Maybe he meant she didn't clean her room. Which is certainly something kids are known for. And really none of our damn business.

Alec was a creep to speak like that to his daughter. Kim was a creep for "leaking" it. Where her two narcissictic parents live is probably the least of Ireland's problems.

articles always end in how her family should be the model to us all.

I come from a family of six girls and no boys. Believe me there was no father-daughter romance. And with my older sister it was more of a father-son relationship. Is there a Greek model for this?

I'd go further and say that Caitlin Flanagan's formula is:

1. Start with ideal of 1950-era American family.

2. Identify modern deviation.

3. Explain why latter, sadly, does not measure up to former.

Nice use of the passive voice: the voicemail was leaked by someone, and that someone was Baldwin's ex-wife or her lawyer. As vile as the original message was, making that message public, so that everyone that poor girl knew would hear it, would know that her father called her a pig in a fit of anger, was more vile. Winning a nasty divorce case and destroying the ex-husband was more important than any collateral damage to the daughter.

You know, I can't see why K ....

What? Caitlin Flanagan? Not Kristin Flanagan? Which one has that dazzling smile and optimistic outlook?

Oh.

Never mind.

Why wasn't this "article" in The New Republic, where they know who is a comedian and who is a crank?

In following this article's link to the reasons for Caitlin Flanagan's disappearance from the New Yorker, I was delighted to find that Flanagan was likely released from the magazine after she wrote an article on Mary Poppins and "a Poppins expert complained to the magazine" that Flanagan had essentially plagiarized someone else's work.

This delighted me for two reasons: 1) I was happy that I was unlikely to ever encounter another of Flanagan's tedious "and then my perfect family went to the beach. And then my perfect family played miniature golf. And then my perfect family..." style articles ever again, but moreso, 2) I was most pleased that there's such a thing as a "Poppins expert."

A show of hands, please: given the choice of reading what Caitlin Flanagan has to say about Alec Baldwin's divorce, or hearing what a Mary Poppins expert has to say about the same situation, how many would opt for the Poppins expert?

"Sometimes a pig is just a pig"

And honsetly, anyone who can't understand that thinking your kids are "pigs" isn't s sexual thing either (1) doesn't have kids, or (2) is emotionally blind to the realities of life.

Not defending Baldwin here. Because he acted like ... well ... a pig. But to imply that there was anything sexual in his comments without any context is really uncalled for.

I love how she speculates on the intimate familial relationship of people she doesn't know. Alec's voicemail was cruel and uncalled for, you don't call people names, especially your own family. But people get angry and hurt, especially at their children, people were raised differently, people make mistakes. I also don't see the correlation between sex and the word pig unless the allusion is to "Lord Of the Flies", but I don't think Alec was going to stab Ireland with a huge stick, nor is he going through puberty.

As to what went on in the home of Kim, Alec and Ireland before and after the divorce none of us have any idea and neither does this pretentious know it all Flanagan. While there is some relation to how a father treats his daughter is how she may relate to men in the future it is not a hard and fast rule. Some women choose complete opposites of their fathers, some can't have succesful relationships because they act like their father is perfection and no man can live up to him. I believe men do this as well in relation to their mothers.

As to not having a role model when you don't have an intact home, it's bullshit. If you have a brain, if you are observant, if you have friends who's homes you visit and you see their familial interaction you can guage what kind of relationship is okay and not.

I don't have a dad, he left when I was young, for all intents and purposes, he's dead to me. My mother never dated so there were no examples from her. But I had friends, I went to their homes and saw their moms and dads, I decided as I grew up what I wanted in a guy and picked men with those traits. I am the most succesful in relationships out of my entire female adult family members who all either remain celebate or date jerks. I have had a stable long term relationship and marriage for over 10 years and it's still going just dandy and I plan on it being just dandy for a very long time.

If you pay attention, if you know that learning about relationships is just as important as learning about a career then you can figure out how to be succesful whether mom and dad stayed together or not.

The whole father - daughter thing is just... ICK!

As for pigs... they are some of the most intelligent creatures in the animal kingdom, in addition to being pretty damn cute. I would be honored to be called a pig!

I disagree with her premeditated take on Baldwin's unfortunate use of this word.

It seemed to me he was accusing the girl of being selfish. Which is very harsh. But reading "dark female sexuality" into it is purely Flanagan's own projection there.

I'm not entirely sure that Caitlin Flanagan's most recent column in the Atlantic goes so far as to suggest divorce will always lead to an unresolved, unhealthy relationship with vaguely or perhaps explicitly sexual overtones between a girl and her father. But I can't say I'm certain it doesn't, either.

All of these words cancel each other out, don't they? I see this a lot.