ENOUGH

Once upon a time in Hollywood and elsewhere, actors and actresses and politicians were at the mercy of the media. Anything a reporter felt like saying about these celebrities went unchallenged. The stars were told not to acknowledge anything false. The advice they received from their agents and managers and press people was to ignore it. That by denying or clarifying what the media printed it actually gave credence to the gossip. And the famous folks went along with the advice they were given. Tabloids had a field day saying whatever they wanted to say about the "stars du jour."

Ah, but I do believe the very first celebrity to say "ENOUGH" was Carol Burnett. She defied the advice. She followed what she KNEW to be the right course of action. When a rag printed that she had been drunk at some function, she was outraged. Having grown up in a household with an alcoholic family member and working very, very hard to keep her head above water and make a success of herself, she was certainly not about to let anyone smear her good name. And God love her, she fought that tabloid tooth and nail. Taking the media to court? Why, who would have ever had the guts to do THAT? Carol did. She did it beautifully, too. And she won. She won because what was said about her was false. It was a case of someone writing what they PERCEIVED to be the truth. It is common knowledge that slanderous statements are based on thoughts or feelings or perceptions and not on actual facts. Bare facts. Not ones that have been embellished with a little more here and there.

 

Carol's victory paved the way for stars and anyone else in the public eye to take on the media. Many cases were won by those who previously held their tongues and allowed the lowest of the low to besmirch their names.

 

I have always been impressed by Carol Burnett for that reason, as well as her obvious performing talent. It is not always easy to put yourself out there in order to stand up for what you believe to be right. Yet, she did it. With a determination that was made of steel.

 

How does that pertain to those of us who write in public journals? There are some of us who have been bloggers for quite some time. We write about a wide variety of subjects. Maybe about our personal lives. Sometimes about our take on society. Poetry and artwork is often shared. Each person leaves his own fingerprints on his writings.

 

Yet, there are tawdry tabloids that exist online. Their sole purpose is to defecate on people they do not like. They like to "expose" others who use online services to their fabrications and partial truths and anything else to make their targets squirm. I think we have all visited journals/blogs like that a time or two, have we not? Have you ever found yourself to be the topic of any of their journal entries? Have you read things about yourself and found your jaw drop from sheer astonishment? Did you wonder where they came up with the information about you? Did anyone ask YOU if the puke they were going to write about you was factual? Probably not. It does not work that way. Their usual mode of operation is to take a fact here or there, twist and turn it every which way, and add to it until it fits what they PERCEIVE to be fact, and go from there. They are reckless with the facts and guilty of projecting their own insecurities onto others.

 

It is my guess that soon enough there will have to be more online restrictions placed on the writers of all the journals. Slander is something that has to be addressed. It NEEDS to be addressed. Freedom of speech carries with it some responsibility. And when it is abused, it needs stopped.

 

I know too many people who have had to take their journals private, because there were those idiots who just had to cause the writers anguish and/or attempt to make their online lives miserable. How fair is that? Not fair at all. Funny how it seems like the people who have positive entries, entertaining commentaries, and nice displays of writing talent are the ones who often become the targets of malcontents.

 

Yes. Enough is enough. Time to put a stop to it. And there are ways.

 

"Truth is not exciting enough to those who depend on the characters and lives of their neighbors for all their amusement." ~George Bancroft