Tuesday, December 9, 2008

This Weeks GATE: Gumgate: Are these situations really that bad?

With the semi-success of last weeks "Joelgate" this week I thought I would discuss the mother of all Gosselin GATES "Gumgate". I got into it a bit on my first day of blogging HERE. This particular "Gate" encompasses so many more things than the others. This is the blog that sent Julie (Jodie Kreider's sister) to write her infamous blog, where she basically blasted the Gosselins over having the right to say "no more gum". For me, though I know for a sister I would practically do anything, I draw the line when it comes to slander. Her blog in thanks to GWOP became a overnight sensation not based on accuracy, but on malicious intent. What started out as what people thought was a woman intent on helping the kids, became nothing more than a nasty woman looking for an Internet validation fix. I remember saying to myself, "give it time" and like everything else, finally fizzled. Because over time, it was just her opinions and not all facts, and when people saw that the juicy gossip was gone, they moved on.

I need to step back a bit and talk about the episode itself. You can see it HERE. It started out as on of the individual "special days" episode, this time for Mady. Now at the time these were done Jodi happily volunteered to watch the kids for a few of these days. She said several times that she enjoys having them and with Kate in a bind, she obliged. During that outing she gave the kids balls of gum asking them if they had permission. yeah, as a huge choking hazard I am totally with Kate on this one.

Now how Kate reacts is kind of sticky (no pun intended) and how people feel about it varies in several ways. Either they agree, hate Kate and disagree just because they dislike Kate, or basically just disagree with how she handled it. Knowing how I too have flown of the handle every once in a while depending on my day I side with Kate. If you watch it over, I feel that Kate was rational and calm while talking to Jodi about it, and I would have done the same. But you see the other half as a viewer, the part were not really supposed to see, and that's Kate yelling at Collin about his blankie being thrown out. And while I don't agree how she handled that part, were not aware of the exhaustion of the day and the mood she was in. Give her a break. Now the fact that Julie wrote PAGES of her feelings about this on her blog, it goes to show you how people feel about certain situations. She blew it out of proportion because she had a captive audience with the haters over at GWOP. They welcomed her with open arms, saw the proverbial "cash cow" and ran with it. It became a huge hate fest, with Jodi doing nothing. This is how she lost me in terms of loving her. She basically sealed her fate with her sister-in-law by allowing her sister to trash the family online.

The nail in the coffin was when Jodi got on her sisters blog and posted a video. The snide snark look on her sisters face said it all. "I'm doing this for Internet fame" (so to speak) and nothing more. Alot of bloggers cried foul. It was too much and poor Jodi lost all her credibility. Eventually once the Gosselins put the nightmare behind them and moved far away from the nasty nosy neighbors, Jodi begged Julie to stop. She had to remove all the nasty posts. Julie even as of last week, is STILL blogging on GWOP. She won't let it lie, or loose her last bit of 15 seconds of fame.

So because of Julie, Jodi and Kate may never be able to recover. They had a shot before the blog. I wished and prayed they could work it out, but if YOU were Kate, would you forgive? Thanks to Julie is was able to become this HUGE thing that was no big deal and happens alot in houses every day including my own. Shame on Julie for spilling your families private business to a world of jealous haters. Shame on Jodi for letting it get that far. Do you really want to loose seeing the kids and having your family grow up with theirs? And Kate, could you or would you forgive? I did not think that Kate did the right thing that day, but I sure don;t feel she should have been crucified for it......

14 comments:

PonyGirl said...

This is an issue that really got to me. And by that I mean it pissed me off!

Kate is those children's mother and she had every right to ask Jodi not to give them gum! This gate is the most ridiculous out of all the gates I have seen so far.

I watched the episode and from what I saw Kate was very well mannered when asking Jodi not to give them gum. What is she supposed to do? Just keep her mouth shut and let it slide? If something bothered you that much when it came to your kids would you let it slide and let your children trick the babysitter again?

I personally will never allow my 3 year old to have gum. And if a babysitter or family member gave them gum I would let them know I do not allow that. They are my children and I have that right. I not only view gum as sticky and messy but as a choking hazard. I side completely with Kate on this.

I would however forgive Jodi for letting her sister do something like that. I think Jodi is incredibly sweet and caring, at least from what I have seen.

To me all that blog looked like was a family feud. They happen a lot in all families not just families on TV. So there was nothing special about her blog.It just gave the haters more room to point and say “Look Jon and Kate have hurt someone again!”

Ah huh because no one else has disagreements with their family but Jon and Kate right?”
Please let’s be real. No matter how much you love someone or how they are related to you they can be vicious and irrational about how they react to things. That blog was an example of bitterness and resentment. Am I saying Kate is perfect…? Not at all! No one is. But it is her right to say gum or no gum.

CBB said...

I don't get the huge reaction to this, she even says in the episode "I had a meltdown" about the gum being everywhere. I think she reacted like a tired Mom at the end of a long day. I don't think this would have turned in to such a big deal without Julie (Jodie’s sister) going on and on about it on her blog, which I saw before it was all deleted. I felt for Jodie at first with talk of their falling out because she always seemed sweet but then when I saw her blog video it totally changed my opinion of her. Talk about airing dirty laundry for a chance at 15 minutes of fame.
Should Kate forgive them? Who knows, no one can understand relationships unless they are a part of them. I can say that IMO Julie crossed WAY over the line and I was shocked that Jodie backed her up by making that video. I am glad that it was taken down.

CBB said...

looks like I spelled Jodi wrong in my post...sorry for the typos.

~duckie~ said...

I think what really got everyone up in arms over this is that Kate was going to take away a security toy away for having gotten gum on it. And I know everyone will say that she did give it back in the end but, just step into the shoes of a 3 year old. How would you feel if someone took or threaten to take your security away? Gum does come off with ice or peanut butter. But for a child to believe that they are loosing their "right arm" is just horrible. My brothers still have their security toys Sam the Cowboy belongs to my 32 year old brother, he is still a staple in my brother's bedroom. And Puppy has a special place in my 26 year old brother's apartment. Both of those toys have been washed and mended time and time again by our mother, she still fixes them when the get a hole in them! LOL!

Also, Jodi is a mother herself and this wasn't the first time that she had had all of the kids with her with her own children. (She has like 4 or so around the same age.) So IMO, in her motherly mind she didn't see it as a huge problem because she also gave gum to her own kids. Especially when they had had gum before, this wasn't the first time.

One more thing, to say that Julie and Jodi shouldn't have brought this mess to the public view, that damage was done when it aired on TLC. Kate may have been calm to Jodi on the phone but in the couch interview she made Jodi out to be the stupidest person in the world, which is very mean spirited, IMO. Jodi is a mother and wife and part of the same community as Kate is. That is also, IMO, one of the reasons that the website went up to give the other side of the story. Not just Kate's.
Remember every story has two sides.

BEE said...

Duckie, I SO agree with you on the point that there is ALWAYS two sides to every story!! I wish people would keep that in mind when they watch the show and read things on the internet!! We only see a VERY small portion of the Gosselins lives!

As far as GumGate goes I think that it was made into a far larger issue then it needed to be. I applaud Kate for communicating with Jodi about the issue and I felt that she really tried to confront Jodi in a calm and respectful manner. I also did not have any problem with how Kate talked about Jodi on the interview chair.

I do think that Kate really over reacted about the whole situation though. She was really mean to Collin and I pray that she scooped that little boy up in her arms later that night and apologized for how she treated him. I totally get where she was coming from, and Lord knows that I have thrown my own tantrums at my kids. However, I think it is SO important that when I act inappropriately (whether I am tired or not) that I talk to my kids about the situation. I did think it was sweet that Mady (I think it was her) tried to comfort Collin and stick up for his "Lovie".

I do believe that Jon and Kate should forgive Jodi for her part in the whole thing. However, I hope that they too have asked for her forgiveness and that they can mend their relationship. We really don't know where their relationship stands right now, they could be close but not seen on the show.

Can someone explain what is going on with Julie these days? Has she resurfaced and if so what is she saying?

Anya@IW said...

Bee:

Julie posted this on GWoP last Friday or Saturday (the first part of the post is from "Brandley's Mom" and then Julie's response:

The Truth Will Set You Free said...
brandleymom: Can you imagine how much Gosselin photos are a desired commodity. The utterly sad part is that in a lot of cases pictures of the tups' don't even have any need to photoshop it - its all right there.

Your post is so heartbreaking and 100% accurate. Most people don't even know the kind of thing that you descibed even goes on. I know I didn't until a few months ago. This is not speculation or an exaggeration. Someone who tracks this kind of thing and is an expert on this subject matter has said:

"best case scenario--they end the show and move out of the country."

This is how dire the situation is for the children.

******************************

Move out of the country? Isn't that a bit extreme?

Of course, then Julie can have Jodi all to herself - which appears to be what she wants.

Anya@IW said...

I would guess that forgiveness is probably needed on both sides. The problem I would have if I were Kate is ever trusting Jodi again. Forgiving is one thing, forgetting another.

BEE said...

So is Julie saying that there is more to the story about the photos?

And I should of said in my earlier post that I hope the Gosselins forgive Jodi, but that it would be very hard to trust her again.

Anya@IW said...

BEE said...
So is Julie saying that there is more to the story about the photos?


Well, that is kind of how I read it. Remember, she has done that before, however. Her basic game is to unload a bunch of unflattering information about the Gosselins (particularly Kate), but pull back and allude that there are actually deeper, darker secrets she won't be sharing in the interest of protecting everyone's privacy. (Yuck). Once you see her pattern, it makes it easy to ignore just about everything she has to say. Her act is getting tired IMO.

A Real Housewife said...

I have said from day one Julie's Blog hit the internet, that it was a power struggle. Julie did not like the fact that her own sister was America's Sweetheart. I think Jodi was stuck in the middle of two very strong minded women. However, I think Jodi took the wrong path by posting the video. Those are Kate's children and she can decide what they can and can not have for the next 18 years. It truthfully is nobody else's business if she does not allow them to chew gum. I think she handled it well when she told Jodi, "NO GUM". The whole thing was so blown up. Julie was not in the spotlight and needed to find a way to try to even compare to her sister. So sorry Julie, you look more like a vicious B***H, than anything.

Anonymous said...

I would be FURIOUS if somebody gave my kids gum! I think Kate's reaciton was very mild compared to what I would do LOL
She had every right to be upset and confront Jodi about it. I almost wondered at first if she gave the kids gum on purpose or something (just an assumption) to get a rise out Kate and draw attention to herself. I know my sister in law would do something like that just to piss me off.
IMO, I think there's a lot of people out there who are jealous of all the attention the Gosselin's are getting, including family members. Jealousy breeds hate! It happens all the time when somebody gets help with donations and attention.

sajmom said...

You know, I read some of the stuff on Jodi's sister's site out of curiosity. I understand Jodi getting upset when she watched the episode. But I think realistically-who hasn't overreacted to something in the privacy of their own home. Our private moments aren't viewed on tv. You've never muttered stuff you didn't really mean because you were upset?! If she had been awful to Jodi about it I would understand, but she didn't. Do you really think she would take away her child's security object? I don't, I think it was one of those things you sometimes say to scare the child so they don't do the offending behavior again. Not the best way to handle it, but I know I've certainly handled things in ways I've shouldn't have in the heat of the moment. I think this was blown out of proportion. Actually, I got the impression that on the sister-in-law blog a lot of things are blown waaaay out of proportion and over-analysed.

Ramona Quimby Lives said...

If Jodi & Kevin were truly concerned about these children being "exploited", why is it that they never spoke up before now... after they've not even seen the Gosselin children for a year?

I don't care who's done what - you don't run your mouth about your family like these two are doing, much less in the middle of such horrible turmoil. Shame on them.

And now they've donned capes, and are out to 'save the children' of the world from being "exploited by reality television"?

Yeah, right.

Shut up and go give your kids some more sugar, Aunt Jodie. They aren't your children. It's not your decision, or your business how they are reared.

My Voice said...

So Jodi & Kevin wanted there 15 minutes of fame and they got it, how disgusting this couple is, just a mental note, you don't go around trashing your own family.

Everything was OK! and the children were not been exploited when Aunt Jodie and Uncle Kevin were on the show, but since there no longer part of the show, now and only now they are concerned about the welfare of the children.

I'm myself a mother of 3, and I can tell you does children are well taking care of, they are happy, healthy, safe and well educated.

Jodie and Kevin need to shut up and start worrying about there on children that by age 15 they will be obsessed: "the way this woman feed them".

Shame on the Kreider's and remember what goes around- comes around, and you guys got it coming.