Bill O'Reilly v. Jennifer Aniston on Single Motherhood

I am quite happy the potential feud between Bill O’Reilly and Jennifer Aniston over her comments that a father is not necessary in order to raise a child has not gotten off the ground. It brought back memories of the Dan Quayle v. Murphy Brown bruhaha eighteen (!!) years ago.

Do a quick search for recent Aniston interviews and you will also find she has made another genius statement lately--she does not envy Lindsay Lohan. Really? You do not want to be a bipolar, strung out, drunken jailbird, Jen? Where is your sense of ambition? You cannot take the woman seriously. She has gone through a string of men who have not bee able to. I do not see someone so shallow and flippant becoming a mother.

Regardless, single motherhood is not a lifestyle choice. It is physical and emotional turmoil. My parents did not divorce until I was fourteen even though my father and crawled into a bottle and stayed there three years prior. I understand what it is like to have an emotionally and physically distant father. I can only imagine how much more of a detriment it would have been if he had been that way from the very beginning. I do not advocate anyone finding out for themselves.

While I certainly do not advocate staying in a bad relationship “for the children”--I supported my mother divorcing my father over habitual drunkeness and adultery--nor do I think a woman ought to settle for a man just to have children, I certainly do not think it is advisable to just have a child alone. That is just not the way it has been ordained.

Single motherhood certainly is not the ideal. Aniston should not be so flippant in accepting as such., especially since--Lord, help us all--she is a role model for young girls.