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Spotlight detracts from family life; Lorraine D’Eramo; Beaver County Times; March 10, 2010.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“This is in response to the gentleman who wrote the Feb. 28 letter to the editor ‘Sarah Palin is our Helen of Troy’ in which he criticized Lynn Coleman Gardner's Feb. 24 letter ‘Palin should keep family life private:’
“As the mother of a special needs child, I’m sure Gardner didn’t have the time or energy to seek attention. Sarah Palin wouldn’t either if she was a decent mother to her special-needs son and other four children. She’s completely self-centered and egotistical.”
[RWC] First, here’s something I failed to catch in my critique of Ms. Gardner’s letter. Ms. Gardner referred to her child as “a special-needs daughter.” What’s wrong with that? Nothing in my view, but during the 2008 presidential campaign Judy Pamer had a fit when Sarah Palin referred to “her son as a ‘special needs’ child” but not when others used the term “special needs.” Since Ms. Pamer’s bashing of Mrs. Palin for using the description “special needs,” there have been at least two Times editorials and four letters to the editor (prior to this one) using the term “special needs” to describe children with one challenge or another. Ms. Pamer’s response? Silence. I have one last example of Ms. Pamer’s hypocrisy. On January 12, 2009, Ms. Pamer gave a presentation on stress management. As described on her employer’s website, “This presentation provides stress management techniques for the parents and caregivers of a child with special needs [my highlight] - you can manage it instead of letting it manage you. Please join us to learn some tecnhiques [sic] for taking control.” I guess it’s OK for some folks to use the term, but not for others. I also noticed Ms. Pamer didn’t appear to have a problem when President Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, referred to some folks on his side of the aisle as “f***ing retarded.”
Second, regarding Ms. D’Eramo’s assumption “Gardner didn’t have the time or energy to seek attention,” I noted in my critique of Ms. Gardner’s letter “Ms. Gardner and her daughter were the subject of a Sunday Times front-page article entitled “Mom’s love endures” (Adam Boone; June 16, 1996). Pictures of Ms. Gardner and her daughter were on the front page and on page A12.”
Third, note Ms. D’Eramo alleges Mrs. Palin isn’t “a decent mother to her special-needs son and other four children. She’s completely self-centered and egotistical.” Other than I’d bet Ms. D’Eramo and Mrs. Palin are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, on what basis can Ms. D’Eramo make such mean-spirited allegations? Did Ms. D’Eramo feel the same about Hillary Clinton when her daughter Chelsea was a child? What about Michelle Obama and all her time seeking the spotlight and pulling her daughters in? Apparently it’s OK for some moms, but not for others. If Ms. D’Eramo applied her line of thinking consistently regardless of political ideology, she appears to believe women can’t be politically active and remain “decent mother[s].”
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