in a previous blog, i introduced you to peter and alisha arnold, the couple who wanted you to decide if they should keep or abort their pregnancy. since that post, they have confirmed the premise of the site was not real. according to a cnn article, they created the website as a way to "stimulate conversation about the politically charged subject" of abortion.peter arnold claims he got the url birthornot.com before his wife got pregnant and this was actually something he had been mulling around for a while. in regards to the request for america to help choose the fate of their pregnancy, they said they "chose their words carefully because abortion was never [really] on the table."
in addition to the negative press and public outrage of their site, in a turn they didn't foresee (really?), alisha arnold lost her job due to all the brouhaha. according to kstp-tv, her bosses thought she was a threat to the company's reputation. they even asked employees to de-friend her on facebook.
my point, and i do have one is....in the tv special rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, we learned about the island of misfit toys, a sanctuary where defective and unwanted toys were sent. i think the time has come for an island of misfit parents, created specifically for those who use their children (or in this case unborn child) to help grab their 15-minutes of fame.
now, i'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill famous parents who are no doubt bad influences on their children like...say...courtney love or oj simpson. on my island of misfit parents, the arnolds would join residents such as dina and michael lohan, octomom, the parents of balloon boy and any maury guest who has been on more than two times (each time with two or more guys) to try and "figure out" who their baby-daddy is. ladies and gentlemen, meet your modern day mommie and daddy dearests. make no mistake about it, while they may not be beating their kids with wire hangers they are leaving marks on their children and society. when will the madness stop? what is your point?
