Brangelina

[Guest 24k]

I have a question - and I don't mean to offend. I am an older man with no children; never wanted, needed, or desired children.

 

But I can't help but think there is something wrong with the Bradgelina Machine and their compulsion towards adopting child and after child from multiple countries?

 

Please, please... I don't want to diminish the wondrous adventure of Foodie52's adoption of Nataly or, for that matter, ANY couple or person adopting a child. But the whole Bradgelina THANG is just rubbing me the wrong way and I figure I should ask people who HAVE children to try and explain it to me. I don't want to invest too much feeling to Bradgelina, but the newspaper headlines are documenting every bloody step these people are taking. Perhaps it is a papparrazi machine that should be stopped, but the fact that I read about it every single friggin' day brings it foremost to mind and why it should bother me, I just don't know...

 

What is the thought of celebrities like this (and Mia Farrow and Madonna, for that matter) adopting multiple children from all over the globe?

[omnivorette]

If they weren't celebrities, they'd just be a couple who adopted a few kids from foreign countries. The fact that they're celebrities, and the fact that our stupid society is obsessed with celebrity, means we know about what they're doing, courtesy of the paparazzi and the people who buy magazines and watch television. It's a fine thing for them to do (adopt, I mean); it's really no different than anybody else adopting kids from other countries. It's just that we, as a society, happen to give a damn about celebrities and what they do in their personal lives.

[Guest 24k]

I guess what I'm curious about is... Isn't it unusual for a woman -- who gave birth barely 5 months ago -- to already want another child? Or is this some hormonal thing? I am assuming that someone with a 5-month old would have their hands full and be overwhelmed with the newness of an infant of their own to already be on the hunt for yet another child. Maybe THAT is what is disturbing me and only a woman would be able to help me understand this.

[omnivorette]

We will never know how long she has been working on this latest adoption, or what the circumstances were/are. As far as being overwhelmed and having her hands full...something tells me she has plenty of help.

 

Or perhaps her interest in rescuing a 3 year old orphan from Vietnam is stronger than than the inconvenience and difficulty she might face with an infant and a new addition to the family.

 

I work with women every day whose lives are dominated by the desire to have a child, or another child. It's very real, and it doesn't necessarily stop at one child.

[Guest 24k]

I work with women every day whose lives are dominated by the desire to have a child, or another child. It's very real, and it doesn't necessarily stop at one child.

 

Omni, do you feel it is a compulsion -- like those women who have literally hundreds of shoes and hand-bags?

[rancho_gordo]

Of course we'll never know but you do get the feeling that some of these people are "collecting" these kiddies. But even Joesphine Baker was doing that back in the 50s. I'd like to think these beautiful women have come to a crossroads in their lives and realize making vapid movies is ultimately unsatisfying compared to making a real difference in the lives of others. I hope so, anyway.

 

I just saw a bio on Angelina and she was/is pretty wild but she is very well spoken and so pretty and has interests beyond haircuts that I fell for her a little. Comparing her to Jennifer Anniston (who I know has some appeal for many) and I'd have made the switch to Angelina, too.

 

I'm much more concerned about the two children Britney Spears has and their future.

[Guest 24k]

Of course we'll never know but you do get the feeling that some of these people are "collecting" these kiddies. But even Joesphine Baker was doing that back in the 50s. I'd like to think these beautiful women have come to a crossroads in their lives and realize making vapid movies is ultimately unsatisfying compared to making a real difference in the lives of others. I hope so, anyway.

 

I just saw a bio on Angelina and she was/is pretty wild but she is very well spoken and so pretty and has interests beyond haircuts that I fell for her a little. Comparing her to Jennifer Anniston (who I know has some appeal for many) and I'd have made the switch to Angelina, too.

 

I'm much more concerned about the two children Britney Spears has and their future.

 

Rancho, thank you so much for reminding me of Josephine! I had completely forgotten about that... And you are right, Britney's kids (and Anna Nicole's for that matter) are in far more peril, aren't they?

[foodie52]

The problem is that, you go to an orphanage, you get one kid and you see all the others and want to take them home. I was ready to charter a bus in Bogota and bring home a bunch of kiddos. It just hits you. I still fantasize about going back and grabbing Wendy Daniela and Angela...

 

It's the only reason I wish we were really,really rich. I could see having a huge house, a LOTof help (!) and lots and lots of kiddos from different cultures. It would be a blast.

[Guest 24k]

The problem is that, you go to an orphanage, you get one kid and you see all the others and want to take them home. I was ready to charter a bus in Bogota and bring home a bunch of kiddos. It just hits you. I still fantasize about going back and grabbing Wendy Daniela and Angela...

 

It's the only reason I wish we were really,really rich. I could see having a huge house, a LOTof help (!) and lots and lots of kiddos from different cultures. It would be a blast.

 

I can understand that -- I just watched Catch a Fire and I guess at the very end, the lead protagonist in the film ended up adopting 80 kids. I think Omni is right as well; there is something about the fact that we are watching the uber-rich do this that it has come to light for me and astonished me in a way that I found disturbing. Perhaps there is a psychological thing for the way Angelina was treated by her father as a kid that she feels she has to do this. And being one who will knowingly hire multiple nannies, there will always be the question of how much interraction does she have with these children (same with Madonna). It is obviously far different for someone like you and those like you.

[mongo_jones]

i have requested adoption by jolie. i have not yet heard back--perhaps it was an error to specify in my application that i have not yet been weaned?

[foodie52]

I would like to think that any child adopted by someone in this country faces a better future than in their birth country. But maybe that's not the case if you're adopted by a celebrity. I don't have a clue.

[The Scream]

I would like to think that any child adopted by someone in this country faces a better future than in their birth country. But maybe that's not the case if you're adopted by a celebrity. I don't have a clue.

 

What do you mean by their country? Every other country in the world besides the States? And someone in the States is better than anyone anywhere else?

[foodie52]

Let me rephrase that:

 

I would think that any "throw-away" child without parents or status in his/her own country would face a better future here. Or in Italy. Or in a Scandinavian country with a good track record for foreign adoptions, than in their birth country.

 

Where nobody wanted them. Or had the means to raise them.

 

That's what I meant.

[mongo_jones]

to the extent to which foreign adoptions are made by americans (or american residents) who are reasonably well-off, that is probably true.

[backstory]

The latest Newsweek carries an article on Angelina with photographs of her in Dafur, hugging a boy who has been tethered and is half naked, and looking beautiful all the time, with an adoring narrative. At first I thought oh Angelina again?

But then when you read about the visits that she has made to these places and interacts with the people over there and returns with so much awareness and compassion, I have to admire what she is doing with her money and her life.

The adoptions - I am not sure it is about wanting babies. I think it is a real desire to make a difference in a child's life, to give her a chance. Is it just charity then? perhaps. Is that a good reason to adopt children? We don't have biological children for charity, it is for us, us alone. But I also cannot think of a single good reason not to do it out of charity and compassion either.

Good for her.