Why the #FreeBritney story matters
Episode Stats
Words per minute
195.41351
Harmful content
Misogyny
3
sentences flagged
Summary
In this episode, I talk about the story of Britney Spears and her battle with the legal conservatorship that keeps her locked up against her will, and how the system is trying to profit off of her mental illness.
Transcript
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the free britney movement this thing has really captured my imagination and you should check it
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out as well because it's not just celebrity gossip around britney spears it presents some
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really interesting questions about society at large so to backtrack if you're not familiar
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well over 10 years ago britney spears had a very public meltdown and a mental health crisis she was
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placed into a legal conservatorship and what's also called a conservatorship of the person meaning her
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father at least that was who did it for quite a while and then someone else took over later her
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father had control legally over pretty much everything that she did every decision that she
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made the normal sort of situation that would happen when an aging parent is on decline with with
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dementia or alzheimer's or what have you and then their child who's in their 50s or what have you
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they look after their legal affairs kind of a similar legal situation except britney spears a
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woman first in her 20s and now she's in her late 30s and this is in place and they say she's not
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well enough to make her own decisions but she is well enough to continue to record music and go on
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tour and appear at las vegas and so forth and work like any other adult a lot of people in the free
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britney movement they said this is wrong britney spears should be out of this and she doesn't
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want to be in it she wants to break free and a lot of people said no it's not true it's a conspiracy
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theory or what have you eventually a big documentary film came out not too long ago that made people
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kind of rethink it and just the other day britney spears made an appearance in court in front of a
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judge where she said i want this conservatorship to end people are just trying to basically keep me
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locked up so they can profit off of me i'm a healthy individual i want to sue my own family
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for what they have done to me and she also said she's being forcibly put on birth control so that
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with her current boyfriend she cannot have another child and live the life she wants to live and
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presumably take time off touring to to have that child no they want to keep her working by force she
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says they're just trying to profit off of her and it is quite a legal situation the details are really
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something to see that a woman in her 30s can be put in this situation against her will and i think
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one of the reasons it matters is because look if this can happen to someone rich and well who you
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would think is powerful but is apparently powerless someone is rich and and of her stature is britney
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spears well what they what can they do to regular folks what would happen to you i mean this is a real
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question about the system and and how the system can really fail people in these sorts of situations
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the other thing i find very interesting is i remember back when i watched that documentary a
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few months ago i was reading other articles about it as well and there was some newspapers news
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publications that did a fact check on all of this they said no no britney spears isn't being held
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against her will it's misinformation that favorite word that everybody reaches for this day and age
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because oh here's a statement from her father and from other officials and so forth saying no no no
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it's not true and so forth here's the real story there you go misinformation all these britney
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spears fans who were out in front of the courthouse waving their their free britney signs they didn't
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know what they were talking about and i think that's a real problem we're seeing more and more
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of in society now where there's a bit of a narrative that for whatever reason uh some media people or
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what have you don't like it so they post a story it's misinformation when now we've learned
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after britney spears herself appearing in court saying when she posted on instagram everything was good
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and was happy she was lying she just had to say it because well she had to and she wants out of it
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looks like those media outlets who claimed it was misinformation well they were the ones trafficking
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in misinformation all along it is quite a saga if you haven't checked out the free britney story
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it is something not just celebrity gossip i think it really shows how the system can really harm