Hypocritical often? Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy elicits mixed responses

By Amanda Fox

As we have all become aware of Angelina Jolie’s choice to have a prophylactic double mastectomy, I was approached by a couple asking me if I was going to write about it. My first reaction was that I was going to pass on the subject as I felt many others had already done an excellent job covering the topic. Then I began to see the comments in my newsfeed concerning it and changed my mind. I have something that I want to say about all I’ve seen – Grow the fuck up!

 

That may not be what you were expecting to read, but one of the big things I am taking from this is that many of us women need to grow the fuck up! To better understand this, I’ll pull some of the comments that I saw in just MY newsfeed from people – and I will spare them the embarrassment of printing their names with them – so you can get an idea where I’m coming from.

 

• “It’s easy to chop your tits off when you have the money for the best fake tits money can buy.”
• “Yay for her for having the money to get the screenings she needs while ‘real’ women are dying from breast cancer everyday.”
• “Unless she starts a foundation to start paying for women to have the same screening and care she did, I don’t care what she has to say on the topic.”
• “They should have chopped her head off when they chopped off her tits, she’s vile!!”
• “It must be nice she can she can afford to do that. My sister couldn’t afford it and she died. She’d have done us a bigger favor dying from breast cancer to raise awareness than doing this.”

If I wanted to, I could pull from other sources as well and the comments get even uglier. Let me be clear about a few points:

 

• It is NEVER an EASY decision for ANY woman to reach the decision to go this route.
• Undoubtedly Yay! Yay for her she had the money to do this and increase her odds of living a full life, but who the hell has the right to say who is a “real’ woman? What the hell is a ‘real’ woman anyway? Is having achieved a level of success, financial stability or stardom something that strips a woman of womanhood somehow? Why hate on her for working hard to achieve? Jealous often?
• Whether or not Angelina starts a foundation dealing with breast disease or any damn thing is her decision alone. it does not invalidate her experience and opinion. She has raised awareness just by being open about this and that is a good thing.
• So far as people wishing her harm, or even that he martyr herself for the ’cause’ – get a grip! If that’s how you think, you’re a sad person living in a sad world. Advocating someone die to make a point when they could live is asinine and ugly.

 

Let’s make no bones about it – the medical industry sucks. The system is broken. it does need an overhaul to get to the point it focuses on care, education and prevention a helluva lot more than it does on profit margins. I won’t argue that. What I will say is that I don’t begrudge Angelina getting the best care she can afford. Who the hell in their right mind does? I wonder if the people that are complaining about the money aspect of this so much would pass on screenings and top-notch care if they have/had access to it? Or … would they martyr them self, sister, daughter, wife or mother to the the cause – just to raise awareness and all. The hypocrisy is overwhelming.

 

If ANYONE wants to bitch, moan or groan about this situation, fine – but direct it in the right places. Bitch at the broken system – or more appropriately the powers-that-be profiting from it and the legislators keeping it in place. Bitch about the hypocrisy of those who are angry at someone getting the best medical care they can when we damn well know they would do the same given the opportunity  Bitch about there not being enough awareness because yes, there is not enough awareness of this yet.

 

You don’t have to like Jolie or her movies, but to take your anger out on her for doing what she can to ensure her health is rude, stupid and idiotic. If that’s the shoe that fits … sucks to be you.