So you’re on your idol’s Twitter account and going through the replies on a tweet, right? I bet everyone has at least once stumbled on a mean tweet, but why did this person feel such an urge to write “die”, “kill yourself”, “lol you’re a joke”, “fat cow”, and other really hurtful things to another person that has done absolutely nothing to deserve it.
Hate is a basic human emotion, much like love (the two are often mentioned together, aren’t they?) and it’s okay to hate. I’d even go as far as to say it’s natural. However, what is not natural is being rude. Whether it’s in the real world or behind a screen, hate comments should not be tolerated.
To have an opinion is okay, not to like someone is okay, not to share the same interest in something is okay. Being men, bringing out people’s insecurities and telling people to kill themselves is not okay, no matter how much and by what means you justify it.
Let’s talk about bringing out insecurities. This is probably what people most commonly use when writing hate. Comments such as “you’re ugly”, “fattie”, “omg what is wrong with your face” and alike are found on every single social media and on every single post that a celebrity makes. When writing these, we often forget that we’re talking to an actual person and that an actual person with actual insecurities is reading that. Let’s switch this from online to the real world. How would you feel if someone walked up to you and said “you’re so fat” or something. Not too nice, right? Speaking from personal experience, comments like these tend to stick around and mess with our minds for a while. A long while, sometimes even years. Example? When I was about six or seven years old, I remember one nasty comment from my older cousin- “you have ugly teeth”. Now that I’m older it pops up every once in a while, and I’ve noticed how that one remark has changed a tiny bit of me. I often had to keep myself from smiling or laughing, I’d despise every time I had to show my teeth. I’d always put a hand over and cover my mouth because of that one mean remark. Now, a few years later, people are complimenting my teeth and my smile, but every time I look in the mirror I see an ugly smile with yellow and misplaced teeth. And I’m wearing braces for crying out loud. So my teeth are probably white as pearls judging by how often I brush them and they are all in place, thanks to my braces. So why do I always see the bad side? Even if it doesn’t exist or if it isn’t as bad as I find it to be? Honestly now, if someone brought out an insecurity of yours, you’d think about it, even if you pretend not to care. It would have an effect on you, most probably when you look in the mirror and see your reflection. You’ll stare at it for so long, you’ll actually convince yourself that it’s very very very bad and visible. But right now you must be thinking that celebrities get this a lot and are used to these kinds of comments, so it doesn’t make a difference to them. Let me bring out the first issue here- no one should be used to getting their insecurities brought out and second, it does make a difference. Every. Single. Comment. Like. This. Does. Have. An. Affect. On. People. Even if it’s for the shortest of seconds, it does have a bad affect. Next time you wanna tell someone that they’re fat, ugly or whatever, think about how you would feel if someone said the exact same thing to you and think, really think hard about how it would affect you. Now think about the fact the celebs get thousands of these comments every day.
Hey, hey, hey now, let’s not forget about comments on a persons character. “You’re worthless” – every person is worth something. Whether it’s to their friends and family, or, in a celebs case, to their fans. Plus, just so happens that their a single hair of their eyelashes is worth a lot, regarding money. “You’re selfish” – so this is the comment that ticks me off. Just no. Do some research about the person you’re sending this to and I can guarantee you that you’ll stumble upon tons of charity work and helping others. “You’re self-centered” – why is this a bad thing though? It’s okay to be happy with yourself. It’s okay to put yourself first and to put your needs in front of everyone else’s. You have to live with yourself, make yourself happy. I personally wish I could be a bit self-centered since people are always taking advantage of my good nature and stepping on me. “You’re greedy” – but most celebs aren’t…? Again I bring out the charity, because a lot of these artists take out thousands, even millions, from their own wallet to give to those in need. Plus, if they were only into this mess of a industry for the money, no one is making them take pictures with fans, interact on social media, sign stuff, or do half of the things that they do. No one. They do it for the fans. And if they’re only in it for the money, why don’t they just make a couple of millions and disappear? Most of these celebs have made enough money to make them last for more than one life. “You’re stupid” – this is quite literally what you say when you don’t have anything else to say.
I’m not gonna go on, but you see the point. And let me mention that everyone has some bad characteristics, no one is perfect and no one is an angel, so some of these things may be true, but why are they important? Why would you care if someone who in no way associated with your life is selfish, stupid, self-centered or whatever? It’s a part of who they are, get used to it. And I have to say that you don’t know any of these people in real life, so you have no idea what they’re like and you have no right to judge by what (lies) you read in articles and tabloids. Even if you like to think that you do.
Lastly, and most importantly, telling people to kill themselves. Now, if you’re a hater or have ever sent someone hate, I’d like to ask you w h y you did that? I could never ever bring myself to write these words, yet it seems to come so naturally to many people. Telling people to kill themselves should not come naturally to you. In fact, in some countries it’s a crime, since you’re encouraging suicide. I’ve heard that in the US you can get a fine of $25,000 and 10+ years in prison. And if the person actually commits, you can be charged with manslaughter. But let’s forget about that for a second and focus on the fact that you are encouraging suicide. You are telling people to actually stab themselves, shoot themselves, hang themselves, slice their wrists or pop too many pills. How does this not raise red alarms? I can not stress this enough- you are telling a living, breathing person to end their life. That is so bad and so wrong on so many different levels. How would you feel if someone came up to you out of the blue and just said “Kill yourself” in all honesty. This is so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so wrong. And the worst bit is that people say “relax, it was a joke”. Statistics from 2013 claim that every day 105 Americans die by suicide, that one person takes away their life every 13 minutes, that every year about 38,000 people kill themselves. And all of these make suicide the 10th leading cause of death. This is only in America. I’d be horrified if statistics from the entire world existed and if I read them. And this is also why people shouldn’t joke about suicide. So w h y would you contribute to the statistics by telling someone to kill themselves? I know I’ve drifted away from the topic of celebrities, but the truth is that you should never ever tell ANYONE to kill themselves, whether a celeb or a person you know in real life.
Sending hate to celebrities today is a normality, and I’d just like to ask you how is it normal to tell anyone to kill themselves? Or to bring out insecurities? I must admit, there are celebrities that I strongly dislike but I keep my yap shut and keep it to myself because these people have helped others whether by supporting charities or simply making their fans happy, believe it or not. They’ve made fans laugh when they were feeling down, they’ve made them change for the better, they’ve been there for them when no one else was, seeking comfort in their songs, movies, books or whatever,… I’ve read so many stories where someone was about to quit fighting before they thought of their idol and that has inspired them to keep going. It may sound weird, stupid, unbelievable or just plain made up, but this does happen and it does save lives.
And these celebs are actual people who live and breathe and grow and learn and get hurt and feel and spend time with their family and mess around with their friends and are capable of feeling love as much as hate and hit rock bottom and feel like they’re at the top of the world. Not to mention that these celebs actually have worked hard to get where they are, in spite of what you believe. They are human. Just like you and I.
So next time you want to send hate, I beg of you to thing back to this article and reconsider.
I can’t say that I expect that my little article is going to make much of a difference or to get much recognition, but if I’ve made at least some of you think about your actions and reconsider before sending out a tweet “you worthless piece of trash” to someone, or make some of you call out a hater and make him stop, I’ll take that. It’s the small things that hold the ability to make a difference.
Let’s be nice.