"We struggle to understand how any mother could kill her own children"
About this Quote
The line is built to sound like empathy, but it really functions as a cultural pressure valve: it gives the audience a sanctioned way to stare at the unthinkable while insisting they remain morally intact. “We” is the tell. Pat Brown isn’t describing a private reaction; she’s recruiting a chorus, positioning herself as the voice of normalcy and shared outrage. It’s a rhetorical group hug that doubles as a boundary: decent people can’t comprehend this, and if you can, you’re suspect.
The phrasing also smuggles in a flattering idea about motherhood. “Any mother” implies motherhood as a stable moral category, not a human role that can be warped by abuse, coercion, mental illness, desperation, or ideology. The sentence keeps the mother as a monster-of-exception rather than a person in a chain of circumstances. That’s emotionally satisfying because it preserves the myth that maternal instinct is an unbreakable failsafe. It’s also why the quote works on TV: it aligns with the audience’s protective instincts toward children, then converts that feeling into watchable shock.
As an entertainer, Brown’s intent is less diagnostic than performative. “We struggle” signals seriousness without offering an explanation that might complicate the narrative or dilute the headline horror. The subtext is: you’re safe on this side of the screen, and your disbelief is proof of your decency. That’s comfort disguised as confusion, delivered in the grammar of outrage.
The phrasing also smuggles in a flattering idea about motherhood. “Any mother” implies motherhood as a stable moral category, not a human role that can be warped by abuse, coercion, mental illness, desperation, or ideology. The sentence keeps the mother as a monster-of-exception rather than a person in a chain of circumstances. That’s emotionally satisfying because it preserves the myth that maternal instinct is an unbreakable failsafe. It’s also why the quote works on TV: it aligns with the audience’s protective instincts toward children, then converts that feeling into watchable shock.
As an entertainer, Brown’s intent is less diagnostic than performative. “We struggle” signals seriousness without offering an explanation that might complicate the narrative or dilute the headline horror. The subtext is: you’re safe on this side of the screen, and your disbelief is proof of your decency. That’s comfort disguised as confusion, delivered in the grammar of outrage.
Quote Details
| Topic | Mother |
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