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Runaway Story - (Anne Applebaum on Jennifer Wilbanks' "great escape")
WASHINGTON POST.COM ^ | MAY 4, 2005 | ANNE APPLEBAUM

Posted on 05/04/2005 8:37:11 PM PDT by CHARLITE

You're supposed to be happy at your wedding, even though some people aren't. At the same time, it's still considered selfish and immature to run away and abandon the caterers if you're distraught -- even though lots of people probably want to. Part of the culture says the conventional, social bits of weddings don't matter, and part of the culture says they do. Part of the culture says weddings are about true love, and part of the culture says they're about Cuisinarts.

It's been hard, to avoid learning that she and her husband had planned to have 28 attendants and 600 guests; that their bridal registry included a $250 Waterford ice bucket; that the bridesmaids were supposed to wear black chiffon gowns with fitted bodices and tiered skirts; or that the costs of this affair were running into six figures.

Had she simply locked herself in her bedroom to avoid all of this, she might have won sympathy as a bride frightened by a pretentious wedding. But the elaborateness of the escape -- she cut off her hair, bought a bus ticket in advance, invented a story about kidnappers -- suggests she hypocritically agreed to marry that nice John Mason just for the sake of the Waterford ice bucket, and then thought better of it. Unless, of course, it suggests she knew it would take more than locking herself in her room to get out of the whole elaborate mess. No wonder MSNBC's online poll shows that a huge majority wants the bridegroom to jilt the bride, and CNN's online poll is heavily favoring criminal prosecution: Anybody who ever wanted to evade a major family commitment can secretly or even unconsciously sympathize -- and can also see how pathetic it looks at the same time.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: costs; janeeyre; jenniferwilbanks; legal; morality; payback; questions; society; victorian; weddings; wilbanks
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My own opinion is that John is much of a dipstick as she is. If they end up married, then heaven help both of them when her first labor pains begin........assuming that "children" will be part of the rosy future.
1 posted on 05/04/2005 8:37:13 PM PDT by CHARLITE
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To: CHARLITE
It isn't about running away...a lot of people don't see that. She intentionally wanted everyone to believe she was the victim of a crime. Obviously she wanted attention.

she succeeded.

2 posted on 05/04/2005 8:40:03 PM PDT by Jalapeno
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To: CHARLITE

I heard tonight that she has hired a lawyer, and has yet to give a formal apology.

Time to get her head out from under that blanket and sincerely thank EVERYONE who emotionally gave their time and effort to find her. Not to mention the many people who prayed for her safe return.

Talk about a thankless human being.


3 posted on 05/04/2005 8:42:31 PM PDT by sarasotarepublican (Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.)
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To: Jalapeno

I read somewhere that the prosecutor in her county said this is not the first time she ditched someone at the altar so to speak.


4 posted on 05/04/2005 8:43:35 PM PDT by Aleighanne
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To: Jalapeno

Yep, all she had to do was call LE and say, I'm not missing, I left on my own for my own reasons.


5 posted on 05/04/2005 8:44:07 PM PDT by Valpal1 (Crush jihadists, drive collaborators before you, hear the lamentations of their media. Allahu FUBAR!)
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To: CHARLITE
My own opinion is that John is much of a dipstick as she is.

Any guy with any sense would take this little incident as one big warning light and cut his losses. He is a putz.

6 posted on 05/04/2005 8:46:29 PM PDT by Samwise (Laura Bush puts the lie to the liberal ideal of what a woman should be.)
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To: CHARLITE

Let the two of them sort it out for themselves. I'm sure they will. We have other things - more important things to think about and those who are obsessed about this one are the least intelligent and the least busiest of us.


7 posted on 05/04/2005 8:46:45 PM PDT by sageb1
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To: Valpal1

All she had to do was leave a note saying she needed "space and time", as opposed to "honey, I am going out for my hour-long jog".


8 posted on 05/04/2005 8:47:11 PM PDT by Jalapeno
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To: Jalapeno

I agree....she wanted attention. The question is, how much more attention could a bride possibly ask for?


9 posted on 05/04/2005 8:48:23 PM PDT by SanDiegoRepublican
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To: Jalapeno

Can you explain in detail to me what the Law of the Sea is?
Or why President Bush supports it?


10 posted on 05/04/2005 8:49:23 PM PDT by sageb1
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To: CHARLITE
My own opinion is that John is much of a dipstick as she is. If they end up married, then heaven help both of them when her first labor pains begin........assuming that "children" will be part of the rosy future.

Still you have to wonder about the family marrieing her off and the family she was to marry into, when no one around her could see she really didn't want to get married, and felt so trapped that she thought running away was the only option available.

11 posted on 05/04/2005 8:49:42 PM PDT by konaice
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To: CHARLITE
My own opinion is that John is much of a dipstick as she is.

He'd have to be if he still wants to marry her. She's 32 years old, for crying out loud, and planned a hoax guarenteed to scare at least Mason and their families to pieces. Plus John Mason sat there for days looking like a prime suspect in her disappearance. Since she's not apologetic about all that, what will she think of next?

12 posted on 05/04/2005 8:51:01 PM PDT by xJones
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To: sarasotarepublican
From CNN: On Wednesday, Wilbanks' attorney, Lydia Sartain, sent a statement to media outlets, including CNN. "Jennifer asked that I convey her appreciation of the many prayers and statements of support she has received from countless individuals," Sartain said in the statement. "She is deeply regretful about the pain she caused her family, her fiance, her friends and the community who rallied to her aid.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/04/wilbanks/index.html

Her attorney read the statement. She should apologize herself. For all we know, the attorney wrote it.

13 posted on 05/04/2005 8:51:10 PM PDT by KittyKares
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To: All

This story is important to those who can't pass the check out without purchasing the National Inquirer.


14 posted on 05/04/2005 8:53:27 PM PDT by sageb1
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To: Jalapeno
All she had to do was leave a note saying she needed "space and time", as opposed to "honey, I am going out for my hour-long jog".

Bump!

15 posted on 05/04/2005 8:54:09 PM PDT by Miss Behave ("It was wrong.")
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To: CHARLITE

"...the bridesmaids were supposed to wear black..."

I never saw that at a real wedding. Is this normal or aberrant?


16 posted on 05/04/2005 8:54:23 PM PDT by Vn_survivor_67-68
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To: CHARLITE

Has anyone seen Crazy Eyes Wilbanks lately?


17 posted on 05/04/2005 8:55:09 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
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To: sarasotarepublican
I listened to the mouthpiece (excuse me, lawyer) that the runaway bride hired. The lawyer is the usual sleazoid. She kept saying that the "poor little girl" was not a "criminal" who committed a "crime." She did not apologize for her client. She did not deal with the advance planning and use of a confederate issues.

Okay, if this scatterbrain 31-year-old "girl" wants to lawyer up rather than do what's right, she deserves to have the book thrown at her in both criminal and civil court. She's making a bad situation worse; she deserves whatever she gets.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, " 'L.A. Chappaquiddick,' Starring Hillary Clinton."

18 posted on 05/04/2005 8:56:14 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob (Proud to be a FORMER member of the Bar of the US Supreme Court since July, 2004.)
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To: Vn_survivor_67-68
""...the bridesmaids were supposed to wear black..." I never saw that at a real wedding. Is this normal or aberrant?"

Why don't you ask those at DU?

19 posted on 05/04/2005 8:57:13 PM PDT by sageb1
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To: Vn_survivor_67-68

Black is "very" in for weddings now.


20 posted on 05/04/2005 8:57:19 PM PDT by Howlin (North Carolina, where beer kegs are registered and illegal aliens run free.)
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