The following replies are approved. To see additional replies that are pending approval, click Show Pending. Warning: These may contain graphic material.
10
It's really no mystery at all, Reverend; if your omnipotent and judgmental God does indeed exist as you purport, He is an asshole.
2
Really? You can't let the family have comfort in their faith at this time? You can't bear to miss this opportunity to snarkily tell the internet that you think the concept of God is dumb? We get it, believing in God isn't cool these days. But can't this family take solace in their faith without you crapping all over it? Just...screw you.
1
Yes, this is one of those times (there are many) when I can only pray there is no God, because if there is one He's a major douche, what with His tots with cancer (not to mention His mudslides and forest fires and shark attacks and plane crashes and mass starvation and murrain and boils and all the rest).
This kind of thing is bearable only in the absence of God; in a God-free universe where random sorrow is a constant, it's up to us all to be kind and gentle and try to make the world a better place in the short span allotted to each of us. On the other hand, if there is a God who amuses himself by randomly zapping adorable little folks with lancinating terminal diseases, then we're all pretty much screwed, and what's the point.
1
More like calling out the Reverend for the 'God moves in mysterious ways' shtick to explain why she offers no answers from faith as to why something so horrible might happen. I'm not denying a family comfort in their tragedy; this is Gawker, you fuckmat.
A heartless asshole.
3
Serious question: Little kids die in this country (and around the world) every single day. Many of them have cancer or other forms of debilitating diseases. But if those kids don't do something OMG SQUEE CUTE before they die, they don't get hours and hours of media coverage. Why does the death of one little kid who participated in a family event trump all the other sick children whose parents aren't clamoring for media attention and are, you know, spending hours at the hospital just making sure their kids don't die?
It's a shame this little boy was so ill and died way too soon — but he isn't the only child to die in this world. I'm kind of over the whole media coverage of this kind of stuff, especially since it seems to skew "White kid" + "cute kid" + "well off family" (ie: the lung transplant girl).
2
I am the parent of a 3 year old with cancer and this doesn't bother me one bit. If one out of every 2,000 kids who will die of this disease this year gets a little media face time then good for him, good for his family, and good for all families living with this wretched beast. The more stories like this put out there, the more people are going to start comprehending just how little is known about childhood leukemia and how short changed the research behind it actually is. I promise you, it is utterly astounding how miffed doctors are about this disease and how many kids are dying each year because of it. My child will likely never receive any media coverage but god willing she'll never lose her life either, but if one kid gets to leave this world with just SOME KIND of small legacy then awesome, awesome, awesome.
OK. So your position is, "We can't pay attention to little kids dying because other little kids are also dying?" I don't see what the problem is here.
And this and the lung transplant story are two different things. This was a tearjerker, heartstring-tugger type story. The lung transplant girl was a no-shit injustice.
First of all, I hope your child gets the treatment he/she needs and your family is OK throughout what is certainly a really difficult process.
My issue is, why does the media need to focus on one individual (usually white, usually privileged) child instead of doing broad articles about how much more research is needed for pediatric illnesses? A story that explores how/why childhood disease research is underfunded seems way more effective than another story that labels someone's child as a "special snowflake" while ignoring the fact that there are thousands of other kids fighting the same illness. In NO media coverage of this kid and his family did I see anything about the facts of pediatric cancer — just that the kid had cancer. How does that change anything, or at least let people know that this illness is a serious issue? (It doesn't.)
2
This reminds me of the part on Van Halen's video Right Now where it says "Right now God is killing moms and dogs because he has to".
That doesn't explain why he let Sammy Hagar ruin Van Halen, though.
Nah. Nope. I'm not going through an emotion today. It's only Tuesday. I noped the fuck out of this news story. I can't do it.
