Drabinsky slapped Winch with a $10-million libel suit. Winch chose to settle rather than face ruin, but the ordeal cost him $350,000.

Judge Benotto's Ruling Shames Drabinsky:

“The exponential growth of the company was analogous to an athlete taking a performance-enhancing drug. The result may be spectacular, but the means involve cheating.”

Mitigating Factor:

Opened the world's first multiplex cinema (at Toronto's Eaton Centre in 1979), and in the 90s produced a string of hits in Canada and on Broadway including Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Phantom of the Opera and a revival of Show Boat. Drabinsky made Toronto the third most important centre in the world for live theatre, which makes his downfall all the more tragic. If not a shame, then a pity.

More reading:

http://www.nytimes.com/specials/ragtime/drabinsky.html

Bernie Madoff

SHAMEometer rating out of 100:
100

Who:

Former chairman of the NASDAQ exchange who bilked countless investors totalling nearly US$65 billion (that's right billion) amounting to the greatest Ponzi scheme ever.

Once a well-respected investment professional, today a symbol of Wall Street greed during the economic meltdown. Public fury toward Madoff has been so great that he wore a bulletproof vest to court at his recent hearings, the last of which on March 11 in New York he pled guilty to charges of fraud, perjury and money-laundering. The 70-year-old Madoff faces 150 years in prison. Sentencing scheduled on June 16. . .

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Shamelessness:

Starting in the early-90s, Madoff's scheme wiped out people’s retirement savings, destroyed charities and foundations, and apparently pushed two investors to suicide. Investors included: Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax, and Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Many of Madoff’s victims were Jews and Jewish charities, which trusted in Madoff because he is Jewish. After violating the trust of both friends and strangers, Madoff destroyed lives pure and simple.

Financial analysis:

Experts have only begun to unravel how Madoff built this mega Ponzi scheme. Meanwhile, some of his victims speak:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Mitigating Factor:

Madoff sounded contrite as he pled guilty on March 11: “I am actually grateful for this opportunity to publicly comment about my crimes, for which I am deeply sorry and ashamed.” Does the old saying, "Too little, too late" ring a bell?

What the Future Holds For Madoff:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

AIG Call of Shame (MSNBC video)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

SHAMEometer rating out of 100:
94

Who:
For three years running in Forbes magazine, are the most valuable franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) at US $448 million. The Toronto Star reports that the hockey team's parent corporation, MLSE, is forecasting a profit of C$105 million by the year 2011 with ticket revenue expected to increase 30% to C$166 million. Yet, da Leafs haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967 or come close. In fact, the Leafs have missed the playoffs entirely for the last three (almost four) seasons. Golf, anybody?

Shameless:
The blue-and-white are raking in the green by charging some of the highest ticket prices in the NHL, broadcasting exclusively some of its games on Leafs digital TV which means that fans have to pay to watch them lose in the comfort of their own homes; and hogging the national spotlight from other (read: better) Canadian teams.

Shameless Stat:
Last won the Stanley Cup in 1967 when The Beatles were still together, black-and-white TV was normal, and most of us weren't even conceived yet.


Financial & Psychological Analysis:

“The fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs are a bad hockey club is the inevitable by-product of the laws of economics. Their mediocrity is a design flaw, and it comes down to this: for any business to thrive, it must be obsessively focused on victory. Success must yield powerful benefits and failure must unleash harsh consequences. In the world's greatest market for pro hockey, that cost/benefit equation doesn't exist. A gusher of wealth, regardless of performance, has begat 40 years of infighting, a culture of laxity, and a refusal to admit the problem. The Leafs are a monopoly business that has been corrupted by its own market power.” - Steve Maich, Maclean's, April 2, 2008


Mitigating factor:
The Leafs couldn't have accomplished this alone: its fans. The “Leafs Nation” are either too loyal, too dumb and/or too desperate to abandon a mediocre team that's been taking them for a ride for 42 years (and counting).

PARIS HILTON

SHAMEometer rating out of 100:
88

Who:

American socialite, hotel heiress, model, singer and occasional porn actress. Basically, she's famous for...being famous. (Is Paris Hilton Andy Warhol's nightmare?)

Shamelessness:

Shilling a tasteless and shallow personal image of self-made celebrity based on zero talent and 100% marketing to an uncritical public. Also: setting back the image of women everywhere by a generation or two. Worst of all, we the public keep buying what(ever) she's selling.

She can't sing. She can't act. She can't write. And she has no sense of humour. A success – only in America. (According to Forbes, Ms. Hilton's income was in the neighbourhood of US$7 million in 2005–2006.)

Dear, can't you channel your wealth and influence into something useful?

Shameless quotes:

“I don’t really think, I just walk.”

Psychological analysis:

"We would walk down the hall and you would find a nasty wad of what looked like Barbie hair. This came off her head?"

- Tina Fey, then-writer on"Saturday Night Live" recalling guest host, Paris Hilton

Mitigating Factor:

At 28, still young enough to mature...or self-destruct.

CONRAD BLACK

SHAMEometer rating out of 100:
92

Who: Newspaper magnate, freelance Canadian and professional snob.

Once CEO of Hollinger International, Inc. which published major newspapers including The Daily Telegraph (UK), The Chicago Sun Times, The Jerusalem Post, The National Post, and hundreds of community newspapers in North America; and for a spell was the the third biggest newspaper magnate in the world.

In 2003, following investor complaints, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Black and his partners of running a "corporate kleptocracy." Translation: he bilked his investors. Black resigned as CEO and was charged with mail and wire fraud and obstruction of justice. In July 2007, Black was convicted in Illinois U.S. District Court and sentenced to serve 78 months in federal prison, and pay Hollinger $6.1 million plus a fine of $125,000. (Black was found guilty of diverting funds for personal benefit from money due Hollinger International when the company sold certain publishing assets. He also obstructed justice by taking possession of documents to which he was not entitled:)



Shameless:

1) Black remains unrepentant about how he ran Hollinger (into the ground), and denies any wrongdoing on his part. (For more, please see “denial” in the Oxford Dictionary.)

2) Despite being a published writer and former newspaper publisher, Black has sued numerous journalists whose views about him he did not agree with entirely.

3) In 2001, Black renounced his citizenship in the "oppressive little world" of Canada, where he was born, educated and his family prospered. Perhaps owing to a change of heart, Mr. Black has yet to denounce his Order of Canada (or the Canadian government hasn't had the guts to revoke it from a convicted criminal who isn't even a Canadian citizen anymore since he's busy serving time in an American prison ).



Shameless Quotes:
"If saintly men like Gandhi could choose to clean latrines, and Thomas More could voluntarily wear a hair shirt, this experience won't kill me."

Psychological Analysis:
"Now when Uncle Conrad likens himself to the assassinated Mahatma, the apostle of India, that is mere hubris. But when he compares himself to England's greatest Catholic martyr, a man of saintly honour if ruthless conviction, this is truly weird."
- Robert Fisk, The Independent



Mitigating Factor:
Has a sense of humour – and until October 2013 he's gonna need one.

A.I.G.

SHAMEometer rating out of 100:
100

Who:
American International Group, Inc is a major American insurance corporation based in New York. According to the 2008 Forbes Global 2000 list, AIG was the 18th-largest public company in the world and its collapse would surely harm not only the American but world economies, already mired in recession. Presently (March 2009), A.I.G. requires US$152 billion in American taxpayers' loans to just to pay its debts and stay afloat.

Shameless:

Despite posting a fourth-quarter 2008 loss of US$61.7 billion – the greatest ever for any corporation – AIG still plans to pay its executives – the same geniuses who flushed the company into the toilet until it backed up all over the floor – US$165 million in bonuses out of taxpayer funds. AIG has defended the bonuses by citing contractual obligations, but evidently the word “renegotiation” is not written in the AIG company manual as it is, say, in Detroit.

Economic Analysis:

"I would deny them the bonuses if possible. I would be for an exemplary hanging or two. Have it in Times Square, invite Madame Defarge. You borrow a guillotine from the French and we could have a party." - Charles Krauthammer, conservative commentator

"I was going to recommend boiling in oil in Times Square."

- Mort Kondracke, another conservative commentator

"I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they'd follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide."

- Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)

Mitigating Factor: If you find one, let me know.

Welcome to The Hall of SHAMEless

You're surfing, you're Googling and by a freak of nature you come across this blog, and go: "What the hell is this?"

Ever wonder if our moral standards are slipping. Well, this blog that shines a 10,000-watt environmentally friendly fluorescent spotlight on those who are SHAMELESS in our society. Those who suffer from arrogance, greed, power or what the ancient Greeks (shameless pederasts themselves, though they formed the basis of Western philosophy) called "hubris." The Shameless think they are better than the rest of us and mightier than the Gods. Big mistake. Just ask Nixon.

Some of the SHAMEless listed here have suffered their comeuppance. Others have their comeuppance still...coming up.

I'm launching this blog to research and brainstorm a documentary I am making about SHAME. That said, I welcome your thoughts, suggestions, nominations, criticisms, corrections, contributions and questions.

By the way, if any of you wants to invest in an exciting commercially viable documentary made by a talented filmmaker about the nature of shame, then give me a shout at tong.allan@gmail.com. When it comes to making films, I'm utterly shameless...

Allan Tong (March 17, 2009)