As I was flipping through the channels a few nights back, I came upon the Greta VanSusteren interview with Bristol Palin. What a load of crap that was. First off, Greta must have been told to not ask any tough questions. Because it was all "Doesn't motherhood look nice on you?" instead of "What can you teach other teens about the mess you got yourself into?" These excerpts are just from my own personal memory, folks. Please don't quote me.Greta: Who's taking care of the baby?
Bristol: I am most of the time.....except for when I'm at school (aren't 17 year olds in school most of the day??) then my grandma or mom or dad or great-grandma take care of him.
Reality Check: How many teens have all these nannies readily available??
Greta: How is Levi (her boyfriend) as a new dad?
Bristol: He's sooo good with our son. He sees him everyday.
Reality Check: How many teen fathers actually do this??
Greta: What's Levi doing now?
Bristol: He's working.
Greta: What does he do?
Bristol: He works for his father.
Reality Check: How many of us have our own businesses so that we can hire our kids?
Greta: I don't want to get into the details, but this wasn't planned, was it?
Bristol: No. He's such a joy, but we would have rather had this happen 10 years from now, after getting an education and a house and a job and stuff. Teen abstinence isn't realistic, but I hope people will learn from our story.
Reality Check: Learn what??What was the purpose of this interview? I have no idea. It certainly seemed to promote teen pregnancy, in my eyes. Here's a beautiful, neatly dressed 17 year old holding an adorable, sleeping baby, talking about all the help her family is giving her and how they all can't imagine life without this illegitimate child. What's there not to like about having a baby when this is the picture painted?
If your parent is in the public eye and you are asked to do an interview, shouldn't some good come out of it? Here are some things Bristol Palin could have said:
"No, this wasn't planned. We were stupid kids who thought that it wouldn't happen to us the first, second, third (whatever) time we had sex."
"It made us feel less guilty not using contraception. We didn't want to disappoint our parents, but we wound up getting pregnant and that was more embarrassing than buying contraception in the first place."
"We used contraception, but we must have not followed the directions or it didn't work. Nothing is 100% effective. We learned our lesson the hard way."
"We got caught up in the heat of the moment and didn't have the contraception with us. This was a stupid decision on both of our parts."
"Our lives have been altered forever by one night of passion. I hope other teens will think of that the next time they are horny."
Am I being too harsh? I have no idea why the interview rubbed me in such a way, but I guess I'm just sick of everyone from A-List to D-List celebrities spouting off and not living in the real world.
No, certainly not harsh at all. If anything you're being too kind though personally I would target the press for parading it before the nation. Not a single bit of this should be the nation's business.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I saw that interview touted on the CNN website, and all they seemed interested in hyping from it was the idea that 'abstinence isn't realistic'.
ReplyDeleteWhich is not what your average horny teenager really needs to hear. Could we maybe hold our kids up to their dignity as being made in God's image? Isn't there more to them (and us) than 'I'm horny, so let's do it'?
You really nailed it with the whole, 'our lives are changed forever because of a moment's passion' thing. Which is a wonderful thing, actually - if you're married to each other. . .
But then, I'm sittin' here with a grand-daughter born out-of-wedlock, being raised in another family, so maybe I shouldn't talk too loud. . .
Xavier - I blame both. Fox for airing a dumb interview and the girl/her family for allowing the nonsense. I didn't see anyone holding a gun to her head!
ReplyDeleteDesmond - I've always thought the old "they're going to do it anyway" is such a cop out. We can and should hold our teens to higher standards. There's nothing wrong with saying "keep your pants on." I'm not saying don't teach kids about contraceptives - that should be common knowledge that we all learn about at some point. But throwing in the towel because lots of kids make mistakes is just sad to me. I'm glad groups like MADD don't give up on teenage drinking/driving just because "everyone is doing it."
Well, you just summed up my Dad's "talk" with me in a nut shell, "15 minutes of pleasure for a lifetime of pain." Ever the romantic my father!
ReplyDeletei think it's the notion of celebrity for no good reason that gets old. if you want to do an honest piece on teen pregnancy come to my local high school. talk to those girls. talk to their families, boyfriends and friends. while bristol has had her life altered forever, you're right...she and levi have a support network unavailable to the overwhelming majority.
ReplyDeleteYou aren't being harsh enough. I'd like to hear her say, "My mother was promoting a hypocrtical abstinence/ "family values" agenda and clearly we ignored her, as many teens will. We were idiots, and are the spawn of idiots, and spoiled brats to boot. Be assured that if you are an unwed teen getting pregnant, life will not be nearly as cushy for you, and the best thing for all concerned would be for our entire family to shut their mouths and disappear forever." Or something like that.
ReplyDeleteRuss - But I'm sure you were an adorable little pain!
ReplyDeleteLime - You're right. The idea of giving an audience to someone just because they're the daughter of someone in the public eye is just stupid.
Citizen - Now that was harsh!
Harsh, but accurate. You have to admit it. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen shows like that are on its time for me to step away from the television.
ReplyDeleteMike - That is good advice for me as well.
ReplyDelete