This morning Bill O'Reilly is celebrating his influence-- specifically,
VIllanova University's decision to remove a plaque in memory of Mine An Ener, a former history professor at the university who confessed to killing her baby daughter and then committed suicide. Ener seems to have exhibited symptoms of psychosis, postpartum or not.
This is a terribly sad story; all children should be protected from danger,
and Ener's daughter deserved to live, no matter what affected her mother's
mental health. But O'Reilly's self-congratulations are in poor taste. A
story like this is not appropriate fodder for his stick-it-to-ya
attitude. If he were truly concerned with what is a right and proper
response to the tragedy, his own response to the university's decision
would not have looked so much like an arrogant victory dance.
I tried to email Mr. O'Reilly to offer this feedback, and discovered that
since I don't pay for premium access to his website, he doesn't want to
hear my opinion. I can't say I'm surprised.
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Hi Cynthia,
I've long been turned off by O'Reilly's personality problems. I think they counteract whatever good he does in bringing important information to the public.
Which ties to your comment on my blog (thanks!). I did not see poor Sun Hudson's mother on his show, but it does not surprise me that she presented poorly. I saw on an amusing piece on a website on how to handle O'Reilly on his show--it reminded me of nature programs on how to approach alligators or gorillas.
Beyond that, it certainly seems that one of the most basic differences between Sun Hudson's case and Terri's is that she is blessed with articulate, capable and rational parents, while Sun evidently was not. More reason that our movement should have been there for him...
Final point: Governor Bush comes off far better inthe Texas story than I thought; he vetoed a bill in 1997 that gave relatives only 72 hours to find alternative care, instead of ten days. And the '97 bill was itself an improvement over the status quo, in which hospitals could discontinue care at will. But this only makes the situation worse--how is it possible that a state in which the evangelical community is supposedly so strong could have such a culture of bureaucratic death?
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