Behold, Parade magazine valiantly attempts an apology (in today's "Walter Scott's Personality Parade" Q&A section):

Q: You wrote: "In Hollywood, it's fashionable to adopt infants from the Third World." As the adoptive mother of a beautiful Chinese girl, I believe you owe me an apology.
- Diane Laur (no city given)
A: We didn't intend to question the sincerity of Americans like you who choose to adopt foreign children. There are countless orphans in the world who deserve to be adopted. We did, however, question the motives of some stars, who appear to use their foreign-born children to attract favorable publicity.

I can't exactly put my finger on why exactly I find this squick-making. The idea of "Americans like you" as being a different class? The double use of the word "foreign"? The fact that, as somebody in the same business, I can very easily imagine a baroque debate over the term "foreign-born"? The fact that adoption is something that is deserved?

Or is it that I suspect it could possibly be right about the publicity-seeking? I've heard a lot of horror stories, you know. True ones. Some of them have been about children^*. I suppose this would be one more. I doubt it's true, but deep inside, I have to be frank with myself and admit that I doubt my doubts.

Or maybe I just think Walter Scott's about as clueless as the next guy. I mean, he's simply effectively voicing a concern I've seen plenty of other places in print and online. Gaaah. Celebrity. Remind me, internet, to organize my thoughts about The Oprah Thing sometime. I think I need therapy.


^*My Conscientious Spouse having spent more than a decade as a professional in such things, and me having spent about the same amount of time plumbing the depths of police blotters in search of sensational stories of the same.