judging people in the public eye

By Macha Ball

Let’s just start by saying – this isn’t a text on cancel culture, and it does not aim to refer to necessary repercussions faced by people in the public eye for hate speech, racism, homophobia, ableism, fatphobia, etc. Even outside of being ‘cancelled’, influencers – and people in the public eye in general – are the objects of so much judgement from society. It’s in magazines, on social media, in everyday conversations, and in our own heads. 

Of course, there are two sides to every story. People who put themselves out there know what’s coming, and many, many people in the public eye are far from perfect. But it’s also really easy to judge people online for everything they do because social media gives users the illusion that they know people who they actually haven’t a clue about. If you’ve ever watched Skam Norway, you’ll remember Noorah had a sign up by her mirror reminding her to be kind, because you never know what people might be going through behind closed doors. It can seem corny but it’s actually such a good principle to apply in everyday life, even in situations as simple as someone not smiling back at you or the cashier being rude in Aldi. You never know how bad that person’s day might have been. The thing with influencers is, it can be difficult not to expect perfection out of people whose lives appear to be perfect. People are held on a pedestal against their own will, and when their audience is hit with the facts of their imperfection, all hell breaks lose. Because of their position online, we also tend to project our own insecurities onto ‘influencers’, who are an easy target on which to place the judgements we should be redirecting towards ourselves. As an example, many people in the public eye – especially women – will be subjected to fatphobic comments coming from people who have been fed diet culture talk from a very young age, and who therefore see ‘fat’ as a negative word, perceive fat people as being sluggish and irresponsible, and who think becoming fat or gaining weight is the worst thing that can happen to you, all of which are false. What needs to change isn’t fat bodies, it’s fatphobic mindsets. This can also be applied to other situations, with some introspection. 

You don’t have to like everyone online. But if you find yourself repeatedly having negative thoughts about some influencer on Instagram, then ask yourself: why am I following them? Am I using this person as a scapegoat for all of my problems and insecurities? So to sum up, use that unfollow button freely, and let this be your reminder to think twice before hating online because at the end of the day people online (just like people in real life) are only human.

Now, this is not to say that people should not be corrected for their mistakes, or that hate speech and ignorance should be ignored or even tolerated.