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.