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?

fusion

That's a really interesting post. Thankyou

It's like walking into a den of wolves, all ready to rip you apart

Oh dear.

Sorry, but could someone explain the Arthur Miller "joke" to me, please?

Fusion that is a really interesting way of looking at it.

I try really hard to look at things from all points of view and while I understood that she was sad I couldn't get my head around her language and comparisons. This has explained some of it (an explaination doesn't make it ok but it helps me feel less angry about it)

Here you are, Dumdedum

She's seems to have deleted it now

Is she comparing her self indulgent musings for the Guardian to the work of Arthur Miller? Surely not, otherwise she'll make herself look even sillier than she already has.

Thanks, Bore, I didn't see that - like the subtle Hemingway reference typo.

Hack mum - it can't be a one way street - hacks exploit social media to get their message to a wider readership - but the cry foul if that readership dislikes the message and the messenger.

Just been talking this with a friend. Her mum had a stillbirth before she was born. She said, watching your children grow is not a bereavement, its a privilege.

wibblies I'd love to read your guest post on this issue. I'd like to see you heard.

"I totally agree, and would be happy to go on the record should there be any follow up with the Guardian via Mumsnet"

I hope you are given that opportunity?

Interesting insight fusion.

Hadn't thought she could actually believe what she was writing.

Mind you, she's taken the piss out of all us thicko's for not understanding her metaphor, so am not entirely sure where that fits in?

Liz Fraser doesn't need to wear a Fool's Cap for the rest of her life. Every day, for the rest of her life, she has to wake up, look in the mirror and see a woman with some very small talent for writing, but with a much greater talent for being a shallow, self aggrandising twat.

Punishment enough.

to all bereaved parents.
I am not. But I did wince when I read that article in the paper last weekend.

It's a piece of mediocre writing about something very ordinary, with no special insights. and on some level the author has realised this and this is why she felt the need for this overblown metaphor. So poorly judged. It would have been better to read the first draft over, sigh, think "there's nothing in this, is there" and file it, than to think "I know! I can't bear not to be blethering in public so I'll sex it up by comparing it to bereavement!"

What is more poorly judged of course is her ensuing dicking about on twitter.

All of these antics are reflective of her having a huge amount invested in her sense of herself as a special, talented person, worthy of the public limelight. I feel that there is far too much of this "journalism" at the moment - meaningless mediocre rehashings of cliches written by people who have no idea how boring and bog standard their "thoughts" are. It's this lack of self awareness that has made her such a dick on twitter. She really thinks she's better than mumsnetters. It's usually men who make that stupid mistake.

There is so much interesting original writing available on all sorts of online spaces, much of it written for free. It really annoys me that successful self-publicists like her hog the paid-for-press bandwidth while contributing nothing worth reading.

Anyway - that's off the point of how offensive that piece is - but I just want to say that I sort of agree it might be best not to give her something else to write about. I dread seeing in a few weeks time some awful whining piece about "internet bullying" with herself cast as a sensitive, brave victim. You know it's going to happen.

Spot on lockthetaskbar - it was all about the 'angle' for her wasn't it. Front page feature about children growing into teenagers? Hmm as much substance as a piece of fluff. I know! Let's give it some weight by making it comparable to bereavement!

Fucking cretin Family editor too for commissioning and printing the piece in the first place. The whole section deserves to be used as loo roll only.

Sorry I realise i have basically paraphrased exactly what you just said

The whole section deserves to be used as loo roll only

I used mine to clear up dog sick

REALLY

I'm wondering if it's even fit for the recycling bin nowadays, or whether the print is too polluting.

at Muddha. Perfect.

I generally like the Family section. I often have a tear in my eye when reading about the old family recipes or long gone family members in a sepia photo.

ooh I like those bits

it's the smug annoying bits they dangle in the hope that twitter will get hold of them I can't stand

this one was a case in point

the 'letter to my ungrateful son' -or something similar- last week was another

it was a fucking twitter FRENZY I woke up to

I think this is entirely intentional

twitter FRENZY I woke up to

just to clarify- I didn't write it

HONEST

I just like to have a look at twitter before I get up

'letter to my ungrateful son' was heartbreaking. That poor boy.

The ungrateful son was 10 years old. What was that all about?

There was a thread on that as well.

It's a particularlyself-absorbed way of seeing parenting, IMO. Lots of projecting of own emotional problems onto children

To be fair, at least that article was anonymous-and a ten year old boy is hardly likely to be idly flipping through the pages of the family guardian

It didn't carry a massive half page photo of his mum sitting on his bed pulling a sad face, like this one did