Are we all to Blame for the Rise of the Crazy Octuplet Mom?

Minutes into watching the crazy octuplet mother calmly explain to news actress Ann Curry the totally nonsensical reasons why she thinks a single mom with no job and a small house can raise 14 kids by herself, I got an odd feeling -- like watching an accomplice get away with murder.

Somehow, in viewing Dateline NBC's breathless report Tuesday on this woman who looks like she paid a plastic surgeon to make her look like Angelina Jolie, I felt like a contributor to the media circus. I felt like I -- and everyone else who bothered to tune into this string of lies and rationalizations presented like a news report -- helped make this happen.

It seems obvious now that Nadya Suleman's best hope for avoiding bankruptcy is cashing in on her status as a baby factory. If People magazine will pay $100,000 for exclusive pictures, or some TV news outlet will pay $50,000 to use her personal photos during its reports, or Doubleday will pay six figures for a ghost-written book on her tribulations, the financial picture starts to look a bit brighter.

(NBC has denied paying Suleman anything for her interviews; initially, according to the Los Angeles Times, one of her publicity representatives said the matter was between her and NBC before denying she was paid. The newspaper cited unnamed competitors saying Suleman's family asked for as much as $1.2 million for the interview; networks sometimes provide first-class plane fares or license fees for personal photos to sidestep issues of paying high-profile sources directly.)

But none of this happens unless Suleman can convince media companies that her bizarre personal situation will draw a paying crowd. Hence the interviews that produced three days of coverage -- and time-slot winning ratings for NBC Tuesday night -- on the Today show and Dateline NBC.

Curry was perfect for the job. Challenged enough to read headlines and pitch softball interviews on the Today show, she must expend a tremendous amount of energy just to look like a serious journalist in these settings, leaving little juice left to actually challenge Suleman.

Questions I wish she had asked more aggressively:

Why did Suleman split hairs, saying she wasn't planning on accepting welfare, if she already was on public assistance and three of her children are receiving disability payments?

Why does she look like she has altered her nose, lips and hairstyle to resemble another celebrity focused on building an unusually large family, Angelina Jolie?

Who will pay the estimated $1.3 million in costs expected from the effort to keep her eight newborns alive? If the public eats that bill, and it likely will, why wouldn't that be considered welfare? (And why didn't Curry press her more on any of these points?)

If she's being shifty about receiving public assistance -- and denying having had plastic surgery when it's obvious from looking at old pictures that she's had some work done on her face -- can we believe anything she says?

This case brims with irony: The doctor who apparently implanted the six embryos into Suleman, exceeding the numbers other doctors have said is ethical and safe, has one of the worst success rates in the country. And the mother at the center of this case, facing increasing questions about her own fitness of mind, once worked at a state mental hospital.

But the worst irony may be that those of us clucking over her excesses also help feed the frenzy of attention that will allow her to cash in on her horribly pathological choices.

Comments

[appacom]

The little children involved - all 14 - ought be our concern. Clearly, the mother needs mental health care, and those babies still need diapers and formula and love. Nobody seems concerned about giving the mother and her children the help they so obviously need. Instead, everybody from Dr. Phil to Larry Flint, from Ann Curry to HuffPost, is exploiting this tragic situation. The doctor is the villain, the one who deserves castigation and jail.
And, leave Angelina Jolie out of this madness. I'll bet she is among the few out there who understands that the mother is mentally ill and needs help as much as those poor little children.
To read comments that refer to the new babies as "a litter" from people on here expressing outrage speaks volumes.

[mommyof5]

First everyone complains that she is a drain on the economy. Now people accuse her of using her kids to make money. Which is it folks?? Why is it ok to kill a baby, but not to have more than 2?? How about if we all move on to something more important, like say....the gang problems, the drug problems, the people living below poverty level problem?? I have to tell you, I'm more worried about supporting the millions of illegal immigrants in this country than I am about this woman who obviously loves her kids. And for the love of God, who cares if she had plastic surgery?? So have half the women in this country. Let it go.

[brocko]

Henrietta Hughes, the woman in Ft. Meyers FL who asked Obama for housing assistance just sold $40,000 worth of property.

[drkazmd65]

No, we are NOT all to blame,...

I haven't watched one single solitary episode of these 'Lifetime / Bravo' freakshows, avoid the genre completely,.. and have been in the room once or twice when those idiotic wife-swap shows were on.

The Duggars,... the John & Kate + Eight,... they are all freaks and should never be encouraged in their freakiness.

Intelegent TV programming,... while once rare,... is essentially extinct,...

Reminds me,... probably time to go and renew my PBS membership,..

[Airborne30]

Sorry, but I just had to say you misspelled intelligent. Other than that, right on :)

[learnsomething]

Angie Jolie is having and adopting babies WITH BRAD PITT. They have adopted disadvantaged children who might have died, had they not been adopted.

BRAD AND ANGIE ARE MULTI MILLIONAIRES. This welfare octomom, cannot compare herself to them.

It is Brad and Angie, a team, A RICH TEAM.

[ObjectiveRealist]

It's pleasant to see somebody writing for a publication as big as Huffington Post, suggest that their interest in reading about freak shows contributes monetarily to the incentive of people to make freak shows of themselves. It's obvious, yet bears repeating.

quote:
It seems obvious now that Nadya Suleman's best hope for avoiding bankruptcy is cashing in on her status as a baby factory. If People magazine will pay $100,000 for exclusive pictures, or some TV news outlet will pay $50,000 to use her personal photos during its reports, or Doubleday will pay six figures for a ghost-written book on her tribulations, the financial picture starts to look a bit brighter.
/quote

Heh, if she could just share the advertising revenue from the clicks to web pages about her octuplets, she would quickly notice an improvement in her financial situation.

[Kalifornika]

No.

[llisa]

Are we all to blame? Nope, not me. I don't read shallow "look at this!" type magazines or watch "reality" TV. I had never heard of the "somebody and somebody plus eight" show or that family that squirts out yet another baby every year until I read it on Huff post.

I was indignant about this woman having a litter BEFORE I knew that she had six IVF little ones at home, AND was single and on welfare AND had bankrupted her parents. These poor children should ALL be removed from her and placed in homes where they can have enough love and attention to thrive as individuals. No way should any network adopt this woman as its latest weird reality show. AND she needs to be thoroughly evaluated and treated for whatever mental illness is causing her behavior. (If it is a mental illness and not just a quest for notoriety, and/or goods and services.)

I think fertility clinics need to have some strict rules and limitations. We obviously cannot count on self-regulation and integrity among the doctors at these clinics.

I will do my part by not watching any shows depicting these sorts of nutcases and by loving my adopted grandbaby and foster grandson and supporting their caring and practical parents.

Ultimately, we are all responsible for our own behavior. Those who made these questionable choices and those who reward them must own up to their responsibility.

[Areyoume2]

We: being to blame...as long as you're factoring in America's incessant need to remain shallow and 'news' or 'celebrity' absorbed. We've already had the plumber turned MidEast war reporter. There's obviously an appetite for sensationalism and the 'guy/gal' next door seems to take on the biggest headlines, as though they are really - merely only a guy/gal next door.

Oct-Mom would be laughable, if her saga didn't involve children! This is NO mother (in any woman's fantasy). I can understand a woman yearning to experience motherhood - willing to raise a child alone (if need be). But to make this number of pregnancies and babies merely a show for the world to gawk at, and seemingly only for the benefit of the dollars and publicity (and in so doing making 14 little ones the victims of so much media scrutiny and public mockery... It's UGLY) . I think the brood should be taken from her for their emotional well being. There are loving and balanced homes looking to welcome her babies. This lady is a fruitcake.

[Peji]

What make me furious is that I would LOVE to have a large family and could afford one, but I know in my heart and brain that it is wrong for the planet for humans to keep breeding like rabbits. A sustainable future for my TWO children is not possible if the Sulemon's and Duggar's and Kate&Jon (makes 8) of the world keep overpopulating, assisted by science or not. This problem highlights the difference between individual rights vs. society's rights. In the larger view, these people are criminals and have trod on my rights and those of my children. Plus, I'm often forced to pay for them to do so because, though they are criminals, it would be wrong to punish their innocent children -they truly have society over a barrel!

Democracy is only about the individual in so far as they don't tread on the rights of others. We must face reality in this country, for a change and have policies to discourage overpopulation.

[eeyore5662]

I totally agree. If all of the news -- everyone -- would leave her alone, stop the interviews, stop making her feel like a star ............. She should be put in jail. As far as her not relying on welfare, what a joke. She took money from an injury and paid over a $100,000 to have these kids with absolutely no idea where any more money would come from after she gave birth and allowed herself enough to get a face job to look like her heroine. Did she stop once to think what would happen to these children if anything happened to her?

If you asked me, the idiot doctor who allowed this to happen should have to pay child support for each of these children until they are 21. And these children should be taken away from her and put in homes where they will have at least a chance to grow and be children. It is without a doubt the most ridiculous thing I've heard of in years. And you and I will pay for it -- as if we don't have enough to pay for now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HappyMarsden]

I'm sorry Nadya wasn't asked the tough questions. But worry not, I will answer all those questions for you, on Ms. Suleman's behalf, so you can sleep peacefully at night. Here we go:

1) She said she wasn't planning on accepting welfare, because that doesn't make her look good to say she accepts welfare.

2) She looks like she has altered her nose and lips to resemble Jolie because that's who she's inspired by.

3) Who will pay the estimated $1.3 million in costs expected from the effort to keep her eight newborns alive? You. You and all US taxpayers will. Welcome to Amereeka! And yes, that can be considered welfare. "Nadya Suleman is on welfare". That's a direct quote. Happy?

4) Can you believe anything she says when it appears she has had surgery and she denies as much? In a word, no. You can't believe anything she says. Neither can her alleged church.

"But the worst irony may be that those of us clucking over her excesses also help feed the frenzy of attention that will allow her to cash in on her horribly pathological choices."

Yes. That IS the "worst irony". At least its a good thing that HP wont support the "frenzy of attention that will allow her to cash in on her horribly pathological choices", by posting the link to Suleman's website where you can send her donations.

[denny8844]

Medicaid will pay the entire hospital bill just as it does for all who are unable to pay due to the financial state. I am sure that Lyndon Johnson was thinking to himself when he signed the Medicaid legislation in 1965 " Hmmm this is just the kind of safety net that I want for anyone who decides to have multiple births when they already have 6 at home" When we foster a culture that is afraid to sanction against or be judgemental against aberrant behavior which does not sustain a healthy civilization this is what we all get. When the culture breaks down, the society breaks down.

[aweissnet]

I don't watch television, read tabloids, or follow celebrities. I don't search for them on the internet or follow their lifestyles.Nor do I think having large litters of kids (or any kid) is a blessing on this planet. I have a tremendous amount of respect for women, their abilities, and their capacity for unconditional love (of their children). She does not exemplify this, and I do not acknowledge her as a "woman." I'm not sure what hole she crawled out of.

This strange story keeps coming up in the NEWS where it does not belong. I wish this eyesore would disappear.

To me, the injustice is as unfair as what I see going on in government and the finance industry right now. And it just tees me off.

[NoToGOP08]

So why are you writing about it then?

[ahuffreader]

Eric Deggans is to blame. I am not to blame.