What Disdain for Octuplet Mom Says About Us

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 3, 2009 2:15 PM CST
What Disdain for Octuplet Mom Says About Us
Nadya Suleman speaking with Ann Curry in New York.   (AP Photo)

All the outrage over Nadya Suleman and her octuplets is a little disingenuous, Raina Kelley writes in Newsweek. “Because, in truth, we created Octomom. With our glorification of bizarre behavior, we dare the emotionally needy to shock and appall us,” Kelley writes. “And then we slam them.” At least, Kelley writes, we should learn what's behind our disdain:

  • How dare she: As for using "our" money to pay for her kids, sorry, but welfare contains "no freak or idiot clause. I know; it’s unfair that Suleman’s children are just as entitled to assistance as the children of people who don’t creep us out.”
  • She has an Angelina fetish: Everyone wants to be Angelina Jolie, and why not? She’s one of the lucky few who “could afford to quit their jobs and raise 76 kids.”
  • She misused in-vitro: Just 11% of IVF patients have one embryo implanted, particularly with a troubled pregnancy history. And remember, this is a free country.
  • The porno offer: “We are all, each of us, one national scandal away from being offered a million dollars to star in a skin flick.” Judge not, lest ye be judged.
(More Nadya Suleman stories.)

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