Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA My post #52 about Anna Nicole Smith was admined? Weird... Allow me to try again... It's interesting to note that celebrities were trotted out to do things in reality shows like 'The Anna Nicole Smith Show', including getting drunk, taking drugs, and behaving strangely, and people thought it was 'funny' and 'entertaining.' That ascpect of shows and celebrity worship in gneral has now changed since Anna Nicole Smith died. And perhaps a show like 'Celebrity Detox' is a step in the right direction.
Originally Posted By dsnykid Hopefully people who are suffering in silence will be able to get the help they need by mental illness being brought out in the media by Britney's case.. The problem is.. it is hard to get a proper diagnosis and even harder to find medication and counseling that you can stick with for the long haul.....and in America, if you are under or just plain uninsured, I can imagine it would be one thousand times harder. At least Britney can afford the care she is receiving. i got lucky because all my treatments were covered under my provincial health care plan and my current counseling is covered under my extended benefits offered through work.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka My son had to take a lot of medications and a few of them were not available in generic form. We're lucky to have insurance but we still paid a higher co-pay. Each medication would have been hundreds of dollars a month. They weren't the right meds for him and so we'd had to try something else. He was on Ritalin for a few months when he was 13 and his height didn't change for at least a year after that. When we first took him off of everything, he stayed in his bedroom, lying in bed for about 3 months with the curtains closed. He gained at least 30 lbs because he was depressed but was hungry for the first time in years. He's 16 years old now and almost 6 ft tall and has lost the weight. I really wonder what we have done to him by giving him so many meds when he was so little.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost It's a hard call to make, but, if you see someone you love in pain your first reaction is to get help for them. One should never feel guilty about trying to make things better. No one person has all the answers all we can do is try. BTW, mele, I doubt that any harm was done that wouldn't have been much worse had nothing been tried.
Originally Posted By barboy Brit gets to eat today and she has limo service--- I tend to save my sympathy/empathy for those in a much greater need like anywhere from 50 to 85% of the world's population(depending on how one classifies extreme poverty). It's those born with bone cancer and only live to 8, those wrongly imprisoned or those who have been victim's of senseless violence for whom I feel bad not her. Sorry, I don't give a rip as to her plight nor do I wish ill will---- I just don't care.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka It's interesting that it's an either/or situation. I can feel empathy and sadness for all of the people you mentioned. Pain is pain. We all suffer and the fact that someone else is hurting worse rarely takes *all* of the pain away. I think part of the reason why people care about Britney is that we all seem to think that being young, beautiful, famous and wealthy is the perfect, happy life. Part of us likes to see people who have those things fail but it's also depressing.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA So, you can't have sympathy for Britney Spears because of the tragedy in Darfur? Hmmm... My world isn't nearly that black or white.
Originally Posted By barboy "So, you can't have sympathy for Britney Spears because of the tragedy in Darfur?" Did you see the movie "Gone With The Wind"? There is a scene where Scarlet O'hara tried to summon a civil war surgeon to assist a woman to give birth when thousands upon thousands of southern soldiers lay in the sweltering sun bleeding to death. I am done with this topic for the afternoon and I'll pick it up tomorrow morning(most others night time) and again I don't wish harm nor do I care about her. -----The South China Sea's coral reefs await my early evening arrival---Time to gear up for a dive.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 <<<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBI" target="_blank">http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBI</a> Z/Music/02/05/britney.spears.ap/index.html>> You're presenting this as information? The "information" to be gained here is that CNN lets its investigative standards slip when there is celebrity trash to be dealt with. This "article" is all "he said/she said": the Evil Manager vs. the Evil Mother. Sorry. It's not substantive. It's not credible. It doesn't give us any better insight into Britney's condition.
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle >>It's interesting that it's an either/or situation. I can feel empathy and sadness for all of the people you mentioned.<< Very, very true. Okay, if it was a case of donating money to a worthy cause - either the Britney Spears fund, or to starving children in Africa, then fair enough to say that your limited funds will go to better use if sent to Africa. Having a little sympathy is free though, and doesn't take up any more time than it takes to write a post about how you DON'T feel sympathy for her.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 <<>>It's interesting that it's an either/or situation. I can feel empathy and sadness for all of the people you mentioned.<< Very, very true. Okay, if it was a case of donating money to a worthy cause - either the Britney Spears fund, or to starving children in Africa, then fair enough to say that your limited funds will go to better use if sent to Africa. Having a little sympathy is free though, and doesn't take up any more time than it takes to write a post about how you DON'T feel sympathy for her.>> <-- runs off to find that "Best Post of The Year" thread
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <-----The South China Sea's coral reefs await my early evening arrival---Time to gear up for a dive.> Me too! See you there!
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 <<That still does not excuse people wishing death upon her, or saying cruel horrible things about her. She has an illness like any other illness, and it is not self-inflicted. She gets more attention because she is famous. She also gets more grief, and her problem is known to the world. Most people would not wish to be known as a sufferer of mental illness, let alone to the entire world.>> I, too, don't think that ANYone should be castigated or stigmatized or made fun of for something that's "not self-inflicted." Heck, call me a sap, but I even believe in forgiving people whose unfortunate actions WERE self-inflicted. People make mistakes. It's human nature. People deserve the chance to pick themselves up and move on. I haven't paid much attention to this situation. But I wish Britney the best. As I would wish the best for ANYone. The one thing that irks me about Britney's case (and I think that gadzuux has scooped me here) is that there's a group that says: "The media attention is to blame. They make it so hard for her. Waaaaa. Poor Britney. She has it so much harder than other people just because she's famous." To which I say... Give me a break. This woman has spent her life trying to get herself into the limelight and to remain there. She employs people whose job it is to get her "face time" in every possible media venue. She's pimped herself for the cameras at every available opportunity. I absolutely wish her the best. But I have zero sympathy for the claim that The Evil Media is in any way to blame here.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Our paper, the Sun-Sentinel, was criticized for covering Spears too much. But, the editor didn't believe it to be true. So, he did a search and found that the paper had run stories or "mentions" of her 71 times in the past six months. Of those, 30 or so have come since the first of the year. Needless to say, he was a bit surprised...and ashamed. It is obvious that the media can't even tell when it is losing control over something that is really insignificant compared to the issues of the day. He has promised to put the skids on that. I hope he follows through.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Inspector, I'm of two minds about your post. On the one hand, it's true that celebrities court press attention. On the other hand, I don't think that then gives the press the right to camp outside your door such that you don't feel you leave your house without having the paparazzi all over you. That alone can't help a person's sanity. I think it's fine for the press to cover any given celebrity's PUBLIC appearances, as that's a symbiotic relationship. I don't like that camping outside the door stuff.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 I feel bad that Britney is hounded endlessly by the press. Sure, she's a mess right now, but leave the poor kid alone! It's an awful circle that will just lead to tragedy. The photog hounds are really pushing her to this. She needs help and there isn't anywhere she can go right now to escape. I would love for ONE day not to hear about her and see photos of her at the gas station, club, Starbucks, etc. Leave her alone and let her get some help. It's insane how crazy the paparazzi has gotten with celebrities over the years. There really should be some kind of regulations put in place...talk about invasion of privacy!
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 I agree that as a celebrity you do ask for a certain amount of attention, but I really feel the Britney case is WAY out of control.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 It's a question of degree. One ironic thing to come out of this is that the youtube "Leave Britney alone!" guy is starting to look less weird and more like, well, he was right.
