Saturday, November 03, 2012

Social Media Pioneer Susan Murphy Milano Dead From Cancer

Susan Murphy Milano
Chicago, IL—Susan Murphy Milano was on a mission.  She was a rabid advocate for battered women.  This woman had to deal with her father, a decorated Chicago police detective murdering her mother and then taking his own life.  That life-changing event put her in a new direction as an outspoken anti-domestic violence advocate.
Murphy Milano lobbied for gun control and punitive domestic violence laws.  She became a master of Social Media with a blog and Internet radio program.  She also had limited success as a book author.
Rather than sit it out on the sidelines Murphy Milano was out making herself heard. I was very much at odds with her positions with respect to liberty and due process.
A few years ago Murphy Milano wanted to take me on publically with her Internet radio program. I’m a fierce and prolific debater on the opposite nearly every issue she advocated. 
I turned down her request for the wrong reasons.  I found her ideology revolting, repugnant and vile.  Now in hindsight, I should have taken her on.  I had solid confidence that I knew her issues better than she did.  
Let me be the first to admit that Murphy Milano’s positions were more popular with the general public than mine.  Hooking up with this woman for an Internet Cage-fight could have more than doubled my audience.   I could have been the one that every “true crime” buff would love to hate.   Murphy Milano was every bit as ferocious as Nancy Grace.
As for Murphy Milano’s father, I think that Murphy Milano never really took into account the mental health land mines facing cops.  Frankly a significant percentage of cops suffer from un-diagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 
Cops are relentlessly abused from the day they enter police academies.  Cops have to find their own defense mechanisms to deal with this stuff without career ending professional help.   Frankly becoming a cop is a terrible career choice. That job and its known negative side effects are really what destroyed Murphy Milano’s family.    
I’m always into any self-promoting project that will insure me a comfortable retirement.  That’s not an easy road but it was the same road Murphy Milano was traveling.  I viewed us as two speeding freight trains playing chicken on a single track.  The thought was exciting and intriguing to me.
Rather than make an enemy of my foe, I wanted to capitalize on both of our passions as well-paid verbal gladiators.  The perfect vehicle for this debut was the Drew Peterson trial in Joliet Illinois.  I developed some interest in such having us explore and debate the public controversy exposed at this trial.  I knew that the trial would prove to be an emotional flash bomb for those wanting to know about the case.
Both Murphy Milano and I have been profiled various TV news programs.   Milano hired a publicist and was self-promoting her way to success.  It is at some point what all developing media personalities must do.
I had sparked interest in this cage-fight idea from CNN and at least one local Chicago TV affiliate.  I was also planning to use it to jointly promote our blogs.  I was also entertaining the idea of putting up a new multimedia website for our future Social Combat.  
I called Murphy Milano and she seemed to be very excited about the idea.  As I was pitching the idea to producers she suddenly became uncharacteristically elusive.  Soon her publicist informed me that Murphy Milano had other projects that would conflict moving forward with the plan.  I was royally pissed.  Imagine that!  She suddenly wouldn’t even talk to me personally about this.  
The real problem apparently was Murphy Milano suddenly having to fight for her life.   She was battling cancer without health insurance.  Anything else became far less important. 
Getting financial success though Social Media projects is a quest that proves to be elusive for most of our blogging peers.   Timing is everything and the Internet financial road is loaded with huge potholes.  That’s changing fast now but unfortunately not in time to help Murphy Milano.
I would have been thrilled to establish a persona with a political opposite with the fire and venom of a Murphy Milano.  Together we could have debated our way straight to the bank while keeping the burning issues alive for discussion.  Our debates during the Drew Peterson Trial would have been lively, entertaining and addictive. 
Susan Murphy Milano’s agenda was certainly never anything I’d embrace but her displayed passion, fire and courage was amazing.  She deserved to be heard but now she’s been silenced.
Cancer is an equal opportunity killer and destroyer of dreams.  In the end Murphy Milano never saw enough financial reward for her work to cover the high cost of health insurance.  We also know that the best insurance would have done little beyond making her final months more comfortable.
Most serious media can only exist through some form of commercial sponsorship.  Corporate America’s marketing departments have not kept pace with with the world’s shift from television and newspaper advertising to the new Social Media.  
Murphy Milano has left a void that should be filed with another dedicated fighter.  

  



  

9 comments:

Delilah said...

Thanks so much for your article about Susan. Although your offer was very enticing to her, now you know why she had to back out. Her work for victims of violence will continue, but without the fire and passion she was able to bring to the table from her personal experiences. To fill her shoes would be a daunting task, and one that can never be done without her.

Anonymous said...

I am not advocating being without insurance, but my son had leukemia back in 2009 and was fortunate that he had Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. They were great and paid out over $100k for his treatment. One thing we noticed though, was that the majority of cancer patients on his floor had no insurance. The nurses commented that he was one of the few with coverage. Always wondered who paid for the uninsured patients as this was at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Anonymous said...

Phil Murphy was a great cop who was over his head in misery. Phil could not seek help or find a way to crawl out of the abyss that became his life. Phil simply snapped. But for the grace of God more good cops don’t fall like this. Susan could not seem to let go of the hate that’s what finally consumed her. We are all incredibly fragile in the end. Now perhaps Susan is in a better place, reconciled with her parents in peace and harmony.

Maria Brame DiGiovanni said...

Great article! To the 'Anonymous' above: Great cops snap, hurt their families, and yes even kill every day! Letting go is one thing. . . being an advocate and a voice for the silenced, is another. Some people confuse 'hate' with passion and until you have looked that devil in the eye, Mr/Ms 'Anonymous', and really hit hard on the subject of Law Enforcement Officer Involved Domestic Violence from the inside out, those who have would appreciate your silenced support. If you are a cop who really knew Phil Murphy, and how 'great' he was, then I would hope you would step up and really look at the issue of why he 'snapped' in order to not allow it to happen again. We have an issue, and Susan was handling it, one soul at a time. PTSD has to be address within Law Enforcement before it's too late(in a lot of cases, it already is). He just 'simply snapped' is no longer an option. Emotional/Mental Accountability within Law Enforcement needs to be required and maintained. How, when it starts from the top down, is the question?

Anonymous said...

Its really sad that Susan used the deaths of her parents to blame her father for what happened to her her brother and her sister. Susan was recently divorced from Les Miller approximately 1985 and interfered with her parents marraig. Her husband caught her in numerous affairs which prompted the divorce and the fall from the better life. With nowhere to go she broke up her parents marraige by accusing her father of the vicious attacks. Which were untrue. Her mother was caring for her father as his stroke disabled him. They lived in the same house together and everything was going quite well till Susan came back into their lives. That is when the termoil started for Roberta and Phil Murphy. Here's a little tid bit John Wayne Gaceyand Phil Murphy did construction together and lived in close proximity to each other. Susan blamed her parents for not protecting her from sexual attacks outside her home.

Anonymous said...

Susan gave custody of her son to her fourth ex husband. When all her lies were catching up to her and with the FBI and IRS closing in on her she started to make contact with her son. Her son was a honor student at a private Catholic High School with many offers comming his way to attend prominent.colleges as he was also a football star. Susan came back into his life after being absent from his life for 15 years and destroyed her sons life. She gained access to his college fund and stole his money. She owes 300 thousand dollars in educational expenses. Along with felony fraud charges out of Wisconsin and theft charges out of Florida. You ask how could a person get away with this. I ask the same questions. She change her name many times and never used her real name. More to come

Paul Huebl Crimefile News said...

Send me an e-mail or give me a call this may be worthy of yet another article...

Anonymous said...

How does anonymous know so much about this woman, her husbands, her mom and dad, her son, her siblings? Could this be a member of her family? Whoever it is makes her sounds evil.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous,

So Phil Murphy "snapped" how many times? Did he "snap" when he beat his kids and his wife every time? How about this? A REAL man doesn't beat his children nor his wife! He doesn't drink to drown out his sorrows or "the abyss that became his life." He simply quits being a cop and gets another job. He gives up the booze! Maybe there should have been a 'club' of some sort for ALL the men who did this to their families back in the 60's and 70's. Yes, I had the EXACT childhood that Susan Murphy Milano had! My mother was pregnant in 1961 with me and HAD to get married. My father simply did NOT want the domestic life and took his frustrations out on his family with his fists! His sorrows with booze. His immaturity by quitting jobs over and over. Unfortunately, it's the kids who suffer and grow up to have major problems. Mrs Murphy felt trapped, Susan Murphy Milano writes, and so did my Mom, but still, it's NO excuse! If I had to give my kids to relatives and live at a police station back in the day, THAT is what I would have done just to keep my kids safe. Moved to another state. Anything but stayed with a monster like that. Fortunately, I LEARNED through this and if any of my dates EVER showed a side of them that I didn't like, I never dated them again. I waited 12 YEARS before I had my son with my husband. And I earned an education, (with my own money) so that I was NEVER dependent upon a man for anything. My mother had many chances to escape the monster she married, with help from her brothers. But she CHOSE to go back to her abuser each and every time, and her abuse was just as bad, or worse, than what Susan Murphy Milano wrote about in her book.