Use of child death as an analogy for sense of loss should be punishable by wearing a dimwit hat for ever more

[wibblies]

Fucking Liz Fraser in the weekend guardian is the latest in a long line of journalists and writers who seem to think this is ok.

Here's a sample of what she has to say in her article about her sense of loss in watching her children grow from primary age into teenagers:

"When the joy goes - and it does, because life moves on and you can’t play peek-a-boo with a 12-year-old who wants to play Minecraft with his similarly zit-infested mates – it feels like bereavement."

"Those young children are dead now. They are gone."

"The bereavement is long, slow and refreshed every day."

Just so you know, Liz Fraser, watching a child grow up as it gets older is really not anything like not watching a child grow up because the child is dead. I know this, because I've tried them both.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who notices this shit? Please tell me you recognise that it's not the fucking same at all? That it's not even a tiny bit similar and that it's crass in the extreme to suggest it?

Wow, what a gigantic hoohaa she's managed to make out of this.

She is missing the point. I understand mourning the loss of your children's childhoods. That is NOT the same as 'that child is dead'.

Bereaved parents trying to make that point are NOT trolls. It's hard battling against the tide of 'don't talk about it/your children' surely she realises that phrase is really insensitive.

The Miller comment about the death of a salesman is utterly disgraceful. However, I have absolutely no doubt she will look back on that comment and cringe to herself. If she doesn't she is totally self absorbed.

If anyone has said they hope she looses her children so she understands that is equally disgraceful, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

The Miller comment about the death of a salesman is utterly disgraceful. However, I have absolutely no doubt she will look back on that comment and cringe to herself. If she doesn't she is totally self absorbed.

I doubt it. It's witty and well read innit.

What a stupid, hateful article.

The Death of A Salesman comment is remarkably dim.

expatinscotland that was from her website profile. Apologies for not checking. Or knowing. I just wanted to highlight that she uses that in her marketing blurb whilst completely failing to make her voluntary experience invade her thought process.

How could she write that sentence, re-read it (I assume that's part of her process?) and not have it jar?

Is she still going? Can't quite believe how much pleasure she is taking in all of this.

What a terribly depressing life she must lead.

MNHQ Why so quiet on the subject?

I am so so sorry to all on this thread who have lost a child or sibling and who have been caused hurt by such a shallow, self-indulgent journo. It seems to me that her poor excuses and apologies will not suffice and she (and the Guardian too) needs to start by making a very straight and sincere apology. She then needs to donate her fee for the piece to a relevant charity and the Guardian (as the editor also should have known better) needs to match this. MNHQ has been pretty pathetic here too, the use of the word "might" was at best poor - mnhq needs to express their disagreement with the sentiment of the article and a link to this thread.
Then, the Guardian and LF need to increase their donations 10 fold.
It wont' take away any of the hurt and pain caused by the original article but at least will make clear that the Guardian and LF recognise they have made a mistake.

That's pretty mind-blowing, Soft, that she has that as part of her marketing. She hasn't done herself any favours in that department today.

She just seems to have seen it as a massive opportunity for self promotion.

Just to be clear MNHQ needs to tweet disagreement on twitter given the comments that have been made about mners on that forum.

I don't really understand how twitter works or to what extent you can see everything if you are not a member, but the Death of a Salesman tweet seems to have been deleted.

MNHQ might also consider if they're happy for her to describe MN as an "online space for public flogging".

Liz Fraser is currently crowd funding for a book she obviously can't find a publisher for:

unbound.co.uk/books/lifeshambles

I imagine this publicity will come in handy. I wonder if she didn't have a hand in it? Or at least in encouraging it's spread?

Yes, she deleted that one, Seneca.

If I were advising MN I would say say as little as possible. The more people say the more trouble they tend to get in.

If in doubt say now't.

Well sadly you can't be an arse on the Internet and then act like it never happened:

Yes, nice to know she thinks everyone who's posted in this thread are "dicks". What a fucking moron.

OMG! I tweeted Liz Fraser too and she's blocked me! FFS.

Can't even defend her crappy, shoddy writing, can she?

Well Jackie Kennedy blackballed Arthur Miller for being a dick to Marilyn in his plays. So you're all in good company at least!

Even if Mumsnet didn't care about standing up for its users, could they not be motivated to stand up for themselves? A lot of those tweets are pretty rude about Mumsnet as a whole. Not that that matters at all compared to the individuals who have been hurt by this.

Something I find deeply ironic is Liz Fraser calling 'troll' when, meanwhile over on Mumsnet, we have a no troll-hunting policy, just in case 'troll' is called when someone is genuinely in need. People have reacted to her article with genuine emotion based on unimaginably awful experiences, and she calls 'troll' in an attempt to discredit them and discard their reactions as irrelevant. Maybe she should take a leaf out of nasty, horrid Mumsnet's book.

I am so, so sorry to anyone on here who has lost a child.

A lot of those tweets are pretty rude about Mumsnet as a whole.

An odd thing to do while advertising yourself on your blog as part of the Mumsnet Bloggers Network. But then again, she doesn't appear to be very bright.

for anyone who has lost a child.

I am more concerned with mumsnet HQ not standing up for mumsnetters than this silly daft persons article.

I don't have twitter so please update us.

I am just stunned by this thread. How dare she belittle people who have lost their children? How can she be so stupid that she thinks it is ok to misrepresent their comments to her friends so that she looks better? The people she is laughing at and sneering at have lost children. How vile