Posted on 12/20/2002 3:30:24 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:41:33 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The estranged mother of broadcaster "Dr. Laura" was found murdered, Laura Schlessinger announced to her radio audience Friday.
The body of Yolanda Schlessinger, 77, was found this week in her Beverly Hills condo. Police released few details other than that the killing occurred weeks ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I have to disagree with you, however, because the issue you raise is meta-medical; that is, it goes beyond medicine. So be careful, if I may say so, not yield to temptation and make judgments that bases on your knowledge of medicine.
To what extent can one interfere with one's will when that free will wants harm to itself? See, even the question is ill-constructed as I stated it: what is harm? One should then say instead, "free will that wants to do something that others perceive as harm to itself." Their cause becomes even weaker: the perceptions of others may be wrong and, moreover, "harm" is indeed subjective.
This is a difficult question, which is resolved against the person only in clear-cut, hence sereve, cases for a reason. And the reason has nothing indeed to do with science, medical or any other.
My father was an alchoholic who was never convinced that there was anything wrong with him. The more his family tried to help him, the more he resented it and withdrew. I was his oldest son, and I was the only one he would talk to in the end, but there was little even I could do to break through the wall he had erected. The day his landlord called me to say they had just found his body in his apartment is a day I knew would come eventually. I am not a particular fan of Dr. Laura, but I know the combination of frustration and grief she must feel.
This situation is going to do for Dr. Laura what the Thurmond birthday celebration did for Lott: it's a career killer.
With her money, even if her mother pushed her away, she could have paid a service money, a few bucks a month, to keep tabs on this old lady for the very purpose of preventing this kind of tragedy. It was her mother, and no matter how egregious, that Lord Dr. Laura likes to quote says: Honor the Mother and Father. I fear she fell down on the job. V's Wife.
With her money, even if her mother pushed her away, she could have paid a service money, a few bucks a month, to keep tabs on this old lady for the very purpose of preventing this kind of tragedy.
Ask LadyDoc if you do not believe me: if you did that with some of such problematic relatives, you would aggravate the situation. If a person has a touch of paranoia and you send someone keep tabs on them --- just stop and think for a moment what it will do. If you did that against a healthy person's will, it would be annoying. A pranoiac will only conclude what she expected: someone out there, probably her own daughter, is out to kill her.
You are lucky that you do know these things, and may you be so lucky not to know them ever. Just do not be so hasty to judge Dr. Laura. To think that she was trying to save a few buck is outright silly. (Another hint at the situation is that her mother was estranged from the whole family, not just Dr. Laura herself).
it's a career killer. That well may be: in today's culture, nothing entertains people more then misfortune of those who made it.
After I heard about it, I thought of that one Frasier episode where they had a character thinly veiled to represent Dr. Laura, and the episode ends with Frasier getting her off the air by bringing her estranged mother to the studio. I never thought it was fair for that show to belittle Dr. Laura in that way --typical liberal stuff though... I also remember when The Cosby Show made fun of William F. Buckley, by having the lawyer mother talk down the host of a Firingline-type show. I always thought those episodes of Frasier and Cosby were of bad taste and nothing more than a Liberal's wet dream. They're always looking for ways to find the moral high ground with conservatives, even if they have to invent the senarios to feel superior.
Dr. Laura also says that there are certain acts that parents commit (abuse, molestation or allowing molestation, etc.) at which time their 'parent cards' should be cut up. We simply don't know the details of their lives together or what really went on.
This is precisely what I was trying to tell you: even the risk of that detective being noticed is not worth it; it may precipitate a severe reaction in a paranoid person. Judge not what you do not know. You are thinking as, and about, a healthy person. Laura's mother is not. Your very reasoning does not apply.
You need not take my answers and seek answers from those you trust more. I know enough to put doubt in you. And remember another commandment besides the one you quoted, the one about false witness. You definitely do not have sufficient grounds to be a witness in this particular case.
as tom lysol said when the photos were released, "the carpet doesn't match the drapes!"
I commend her for rising above her circumstances, and becoming for her son the Mother she never had.
I have heard her try in every way to encourage a relationship no matter how difficult the circumstances; but in some cases, there is no hope. I believe her relationship with her Mother was beyond hope. I also believe Dr. Laura exhausted every avenue before giving up.
My condolences to her. No matter how difficult the relationship, this is the end. I'm sure she's hurting tonight.
I'm not sure anyone should feel they have a right to hire someone to check up on someone who doesn't want that. The mother was living alone and most likely perfectly capable of taking care of herself ----but who knows why she was murdered.
Honor thy Father is what I live by. God has granted me the grace to have him in our home for these past 2 years.
As recently as this past week, he tried to blame me for something I didn't do; and accused my husband of defending me. When proved wrong, he didn't apologize.
Dr. Laura has MUCH she has endured which she hasn't made public.
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