Sympathy... for Britney effin' Spears

[Coyote]

I never thought it would come to this. I really didn't.

I actually have come full circle and find myself having sympathy for Britney Spears.

MSNBC

“Britney Spears has lost her kids, her fans, her underwear and her mind,” said the cover line splashed across the March issue of Blender magazine. It’s easy to expect just another walk down train-wreck lane from such a statement, but an early peek at the accompanying feature story proves otherwise.

Reporter Michael Joseph Gross interviewed dozens of people with ties to Spears, and although the piece proves much of what we already know to be true (Spears got chewed up by the culture of being a celebrity, the pressure of being the breadwinner for her family contributed to her current problems, etc.), Gross has scored the quote that is perhaps the most telling of all in the long tragic yarn of Britney Spears: “You have to understand that there’s nobody in the equation who stood to benefit by giving it to her straight,” said Eric Foster White, who co-wrote six songs on her first album, “Baby One More Time.”

I freely admit, I was never a fan; I also admit I have had my fun pointing and laughing at this woman's epic fail antics. Buth the last couple weeks, starting with her confused and bizarre attempt to "pick up her kids" in a random elementary school (which her kids have no connection to at all) I am now at a point I never thought I'd reach.

This woman is clearly mentally ill. It's one thing to slam her when she has the capacity to retaliate but it has become unfunny to continue to psychologically kick and beat this woman while she's clearly out of her mind.

It's not like, say, making fun of Idi Amin as he became old and senile. Adi Amin actually did truly evil things. Spears's big crime was being an empty-headed bubblegum pop star, and being a piss-poor mom (for which she had her kids taken away-- all well and good).

But the more this drags on the more I'm reminded of that asshole who pissed on a woman as she lay dying of pancreatic failure and laughing at the spectacle. Imagine your mom or grampa, confused, mentally checked out, wandering about and mumbling and confused, and everyone around them just pointing and laughing at the free entertainment.

I suppose this will be compared to the "Leave Britney Alone" crybaby... eh, I just find the whole thing a morbid testament to how people can be towards others who are in serious need of help.

Oh, well. Rant over, I guess.

[Molyneux]

Britney who?

Seriously, I will never understand how she has stayed in the public eye for so long. Get her some help, sure, but she really isn't newsworthy. At all.

[Sidewinder]

Considering the shit that was piled onto US military service members who suffered from mental health problems-- something I experienced firsthand-- I have to say Britney deserves sympathy and help in overcoming these problems.

[Darth Wong]

You know, she didn't just make mistakes as a mother. She was a horrendous mother, and the nature of her bad parenting was not ignorance; it was complete disregard for the well-being of her children. Why should I feel sympathy for this self-centred bitch just because her own shitty behaviour came back to bite her in the ass, thus driving her into the nuthouse?

By all means, treat her as you would any other patient. I don't advocate mistreating her. But I don't see why she deserves any more sympathy than any other trailer-trash mom who totally disregards her maternal responsibilities and then gets depressed when the state takes her kids away.

[Superman]

I couldn't care less about her, but the sad thing is that she can crap out as many more kids as she wants.

[Vympel]

(Spears got chewed up by the culture of being a celebrity, the pressure of being the breadwinner for her family contributed to her current problems, etc.),

The pressures of being a breadwinner? Shouldn't she have a ridiculous amount of money that means her kids are taken care of for life, no matter what insane thing she does, practically? Or has she pissed it all away?

[Kodiak]

(Spears got chewed up by the culture of being a celebrity, the pressure of being the breadwinner for her family contributed to her current problems, etc.),

The pressures of being a breadwinner? Shouldn't she have a ridiculous amount of money that means her kids are taken care of for life, no matter what insane thing she does, practically? Or has she pissed it all away?

I recall seeing court documents to that effect. She spends tens of thousands of dollars monthly on frivilous things which have no value, and since her record sales are down she can't afford her hi-rolling lifestyle any more.

[Broomstick]

You know, she didn't just make mistakes as a mother. She was a horrendous mother, and the nature of her bad parenting was not ignorance; it was complete disregard for the well-being of her children. Why should I feel sympathy for this self-centred bitch just because her own shitty behaviour came back to bite her in the ass, thus driving her into the nuthouse?

I feel sympathy for her because she's a suffering human being. I agree she doesn't deserve more or less sympathy than anyone else in her position. I agree that she was a truly shitty parent, hence her children have been taken away and given to their father to take care of. Here's hoping Mr. Federline has the sense to hire competant help for those areas in which he himself may be deficient.

I can't tell if her current state of mind is the result or the cause of her current messy situation - it's possible she was mentally ill years ago and it has been steadily worsening due either to lack of or improper treatment. Or it could be she has simply really fucked herself over and is now have a mental breakdown rather than pulling herself together and dealing with her problems. Either way, I'm not entirely sure she's competent to take care of herself, much less anyone else.

[Bug-Eyed Earl]

You know, she didn't just make mistakes as a mother. She was a horrendous mother, and the nature of her bad parenting was not ignorance; it was complete disregard for the well-being of her children. Why should I feel sympathy for this self-centred bitch just because her own shitty behaviour came back to bite her in the ass, thus driving her into the nuthouse?

I feel sympathy for her because she's a suffering human being. I agree she doesn't deserve more or less sympathy than anyone else in her position. I agree that she was a truly shitty parent, hence her children have been taken away and given to their father to take care of. Here's hoping Mr. Federline has the sense to hire competant help for those areas in which he himself may be deficient.

I can't tell if her current state of mind is the result or the cause of her current messy situation - it's possible she was mentally ill years ago and it has been steadily worsening due either to lack of or improper treatment. Or it could be she has simply really fucked herself over and is now have a mental breakdown rather than pulling herself together and dealing with her problems. Either way, I'm not entirely sure she's competent to take care of herself, much less anyone else.

I've come to learn a lot about addiction from listening to Dr. Drew on Loveline. Addiction is a disease- pressures can make one more likely to go that way if they have the genetic predisposition, etc. Of course, that much I knew from my family.

But I'm not Dr. Drew, so I don't have to have too much sympathy for someone who is in the situation he is trained to treat.

Besides, did drugs make her drive with her son in her lap? Did drugs make her hold her son in a bad way so that she almost dropped him?

[aerius]

Britney Spears is down by the Oscar Awards on my give a shit meter, which is to say deciding how many times I should scratch my nuts in a day is more important to me.

[Kanastrous]

Much more important, I expect and hope...

[Darth Wong]

(Spears got chewed up by the culture of being a celebrity, the pressure of being the breadwinner for her family contributed to her current problems, etc.),

The pressures of being a breadwinner? Shouldn't she have a ridiculous amount of money that means her kids are taken care of for life, no matter what insane thing she does, practically? Or has she pissed it all away?

The "pressure of being a breadwinner" is something that I know all too well. But it only applies if the parent cares about his or her parental responsibilities, and I don't think that Britney did. You can't get stressed by responsibilities that you don't give a shit about.

[Stark]

I can't have sympathy for people who have already wasted more money than I'll ever see in my entire life, and whose failures are not through circumstance or chance, but simply through stupidity, failure and substance addiction. You know why she's a bad parent and strung out and shit? For the same reasons dumbass girls in highschool take meth and sleep with 30 year olds - BECAUSE SOMEONE SAID IT WAS COOL AND THEY'RE FUCKING STUPID.

You make your choices, and people judge you on them.

[Havok]

Wow. The last thing I heard about her, she shaved he head or something. What the fuck happened?

[Superman]

Wow. The last thing I heard about her, she shaved he head or something. What the fuck happened?

I bet I can make a good speculation as to what that was about. Working in a rehab, I learned a few "tricks" junkies like to try and use. She shaved her head because she got the idea that she was going to get drug tested by the court. Since she knew it would come up positive for whatever, and also knew that hair can be tested, she thought she would get out of it by shaving it completely off. I could be totally wrong, but I've actually seen people do this. Never women though...

[CmdrWilkens]

(Spears got chewed up by the culture of being a celebrity, the pressure of being the breadwinner for her family contributed to her current problems, etc.),

The pressures of being a breadwinner? Shouldn't she have a ridiculous amount of money that means her kids are taken care of for life, no matter what insane thing she does, practically? Or has she pissed it all away?

The "pressure of being a breadwinner" is something that I know all too well. But it only applies if the parent cares about his or her parental responsibilities, and I don't think that Britney did. You can't get stressed by responsibilities that you don't give a shit about.

I think the article was pointing to the larger fact that both of her parents basically, after she was signed, came out and said "we sacrificed ourselves to make you famous now we are going to be sedantary and you will provide for this family." Her mother and father are both gigantic douches who raised their daughters, plural making it worse, to be child stars with the sole and apparent goal of seeking to avoid working to support their kids.

Spears as a mother to her kids had no responsibility as she had long ago lost anything resembling her cookies however the articel points to that delicate time from about 10 to somewhere around 18 or 19 when her parents, and mother in paticular, broke the girl. I frimly believe that they pushed her to be thinner, sexier, and sell out faster just so they wouldn't have to go out and earn a decent living themselves. Short of selling her as a prostitute Britney's parents did all that was possible to use her for their own agendas. I don't think since about the age of 20 she has been mentally capable of acting as an adult and short of the vast buisness interest built around her shielding her there would have been efforts long ago from other relatives to restrain Lynne and whatshisname whiel remanding Britney and Jamie Lynne to mental and foster care.

Do I feel sorry for her? Sure. Is she some hard luck case that deserves a share of the latest charity benifit? Nope, she has enough money to get the care she needs. I feel sympathy because nobody in her life has the motive AND the means (though some have one or the other) to forcibly seperate her from the train wreck that she has been thrown into by virtue of her upbringing.

[Broomstick]

Besides, did drugs make her drive with her son in her lap? Did drugs make her hold her son in a bad way so that she almost dropped him?

Irrelevant. It was the fact she repeatedly endangered her children that led to a loss of custody, in many ways WHY she did that is beside the point.

[fuzzymillipede]

The pressures of being a breadwinner? Shouldn't she have a ridiculous amount of money that means her kids are taken care of for life, no matter what insane thing she does, practically? Or has she pissed it all away?

I recall seeing court documents to that effect. She spends tens of thousands of dollars monthly on frivilous things which have no value, and since her record sales are down she can't afford her hi-rolling lifestyle any more.

It says here that

So far, Spears’ antics don’t appear to have hurt personal earnings, which, according to court papers released in November, are roughly $737,000 per month.

Even if she only gets to spend a 10th of that money, she isn't running out any time soon.

[Darth Wong]

So she's making 3/4 million per month, and the article quoted in the OP says that she was suffering from the pressure of being a breadwinner? What a load of spin-doctoring apologist horseshit.

[Stravo]

However, if she was indeed growing mentally ill while taking care of her kids - say the onset of Post Partum Depression setting off this slide into whatever she suffers from then I think it is way too harsh to equate her to all other trailer trash moms. I mean if you're mentally ill you honestly don't know what the fuck you are doing and will do some truly irrational shit and not understand why people are looking at you funny. I personally experienced this with my daughter's mother and it took me years to realize she wasn't just a psycho bitch in the popular notion but that she clinically was mentally ill and not really responsible for her actions.

If, and I stress the if, Britney is mentally ill she really does deserve some measure of pity. Can you imagine not being able to think properly what that must feel like, how it colors your perceptions of everything you do? Sad really no matter how much money she has.

[Darth Wong]

However, if she was indeed growing mentally ill while taking care of her kids - say the onset of Post Partum Depression setting off this slide into whatever she suffers from then I think it is way too harsh to equate her to all other trailer trash moms.

She used to interview nannies by asking them what kind of music they liked and whether they wanted to get drunk and party with her. That sounds like a self-centred bitch, not a mother suffering from PPD.

I mean if you're mentally ill you honestly don't know what the fuck you are doing and will do some truly irrational shit and not understand why people are looking at you funny. I personally experienced this with my daughter's mother and it took me years to realize she wasn't just a psycho bitch in the popular notion but that she clinically was mentally ill and not really responsible for her actions.

If, and I stress the if, Britney is mentally ill she really does deserve some measure of pity. Can you imagine not being able to think properly what that must feel like, how it colors your perceptions of everything you do? Sad really no matter how much money she has.

She deserves to get treatment and care, but not whitewashing of her history which is what the OP seemed to be doing.

[SAMAS]

I wouldn't say I feel sorry for her specifically, but she definitely burned most of the Schadenfreude right out of me.

[Coyote]

My sympathy is for her mental illness, I make no effort to understand what brough on the mental illness. Only a qualified psychological examiner can make that diagnosis. Whether it was stress, PPD, or if it was always in there but didn't trigger until [something] happened, whatever, my point is that she now appears to be quite mentally ill and the media is essentially flaying her, publicly, for cheap entertainment.

Basically, would you drag a retarded person through the streets on a rope and push, shove, and throw things at him just to get a laugh out of his flailing and incoherent protests?

She was certainly a piss-poor mother and that was obvious especially after the driving-with-baby-in-lap stunt. No arguments there. As a public figure she invited both fans and ridicule and had to put up with both. As a bad parent she had her kids taken.

But at this point, if she has this kind of money coming still, then what she needs is for someone who gives a shit about her to institutionalize her and let that money pay for quality care. It's sad to consider that of all the people in her life-- her own family, her manager, "friends", etc, they do nothing and keep her around for the rediculing media attention and the check. Mentally ill, and the people closest to her use her as an ATM machine. That's just a lonely way to die.

[Broomstick]

However, if she was indeed growing mentally ill while taking care of her kids - say the onset of Post Partum Depression setting off this slide into whatever she suffers from then I think it is way too harsh to equate her to all other trailer trash moms.

She used to interview nannies by asking them what kind of music they liked and whether they wanted to get drunk and party with her. That sounds like a self-centred bitch, not a mother suffering from PPD.

It is quite possible to be a self-centered bitch AND mentally ill at the same time. In Brittany's case, this is a very real possibility.

[Superman]

It is quite possible to be a self-centered bitch AND mentally ill at the same time. In Brittany's case, this is a very real possibility.

There's actually a direct correlation between narcissism and mental illness. One of the fundamental principles I've been taught is that pathological narcissism lies at the heart of any psychiatric illness, be it overt or covert.