My god this turned out way too long, but I can’t really delete any of it and have the rest of it make sense.
For this I apologize.
Ok, I’ve said it before. There are two basic types of people on Twitter. (and a third, blend of the two, but still two types)
First, there are those who are there for nothing but self-promotion, marketing, advertising, and chasing the almighty dollar.
Second, there are those who have found an unlikely community. People who share pain, happiness, friendship.
I’m squarely in the second. I don’t promote myself other than linking blog-posts to twitter so that people who care enough to read my sometimes mindless blathering can. I enjoy comments but usually don’t get any because my blog is *WAY* down on the list of “popular” blogs. (Right up there with “Everything you wanted to know about cat litter”) (I do have a google adsense banner for all the good it does me, I can’t remember when I saw the last check from them)
Then there are those that are just there for a profit, and for the “Marketing Potential” People like @MadisonMcgraw. Or Laura Freed, or whatever her name is this week. She falls right into column two.
As most of you know, last week the worst tragedy possible happened to someone. A boy drowned. This is such a horrific thing in and of itself that I can’t even begin to imagine what his parents must be going through.
I don’t have all of the information, but it seems to me that mom was doing what moms do, going about her daily business, twittering, cooking, cleaning, putting the kids on their chores, etc, same as we all do. (I’m a dad, but believe it or not, the concept is pretty much the same, just less makeup)
A two-year old boy slipped into the pool and drowned. My god *I* cried for an hour when I’d heard the news. My first thoughts with the family and surviving children… I have three kids and couldn’t in my worst nightmare picture what Shellie was going through.
On Twitter The outpouring of support was amazing, and is why I continue to think that twitter-parents are some of the best people around. They rally when most people would just pass by.
And rally they did.
All except one person. Laura Freed, A.K.A. Madison Mcgraw, A.K.A. godknowswhatelse. A self-proclamed, self-published “author” who, when the whole fiasco started had a relatively brand-new twitter account and less than 50 followers. For some reason, she forgot the basic tenant of human decency (or her parents never taught her). She saw her opportunity and seized it like someone who hasn’t eaten in two weeks jumps on a bowl of dog-food. Her first tweets were asking for verification, suspiciously all directed at media outlets.
Here’s the lesson your parents didn’t care enough to teach you.
“Always err on the side of compassion – you may be wrong sometimes, but you will always have a clear conscience”
My parents were raging assholes and *STILL* they managed to teach me that lesson.
So my questions for Ms. Freed are as follows:
Question-1: Why would you ask the local news-paper if a story is true? They are usually the last to know. Maybe a call to the local sherrif’s office to confirm an incident? (they can’t tell you *WHAT* is going on, but will confirm if they are there)
Question-2: What kind of fucking ghoul asks for proof when someone says their child has passed away? If you don’t believe her, fine, you say I’m sorry and move on without making a donation. (Though thankfully, thanks to you, Shellie’s fund has probably been receiving record donations – bet that burns – I know I donated 5x what I was going to because of the additional pain YOU caused her)
Question-3: Why would you start telling people to hold donations for the family until you verified the story? Of course when proof was supplied (by me, probably among others) the tone changed from “she’s a fraud” to “she’s a negligent mother who was tweeting while her child died”
Question-4: Why did you use your pen-name on MSNBC instead of your real name? As a former EMT your real name might have enjoyed a little respectability (until you opened your mouth of course) but as a failed author you came across as nothing but a self-promoting bitch who would capitalize on the DEATH OF A CHILD to get your name into the media.
Listen Laura (because *THAT* is your real name) let me explain something to you that may have gone unnoticed in your otherwise perfect life.
Accidents happen. Whether mom was twittering, reading a book, cooking, or going to the bathroom, tending to another child, or just taking five seconds to collect her thoughts makes no difference. Unless you are willing to tie your child to you every minute of every day, they get away from you. (They’re slippery that way) As you have more this becomes an even bigger problem, because they have a habit of running in different directions.
Now I’m going to assume that you don’t have kids, #1 because if you do you were totally willing to dump them off on someone else to go get made up with about 40 lbs. of pancake makeup to go on national TV and spread your name and hatred around. You also used to be an EMT before you turned hack-author. Unless the reason you are no longer an EMT is because you in some way failed at the task, you must have cared about people on some level.
Parting thoughts.
Shellie & Family – if you’re reading this. I’m *SO* sorry for your loss, doubly so that it had to happen at such a young age, and triply so that it had to be followed by the pain that #madcow has added to the mix. If you need anything, you know where to find me.
To the folks at MSNBC – You allowed someone to manipulate you into free publicity. That’s fine, happens all the time. But they made *YOU* look bad and engendered a *LOT* of hatred within the online community that Shellie is a major part of. FamilyBloggers, MommyBloggers, etc, number in the tens of thousands, and as such make up a market share of our own, trust me. If the producer who booked Laura hasn’t been fired by now I’d like to know why. I’d also like to know why you saw fit to allow someone on one of your “news” programs to offer an uneducated opinion on a subject she knows nothing about, and to top it all off using a fictitious name. Obvious miscalculation on your part.
And to Laura – the best thing you could do right now is apologize and tell the world you were wrong. I’m a very firm believer in karma and guarantee you that nothing will be right in your life until this is done. If you had any sense of common decency you would have initially used the opportunity and your position as a former EMT to remind people how to safely secure a pool when you have toddlers. You know what? *THAT* might have even gotten you on the news, and the goodwill of thousands.
Also – I’ve read just enough of your book to induce vomit. (Thank god kindle lets you download the first chapter of a book for free, if I had paid for that tripe I would have been PISSED) Hire a decent ghost-writer if you want to have any chance of becoming a real author. It’s obvious that the public school system let you down in a big way. Maybe Sarah Palin will recomend hers.
And finally to the rest of my Twitter friends… *YOU* are as much my community as any could be. I would rather talk to you than 90% of the people I meet “IRL” Thank you for being there for me when *I* have needed you.
Now, real bloggers (NOT Laura) accept, encourage, and welcome comments.