[Continued from HERE]

Is our scenario on the “what-if” trail so different from the real live M fray? Well, yes and no. The core of the situation is the same, but some key details are very different. It seems to me most of the hooplah and hystronics have manifested from two main points of departure between the tales: too much of a good thing often seems to turn into a bad thing, and the U.S. of A is the U.S. of A while Malawi is Malawi and ne`er the two shall meet (OK, they meet but there are gaps, sometimes massive, to jump over for the rendezvous.)

Too much of a good thing often can be a bad thing. In the M Fray and context surrounding it, this is decidedly true and a big difference to the Jethro tale. There is always way too much media attention around celebrity lives, begging for exaggeration, sensationalism and searches for ‘shock factor.’ There is too much star drama in adoption these days, begging for controversy. And with Madonna, there is always a bit much tendency toward controversy for controversy’s sake, which begs for her to be given a good ribbing simply because she has created herself as absolutely rib-able

Public obsession with celebrity antics has been going on since the golden age of Hollywood began (even before, really,) but there was a time when some things were, if not sacred, at least allowed to be somewhat personal. The end, not so much the means, was often the ogled part. The glass wall didn’t last for long, though, and now, the minutiae of every step of everyday life, not just the end results, is fair game. (I remember in the late 80s some psycho went through Madonna’s garbage and found empty hemorrhoid treatment cream tubes which was enough to set off a scandal about why she had hemorrhoids ... I’ve still not recovered from even one's garbage not being personal ... not to mention one's hemorrhoids ... EEK!)

Why, then, would the process of adopting a child, especially when the adoptions are of children from countries that the average American never knew existed and who are different races than the Famous Ones adopting them, be any exception? Apparently, it’s not. The media circus' center ring always so generously expands to include the next hot act.

Whether or not the mega-star set (does anyone know when exactly those stars that used to be “super” suddenly became “mega” and is that a promotion of sorts? Sorry, I digress…) loves the spotlight even in so private a situation like their efforts to adopt, there is no new story here. International adoption fervor is yet another chance to scrutinize the life of an extremely public figure and examine what happens when “gods” come to earth. Because in the M Fray it is Madonna, controversy queen that she has always been, the field day just gets longer. Ho hum.

Unfortunately, it is not just the gossip-rag paparazzi covering the adoption topic, but also serious (ahem) news outlets like CNN and BBC, lending an undeserved credibility to the “rubbernecking” of a situation that is so very personal for the adoptive and the birth families.

[Next blog: More Too Much…]