Whether or not the estrangement should have been blamed on the mother or the daughter, it was still an incredibly tactlessand gratuitous statement for LS to make. Her own mother was murdered for Christ’s sake, can’t this bitch just show a little compassion for once in her life? She should have just expressed some shock and grief and let it go at that, but no, her first reflex is to pass moral judgement. What a fucking cow.
I really loathe Dr. Laura’s Springeresque schtick but in all fairness to her, what could she say? I guess the criticism isn’t suprising because much of her fame is based on being a lightning rod for controversey. But–pet peeve, here–even celebrities have the right to private lives.
None of us know the facts or circumstances behind the estrangement. Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn. It’s none of my business. The fact that she’s a media personality doesn’t change that. I don’t think it’s any more appropriate for Dr. Laura to be grilled on personal matters than it would be for Channel X NewsGhoul shoving a mike into Joe Public’s face and asking how they felt about their child being run over by a cement truck.
Look, she had to know the estrangement would be made public. She’d be criticized if she didn’t refer to it. All I’m saying is she had a very fine line to walk, where probably nothing she said would be taken at face value.
FWIW, I’m a rabid, longtime critic of Dr. Laura’s but fair’s fair.
Veb
I have no idea, and I don’t question that aspect of it. Many people who have loving family and friends may still go weeks and months without seeing them. I wasn’t accusing LS of negligence in regards to her mother, I was taking issue with her accusation that her mother was to blame and had made the choice.
I disagree. I’ve listened to Dr. Laura a lot, and I’ve heard the many times that she has supported or suggested to her listeners that they cut off members of their families for various reasons. If estrangement existed, I find it impossible to believe that Dr. Do-it-my-way-or-accept-the-fact-that-you-are-worthless-scum was innocently rejected by her mean ol’ mom. It might be the case, certainly, but none of us knows. I don’t think Dr. Insufferable Cunt deserves the benefit of any doubt. I’ve never heard her give anyone else any.
Not true at all. She was 77 years old. I think if you investigate you will find that many, even * most * 77 year olds are not very socially active.
To be perfect clear: I do not blame her for her mother’s murder. I do not even blame her that her mother’s body wasn’t found. I simply do not believe that her estrangement from her mother was her mother’s choice alone, without participation from her bitch of a daughter, AND I think her daughter is an even BIGGER bitch for making it a point to blame her mother for being alone when her mother is no longer here to speak for herself. What she should have said is something along the lines of: "My mother’s death is painful to me, especially considering our estrangement. " Period. Instead, she wanted to make sure to say “Wasn’t my fault! Wasnt’ my fault!”
Fuck her, she doesn’t deserve the goddamn time of day.
I agree with you.
How often is a serious disagreement solely the fault of only one of the parties involved? Share at least some of the responsibility, even it makes you appear less than perfect.
Good grief, people. You don’t know JACK SHIT about the causes of estrangement between mother and daughter. Any mother and daughter. Unless you know them personally, you don’t know. And I don’t give a shit about how much you hate Dr. L, or why you think she doesn’t deserve any benefit of the doubt, blah blah blah. Hate her all you want, that’s fine. But it still doesn’t mean that you know her personal business. Because you don’t.
Yosemitebabe: You’re quite right about the folks commenting on the estrangement. Who can know?
As for the rest: what Diogenes (and I) said. It was tactless and frankly vile for Dr.L to make a statement of that sort.
squeegee: While it may be true that Dr. Laura was tactless about discussing her mother’s death in the way she did, I might remind you, I did and said equally “tactless and vile” (according to some, I’m sure) things after my dad’s death.
It’s called shock and grief. I cringe at the things I can remember, and am thankful that I can’t remember quite a bit.
It’s possible that Dr. Laura is heartless and feels nothing, not even grief. But I don’t know, and you don’t know what is in her heart. That’s another thing you don’t know.
I have also heard Dr. Laura advise her callers to blow off or even cut off family members over what seem to be very minor issues. Just today I listened to her harangue a caller over that caller’s loyalty to her father and desiring to not hurt his feelings. Dr. Laura insisted that any attempt to create compromise between the caller’s husband and father would be disloyal to the husband, and that the caller owed no consideration to her father’s feelings.
I have wondered where this strange attitude of hers comes from. Apparently she draws it from her own personal experiences.
What a sad situation. I pity her family, friends, and callers.
I also have the feeling that the estrangement was the mother’s “choice” only in LS’s narcissistic worldview. Like Stoid and tmwster said, she is constantly advising her callers to cut off family members at the drop of a hat, and she invariably projects the culpability for these estrangements onto the targets. She says things like “well if she’s going to continue to live in sin then she’s made her choice…”
Dr. Laura strikes me as a person completely without empathy as a well as someonre who is utterly unable to accept any blame or responsibility for her own actions. Saying that her mother “chose” the estrangement would be right in keeping with the same kind of self-exculpating projection that she preaches to her callers.
Look folks, she was NOT attacking her mother in that statement. She was simply expressing her regret that her mother died the way she chose to live, isolated. You may be pissed that she didn’t sugar coat things for you, but if her mother did choose to live a reclusive lifestyle, then her statement was perfectly appropriate.
This is coming from someone who despises almost everything Dr. Laura is about. I’m still not going to take pot shots at her for something that is beyond her control.