Britney Loses Custody of Children

Luba · 10-06-2007, 01:07 PM

No sympathy as Britney Spears loses custody to Kevin Federline - Times Online

So do you feel sorry for her or do you think she deserves it?

TKDLady · 10-06-2007, 01:09 PM

Not sure Kevin Federline is any better!! I have no sympathy for her.

Luba · 10-06-2007, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkdlady

Not sure Kevin Federline is any better!! I have no sympathy for her.

I've heard it reported that he has really changed his ways and is very concerned about the welfare of his children.

Meanon · 10-06-2007, 01:24 PM

Yes I feel sorry for her. She's a victim, so damaged by life that she can't cope and her attempts to do so cause further damage. The kids may well be better off without her, but the loss will mark them too. It's an everyday private tragedy made public. The almost gleeful press coverage of her and other famous young women's public disintegration is sickening.

Vautrin · 10-06-2007, 01:31 PM

It is the price for public prostitution. She has been made in a commodity to the n-th degree; everything she does serves to sell.

No life at all. I hope this is best for the kids.

Meanon · 10-06-2007, 01:48 PM

It's what seems to happen to people with problems when they get sucked into that lifestyle. I wouldn't describe it as the price. Some seem to manage fine, their core personalities are strong enough to survive the hype and they learn to protect themselves through a degree of privacy. Others become their public persona, fame consumes them.

Duke · 10-06-2007, 01:51 PM

The sad part is that it's the kids who suffer in all of this.

Meanon · 10-06-2007, 02:05 PM

Everyone suffers, especially the kids. Just hope Federline did it for the right reasons, for their sakes.

Vautrin · 10-06-2007, 02:08 PM

How old was Britney when she was a mega star? 15 or so? I think she was 3 or 4 year old when she started trying to get there.

I don't think you can blame her as a person. You can blame the whole culture / media / music industry.

Duke · 10-06-2007, 02:14 PM

That's too easy to do though. There are a lot of stars that make it and have no more controversy than the average person with the exception of it happing in front of the media.

I don't know that I blame her for her actions fully but she needs to assume some level of responsibility.

Vautrin · 10-06-2007, 02:21 PM

But I can post a long list of stars who don't make it. The sad part is, that every bit of coverage is big news these days. PR has taken over the whole industry. The same with quite a few sports.

But is it not weird, to assume that when one is legally speaking a kid, to have already developed a strong character to deal with the whole fame thing??

Duke · 10-06-2007, 02:30 PM

I'm not arguing the point, all I'm trying to state is that avoiding guilt seems to be more the norm these days than assuming it.

While its true that BS may be a product of her environment to some extent, she did and always will have choices. For every one star who's life falls apart due to "outside influences" there are thousands of everyday people who have the same thing happen. The only difference between BS and some poor schmuck laying in a dingy apartment in a pool of his own vomit is the media.

I do agree with your take on TV as a whole but I can't actually generalize it because its a sound medium, it's just abused horribly and society has taken such a dump that we actually encourage it to sink lower and lower.

Vautrin · 10-07-2007, 01:02 AM

Quote:

While its true that BS may be a product of her environment to some extent, she did and always will have choices. For every one star who's life falls apart due to "outside influences" there are thousands of everyday people who have the same thing happen. The only difference between BS and some poor schmuck laying in a dingy apartment in a pool of his own vomit is the media.

That about covers it. Essentially, because she is a star her breakdown gets attention. But the fact that thousands, if not millions are in a similar situation in the US gets conveniently ignored in the process.

Meanon · 10-07-2007, 05:04 AM

Some people are angry about the ill treatment of her children, others about what she represents (lifestyle, wealth, use of her sexuality in marketing) so they welcome her breakdown as somehow deserved. The truth is more complex.

The pressures of such attention, adulation and loathing are immense. Many feel the effects but find ways of protecting themselves. With others it seems to tip them over the edge. Who knows if they'd have got there without it. I've not read a great deal about it but found this article interesting in how it tracks the some of the causes and effects.
Can anyone save the little girl lost? | Review | The Observer

To me there is a world of difference between blame and responsibility. Blame further negates people's ability to recover and to change. Most people who do bad things do so because they believe they are bad and blaming simply confirms what they already know to be the case. Taking responsibility empowers people to believe in themselves as decent human beings, helps people understand why they are like they are, helps them acquire the ability to change self destructive patterns. Britney is responsible for what has happened to her, but that doesn't mean she deserved it. Blame usually helps no-one but the person doing it but if it were to be apportioned, I would guess that she shares some of it along with many others.

Luba · 10-07-2007, 08:14 AM

I read that article from Meanon's link and the further I read, the more sorrier I felt for Britney; she's so out-of-control and pushed so many people away, how will she ever get back on track? She's never had a childhood and wasn't her own person right from the start...it's no wonder she is falling apart left and right...