Alec Baldwin is a great actor. I'll write again so you know it's not merely hyperbole on my part.

Alec Baldwin is a great actor.

From his dramatic roles in "The Departed" and "Glengarry Glen Ross" to his more comedic fare like "State and Main," Baldwin is a vastly underrated performer, so much so that I am exponentially more likely to see a film if he's in it.

However, Alec Baldwin is under fire for supposedly being a terrible dad, and it could affect that acting career should the pop-cultural powers-who-be deem him unworthy of support.

I suppose, sooner or later, we would refocus our social frustration from those spouting racial epithets to something like this; however, the situation between Baldwin and his 11-year-old daughter makes me wonder if the mainstream media has collectively jumped the shark.

According to wikipedia, Baldwin's daughter and he were to have a scheduled phone call of some sort. She didn't answer, and so he left her the following message:

"You are a rude, thoughtless little pig. You don't have the brains or the decency as a human being ... I don't give a damn that you're 12 years old, or 11 years old, or that you're a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn't care about what you do as far as I'm concerned. You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone."

I hope you'll allow me some latitude in terms of my general dark sense of humor, but my first thought was, "Well, is she a rude, thoughtless little pig?"

The rational part of my brain recognized that this was likely something that Baldwin is embarrassed about beyond any shame pop culture can heap on the guy. However, in terms of families and divorce and custody battles, this type of thing happens all the time.

Frankly, it reminds me of the adage, "You can pick your bride and your friends, but you can't pick your family."

Something like that.

The more I thought about the situation, the more I began to believe and firmly do now that whoever leaked this phone conversation is the real bad guy here. This 11-year-old little pig, er, girl would not be in the public spotlight to this extent, presumedly an unwanted appearance in said light, without the revelation of this phone call.

That person is likely actress Kim Basinger, which if true would likely violate a court order of some sort, turning the public berating of a little girl into a highly publicized Hollywood fight in which that 11-year-old is the pawn.

But, that's how nasty divorces work. This is nothing new.

On the other hand, Basinger's tactic -- to humiliate Baldwin publicly, which he did superbly himself privately -- is a precedent setter in terms of the battles we're likely to see in Hollywood down the road. I think Kim's manuever is a trend-setter, and we're likely to see divorces and custody battles get played out in the public eye more and more, not with rumor and innuendo but with MP3s and YouTube videos.

That's a reality celebrities have to face.

Heck, it's likely to seep into the private lives of thousands of Americans, some of whom will likely see this as an opportunity to publicly humiliate a spouse or parent with whom they're sparring.

Don't like Dad?

Make him look like an ass on MySpace.com

Will Mom not let you do what you want?

Post an embarrassing video of her on YouTube.

Now, we haven't heard calls yet for his NBC show "30 Rock" to be pulled off the air; however, man, it wouldn't surprise me. We've adopted the notion nowadays that any social blunder among A-through-C-listers must be career enders. There's no room in the penalty box; we must go for the execution.

The conspiracy-minded part of me, like with Imus, makes me think this whole event wouldn't be as trumped up if Baldwin himself weren't a stark, raving liberal -- a terrific, smart liberal, I might add.

Sure, his insults toward his daughter were probably much, but we don't know the context of the situation in full. Parents involved in divorce are undoubtedly under a ton of stress, making them do crazy, stupid things. Truly, I'd be more concerned or upset if he had berated her for being "too heavy," and, no, the pig comment doesn't count.

I would be more concerned if he had hit her, cerrtainly. Or molested her, definitely.

However, Baldwin said some mean things in the heat of the moment under a lot of stress. And, while it makes him look like a bad guy, it shouldn't, lest we throw the first stone.

We've all done it, and as we have all learned, you can't take words back. Our only choice is to apologize and work toward repairing and rebuilding those relationships.

As if this familial situation were any of our business, why in the hell would we not afford Alec Baldwin this much?

Nevertheless, it should serve as warning to everybody in public and private that, nowadays, those words might not only prove hurtful to somebody you love, they might also prove to be significantly embarrassing as soon as they're posted online.