Is it me, or does it seem like we're just picking on Cruise because we decided that we needed a token Tom to rag on, but and we're just not comfortable with casting Justice Thomas in that role for things as petty as sexual abuse and blackploitation?
Our society seems to need a famous Tom to label and symbolically pick on, but isn't Cruise, at the worst, just a famous putz? Does he really fill, much less satisfy our Tom need?
I mean, sure, he's a White man who can dance and he's painfully good looking, but, when it comes down to it, is that really enough to qualify him for official abuse under the Tom category? Aren't there better and more appropriate Toms we could be ragging on?
The category of othering "Tom" used to mean something important. As big an impression as the conveniently first-named Mr. Cruise makes, is he really who we want to name as our generation's definition of what it means to be a "Tom"?