A few of my favorite bloggers have started doing something on their blogs where they share bits and pieces of their drafts on their blogs. It’s an interesting way to see what they think about. I’ve had lists of blog post ideas, drafts that are half-written sitting in my computer. Seeing that, I thought it would be a great series to start on my own little internet space.
What A Celebrity Says
We take what a celebrity says so seriously that sometimes it’s laughable. We pick apart everything they do, everything they say. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could survive being picked apart under a microscope. Sometimes things just get blown way out of proportion.
Everyone will get criticism, regardless of whether or not you have a million Twitter followers or not. Which is why the criticism following Emma Watson’s He For She speech bothered me.
She stood up for something, something she believed in. There was an outpouring of support from people, but there were also critics, just like anything in your life. The speech was too narrow, too broad, too something.
I don’t think Emma Watson spent the weeks leading up to her big speech picking apart every clause, trying to phrase everything so that as many people as possible would agree with her. Okay, maybe she did, but I can’t say for sure. I think she was trying to galvanize support and get her point across. Judging by the 1.1 million #HeForShe tweets, she accomplished that, wouldn’t you say?
Sometimes we take what celebrities say like it’s blood on the Rosetta Stone. Rather than being so quick to say, “(Fill-in-the-role-model-celebrity) supports this cause and because they do, I should too,” we should take the time to form our own opinions. The media isn’t always the most reliable source of information.
Blogging Burnout
Sometimes blogging is hard. Scheduling tweets, learning to code, taking pictures (or finding images), and you have to think of blog posts? Can we just go back to the days when my biggest worry was what show to watch next on Netflix? Sometimes the last thing I want to do is write.
I’ve always struggled with maintaining the balance between being authentic and maintaining a sense of privacy. I don’t want to spill my guts all over the internet (because I don’t want to turn this into an online diary) but I do want to be authentic. Striking that balance has always been a challenge. And sometimes I just get burned out. Those times when the thing you love the most turns into a chore. Yeah, those. Not a fan.
On Being The Odd One Out
I have never been one to follow the crowd. And I have always gotten flack for it. If I get into the musicians that are dominating the Top 40, I will get into the SUPER late. I am usually on the receiving end of the eye roll. You know the “Babe, I already knew that, and the way you’re getting into this just now is so cute,” kind of eye roll. I am the kind of girl who uses things until they can’t be used anymore (hello earphones that only work on one side).
Alisa Yui 
It’s funny how closely celebrities – and other famous people, because I always tend to think of “celebrities” as musicians/actresses/entertainers – get scrutinized for what they say. Like, to the point when stuff taken out of context from three years ago is brought up in a “Gotcha!” kind of moment in the present. It’s like we deny famous people the right to grow and change their opinions. Also, we tend to just disregard the fact that sometimes people are just talking spontaneously and something said lightly is not necessarily indicative of their worldview.
Did I comment on stuff you wrote about Emma Watson before? If I’m repeating myself, sorry! I just can’t help myself because, while her speech, like everything else is life, is probably deserving of constructive criticism, the way some people go about it absolutely drives me crazy.
I read some criticism of Emma Watson which was based on how she says she is one of those women whose remarks are seen as “too aggressive, too isolating, anti-men, and unattractive.” The writer focused on that “anti-men” and “strong/aggressive” bit and went on and on about how she’s wrong and practicing erasure. But it’s like. . .1) she’s not saying feminism is “anti-men”, just that people perceive it to be. I get told I’m anti-men for fighting back against street harassment. And 2) I’m just not going to criticize a white woman for talking about feminism “like a white woman,” because this speech wasn’t about intersectional feminism. It was a very general “let’s stop polarizing men and women and stand together for gender equality.” And we need that, because “women against feminism” is a thing, Time included feminism in a poll of words to ban, and good god, we have all these articles these days on street harassment and people just don’t get it.
Also, another article focused on how she says she’s extending her “formal invitation” to men. That’s clearly just a creative way to express an idea; it’s not denying the history of men being included in feminist activism for gender equality.
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Hi! No, I don’t think you did comment on my Emma Watson stuff. I totally agree with all of your points. I seriously think some people read way too much into things. The way I see it feminism has become the hot word lately, especially after her speech, with so many celebs voicing their support (not that that’s a bad thing). I just think picking apart every little word in a speech is a little overkill. Sometimes, as you said, people say things as a joke, and it’s taken like it’s blood on the Rosetta Stone.
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