Talk Show Mom

This morning I was unlucky enough to turn on the TV to find Oprah consoling the mother of Mattie Stepanek, the child poet and Oprah protige (or as the show’s website puts it, “Oprah’s special friend”) who died last year from complications related to a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Nestled between Oprah, John Travolta, and the other stars of Ladder 49, Mattie’s mom recounts the final tortured moments of her son’s life. Just as the shockwaves of disgust that now drench me begin to show signs of melting into sympathy, the camera angle shifts and I am stunned to see that, like her son, Jeni Stepanek uses a wheelchair.

I'm stunned because I cannot believe that a woman with a disability would subject her own child to the media’s faux- compassion mill, that gratuitous engine of exploitation that makes the larger portion of televised journalism unbearable.

I feel better now.

And, just what does John Travolta have to do with any of this? Turns out the kid liked firemen, and of course poetry, public speaking, girls, Jimmie Carter and... smoozing with big celebs. So I guess no one should mind that this memorial show should double as a promotional device.