Shut Up, Susan Boyle.

Guess who wants to adopt? Guess who knows she might both get her way and be thought of as A Great Humanitarian if she phrases her desire to adopt as a desire to help poor children? Guess who’s getting/gonna get praised all over the world for that (whether she ever adopts or not)?

Yeah, it’s another celebrity I hadn’t heard much about for some time until she said the A-word just now. Works every time (see every entry I’ve ever tagged “Celebri-Tease”).

“I have so much love to give,” says Ms. Boyle, “[…] to […] a child who doesn’t have much, who I can really give something to. It’s a way of giving back for me.”

Give! give! give! That is so thoughtful and generous, Ms. Boyle. Maybe you’re going to sponsor a child overseas, or donate money to help build schools, or offer a foster child a much-needed, stable and loving home.

Nope. Why? Because that might involve giving, as in Ms. Boyle’s actually losing something, and that cannot be:

“You have to give [foster children] back, and that’s what I would hate. With adoption, you don’t have that wrench.”

“Give” and “give to” and “give back,” just so long as you don’t really give.

I don’t think there’s any shame in wanting to raise a child. Why can’t she just come out and say she wants what she wants? I mean, it’s obvious that the one who expects some things to be given to her is not the child, but you, Ms. Boyle. You want a child to give you the gift of being a mother. You want a child to give you the gift of raising a child. You want a child to give up his or her family, name, heritage, everything but his or her life, for you, forever….and you call this giving to a child.

It’s not giving. It’s a Devil’s bargain, and the child almost never has the right to give or deny assent to it.