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TagsBy Jennifer Matsui
Dear Madonna,
You are no doubt dismayed by the public outrage that has greeted your decision to adopt a baby boy from Malawi - a country that most people in the West probably only know from the ad campaigns of charitable organizations showing sickly babies covered in flies, while being watched over by your former wedding guests, now sockless and stubbled with earnest three day beards.
I imagine that you are shocked, truly shocked that anyone would
question your decision to remove a child from such unimaginable suffering as
having Bono and Bob Geldof breathing down his crib. And what kind of person
would condemn someone so young to a life of grinding poverty, especially
someone with millions at her disposal; a loving "mammy" who will tote her
little 'mchanga' around in a 1,200 thread count batik Snuggly specially
designed for him by Tom Ford himself, and provide him with every consumer
item under the less skin-damaging sun
Little David Banda is the luckiest boy in the world, you repeat to yourself
666 times a day while fiddling with your little red thread bracelet, because
that's how every self-serving mantra eventually becomes truth. It's written
in the Khabible. One minute little whats-his-name is languishing in a
overcrowded, under funded orphanage in one of the poorest nations on earth,
and the next minute he's soaring over the ocean in a private jet to make his
new home on a palatial English estate, where he will be tended to by a
complete staff of servants and diapered in monogrammed Pampers.
You have
even sweetened the deal with a complete DVD box set of 'The Lion King' so
that he can immerse himself in African culture. You would think that would
shut up those annoying people who think removing a child from his own people
and culture is somehow a bad thing, even if said culture hasn't yet invented
pots to piss in.
No stranger to criticism, you probably think the public backlash over your latest publicity stunt is just more sour grapes from the usual suspects, this time disguising themselves as human rights campaigners. And what exactly are they complaining about, anyway, you gripe at your husband, who is no stranger himself to your sudden fancies, whether its a decision to fire your producer or take up the cause of philanthropy several decades after it became fashionable.
"Angelina can eat my ashes!" you howl when Guy
suggests that the Jolie-Pitts have already claimed the title of 'Cookie'
magazine's most beautiful baby shoppers - an honor you have coveted almost
as much as an Oscar and a duet with the late Pope on his death bed
"A girl just can't get a break", you fume. "I mean, what IS the problem?"
First, NBC edits out the part of your concert tour where you stand crucified
on a 'lite brite' cross to prove you haven't quite "nailed" the cause of
your dimming celebrity, and adding insult to injury, you've got the entire
planet up your ass about your latest Missoni (oops, I mean MISSION) to
Africa. I can't imagine it's much fun being a misunderstood genius
Here's the problem, Madonna. You swoop into Malawi with a yet to be signed
cheque for $3 million, hoping that by pledging the money to an orphanage,
the authorities will re-write the laws in your favor. "What laws"? you
grumble under your breath when someone points out to you that your actions
amount to kidnapping, even if a bribed official has given your crime the
government stamp of approval.
Someone in your entourage points out to you
that under Malawi law, people hoping to adopt children must live in the
country for at least eighteen months. "This dump doesn't even have flush
toilets, what makes them think their laws mean shit"? you scream at him as
he peers off into the distance hopefully, all the while silently praying
that a pack of jackals comes along and tears you apart limb by limb, and
dragging your still squawking head into the dense foliage encircling the
camp to be gnawed at and batted around by hungry hyena pups
Undaunted, you return to your tent and check yourself in the full length
mirror you brought along for the occasion and make the final adjustments to
your outfit. You told your stylist you wanted your look to be evocative of
Africa's "glamorous" colonial era. "Think Marlene Dietrich meets King Kong
at the opening of the Stork Club inside a smoking volcano". This is why
you've chosen to dress like the trophy whore of a wealthy plantation owner.
Your African hosts should really get a kick out of that. Even though you
ended up being more Norma Desmond than Desmond Tutu, your low-cut jungle
green Versace wrap around dress and safari hat complimented your caked on
alabaster complexion quite nicely. You managed to achieve the look of a
former "blimey" spewing pub wench, plucked from obscurity by a visiting
adventurer from the "Dark Continent" looking for a piece of tail to
compliment his collection of rhino heads. Your new look is reminiscent of
someone who spends her days in the shade, reading romance novels and
shooting the occasional elephant before heading out for cocktails at the
club. But I guess we should be grateful that you left the rollerskates and
ghetto blaster at home
After a hard day at the orphanage, choosing a baby that will compliment that
wonderful hand woven bag you picked up in the market earlier, you decide
it's time to celebrate. With the entire International press corps
surrounding you, you seize the chance to make a video for your next dance
hit. A word of advice: You should probably edit out the part where your
unpaid African back up dancers look on in bewilderment and embarrassment as
your frantic pogo-ing recounts the age old story about the evil sorceress
with fire ants in her pants
In the clamor and excitement of the festivities no one noticed as you
discreetly handed over the little "orphan" to your assistant, who boarded
him into your private jet and spirited him away before the ink was dried on
the adoption papers. You insist on calling him an orphan, even though is
father is very much alive, but temporarily, at least, unable to raise his
son, owing to the tragically, all too familiar circumstances of his life.
The death of his wife has left him a bereft and impoverished widower with no other choice but to relinquish custody of his son until he is able to get back on his feet. For considerably less than what you paid for David, you could have given him at least that opportunity.
Maybe if you had read something more relevant to the topic of global poverty than 'Cookie' magazine's top ten list of lucky celebrity orphans, you might have discovered that the wealth you endlessly accumulate, and the system that makes it possible for you to lavish such largesse upon your latest self-improvement project is responsible in large part for Mr Banda's inability to feed a child on his non-existent earnings as a farmer.
Not
surprisingly, you have chosen to overlook that particular aspect of your new
child's life and legacy, wilfully ignoring the bigger picture here in order
to clutch a small black child at your breast in a homage to your own brand
name. So now Mr Banda is left to deal with his most recent loss, cast aside
like last season's Prada bag, and realizing only too late that he has signed
away his past and future to a new colonial master, using the same tactics as
the previous ones to seize another nation's assets under the cover of
"legality" and "consent"
Having being told that the "nice" American lady would provide his son with
an education and raise him until he was ready to return to his homeland, Mr
Banda signed on the dotted line. Since Mr Banda can neither read or write,
there was no way his consent should be considered legal or binding. Clearly,
he was misled by orphanage officials in order to speed up the process of
your fly-by "adoption". But naturally, you blame all the negative publicity
on the media, whom you accuse of manipulating him to give false and
conflicting accounts of the abduction of his son
Acting on your publicist's advice, you brought your case to the American
public on 'Oprah', hoping the African American billionaire talk show host
would give you her own official stamp of approval, and a sob sistah shoulder
to cry on. No stranger to disastrous shopping expeditions, your new friend,
Oprah™ knows first hand the woes of trying to get one's hands on a coveted
consumer item and being told by the staff at Hermes that she would have to
wait until the following day to make her purchase.
Unfortunately, Oprah used the obvious racist slight on her spending power to highlight the astonishing inability of a Parisienne saleswoman to recognize her as a global brand phenomenon, rather than use her own first hand experience of France's institutionalized racism to enlighten her viewers to the worsening plight of Europe's non-white immigrant populations.
The fact that she was taken for a North African (quelle horreur!) by a Hermes staffer and therefore denied access to the store for after hours shopping didn't offend her principles, only her vanity.
Imagine confusing the elegantly coiffed icon of American
media with a lowly Berber shoplifter. The 'gaul' of some people". There is a
similar disconnect in your aggrieved sense of injustice, too, Madonna. You
present yourself as the victim of a media smear campaign, a misunderstood
philanthropist, unfairly maligned by hostile forces who will stop at nothing
to bring you and your butt-munching bodysuit hemlines down a notch
No match for Oprah, or the global media juggernaut camped out in his maize
patch, Mr Banda is forced to reconsider his options and has "agreed" to
relinquish his son to your permanent care. Congratulations. The war on the
poor rages on, but you've won your own personal battle, and even have the
"trophy" to prove it. I just hope the next time you are looking to something
to adopt, you might consider a more humane and less self-serving world view.
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Thursday, 26 October 2006
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jon
said:
 |
... Appropriate anger at that: How condescending--to people of colour--is this Madonna-and-child flap? What makes her (or any other westerner with celebrity and money to burn) think she can buy someone for a cool $3 mil? This whole 'trophy baby' business has got to stop at some point.... |
Jennifer Matsui
said:
|
... If I had a nickel for every time some representative from White Dude Nation gave me the mini-lecture about my "anger", I would be richer than Madonna. |
justine cullen
said:
|
... Too much money and no brains to go with it! The money could have been better spent being put in to the community and education. I don't believe in taking someone away from their culture at such a young age. He will be curious one day and will always feel there is a piece of him missing. Sad but true. |
