Lady Madonna with child

I'm usually far from sympathetic toward celebrities like the UK's own Madonna. Besides a feeling that one should do his or her good deeds in secret, I'm not impressed with the reinvention these kinds of acts usually signify. However, in this particular instance, I think Madonna is being attacked unfairly.

I'm not convinced that this adoption is such a bad idea. Sure, Malawi has a strict policy regarding adoption to foreigners, one which Madonna undoubtedly abridged, but given the economic straits of the country, is that a good thing? Wouldn't one less mouth to feed only help?

Then there's the question of the boy's father, who claims he's been duped during the whole process. Madonna disputes this, saying that everything was on the up and up in her face-to-face meeting with him. A translator was provided for the father, so his post-adoption complaint about not understanding English seems to be moot.

My initial reaction to all of this was to question Madonna's adoption of a single child, when she could donate enough money to assist many Malawians instead. Apparently, though, she has been quite the philanthropist where Malawians are concerned, donating large sums of money in the past.

So I guess the question remains for me, why are the media so obsessed with this particular adoption?