Breast cancer survivor says Jolie's decision not "brave" but "fearful".

Angelina Jolie's decision to get a double mastectomy after learning she had the breast cancer gene mutation has been lauded by many as courageous, empowering, and even heroic. But singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge -- a breast cancer survivor herself -- thinks it's actually the opposite of those things.

Asked about Jolie's recent New York Times op-ed, in which she revealed the news of her mastectomy and breast reconstruction, Etheridge told the Washington Blade that she wouldn't make the same decision for herself. Nor would she encourage others to do so without properly researching their options.


"I have to say I feel a little differently," the Grammy-winning chanteuse (who, incidentally, performed at Brad Pitt's wedding to Jennifer Aniston) said of the choice to get a preventive mastectomy. "I have that gene mutation too, and it's not something I would believe in for myself. I wouldn't call it the brave choice. I actually think it's the most fearful choice you can make when confronting anything with cancer."

"My belief is that cancer comes from inside you, and so much of it has to do with the environment of your body. It's the stress that will turn that gene on or not. Plenty of people have the gene mutation and everything, but it never comes to cancer," she continued, noting that surgical removal of one's breasts is "way down the line on the spectrum of what you can do" to lessen your risk of the disease.


"I've been cancer free for nine years now, and looking back, I completely understand why I got cancer," she added. "There was so much acidity in everything. I really encourage people to go a lot longer and further before coming to that conclusion ."

To be fair, Jolie said in her May 14 editorial that the decision to have a mastectomy was a personal one. Her main point was that women should be informed about the various options available to them.


"I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices," she wrote.

"Life comes with many challenges," she explained. "The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of."
This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Melissa Etheridge: Angelina Jolie's Mastectomy Is "Fearful," Not "Brave"

What a horseshit take. Granted, she's entitled to her opinion on it, whatever it may be, but playing the percentages and giving yourself the best shot* to avoid the deadly mack truck that statistically is heading your way isn't what I'd call "fearful". I'm also not sure what oncologists would say to her "cancer comes from inside you/too much acidity" origination theory.



*assuming you have the gazillion dollars currently necessary to pay for the testing and elective surgery, as Jolie does.

The statistics simply don't back that claim. Take out the deaths due to guns and the US per captia murder rate is the same as that of France, the UK and Germany. The gun deaths in the UK are practically zero because guns are banned completely.

Yes, they actually do. I wasn't arguing that most deaths aren't gun deaths, nor is the murder rate in those countries zero. If you want to argue how to quantify "regular basis" or "plenty", then be my guest.

As for this particular and specific circumstance, yes, only with a gun could be let her leave and only then attack. Therefore, cue the gun lecture. I've seen this episode several times now.



Now you can say that being able to kill people with the press of a button makes no difference to people's willingness to kill but that does not make it true.

I can, yes, but I won't. Of course it's easier, but that doesn't mean it would eliminate all homicides. Most, I'll give you. I actually agree with you on gun control, at least until you slip into "children's blood is on your hands" histrionics and the gunslinger/cowboy sociology speeches.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/8mFdg6GbY5o

http://www.youtube.com/embed/thIVtEOtlWM

http://www.youtube.com/embed/ic7KH1PpbMY

It's not really an issue about ownership, more a question of what this guy's first course of action was. It wasn't based on his knowledge of the law and the thought that he'd get away with it. It was more down to the culture of sorting out your problems with an assault rifle.

He went and got his AK47 and opened fire on a moving car in the dark for the sake of $150. Of course the worse thing is, the law has backed him up. Shop-lifters beware!

That's true. And regardless of where it occurred, it should be a homicide of some sort. The fact that it's not is what makes it notable, not that a gun was used in the process.

As for using any US crime story involving the use of a gun as just another opportunity to 'tut-tut' about gun culture...the line for doing so forms to the left.

No, the coward would never have bludgeoned her to death, it was the gun that made it easy for him to do.


You can steer any issue you'd like toward your beefs with gun ownership and other cultural traits you hate, but this isn't really a gun control issue. We have a few threads already for that flavor of bloviation. People kill others without guns on a regular basis, sometimes quite gruesomely. There's no basis for asserting what he would or would not have done in different circumstances.

I need to know if a girl likes you if you ejaculate when you masturbate thinking about her?


Absolutely yes. No question.

so, you're saying that being a gentleman is all about how good your aim is? i can work with that. a true gentleman only sticks it in my ass when i ask him to, not because he's too drunk to find my pussy.

Okay, that, and a really nice velvet dinner jacket. I'd say that makes a gentleman. Perhaps a cigarette holder and a vintage Aston Martin as well. Can't hurt.

any guy who comes home drunk on a friday night and doesn't beat the living shit out of me because i refuse to have anal sex with him qualifies as a true gentleman in my book.

buzzkill!!

The getting beat up part, of course. Your post was just a matter of keeping it real. Though I'd say a slightly higher threshold is needed for one to be considered a 'true' gentleman. Say, perhaps, not shooting his load into my hair. I fucking hate that, especially when I ask him not to. No self-respecting descendant of hidalgo is unable to at least get it all on my face, if not in my gaping mouth.

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