Reporter claims, “If Carrie Fisher doesn’t like being judged on looks, she should quit acting.”
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Reporter Bashes Carrie Fisher After Plea to Stop Judging Based on Looks

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Reporter claims, “If Carrie Fisher doesn’t like being judged on looks, she should quit acting.”
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By Melissa Janisin of goodnessmadness.com

“If Carrie Fisher doesn’t like being judged on looks, she should quit acting.”

That is the breathtakingly idiotic headline of an article in the New York Post in which Kyle Smith discusses Carrie Fisher’s reaction to online criticism of her appearance on the latest Star Wars installment.  The article itself is no less idiotic.  Among Kyle’s more jackass-ish assertions:

  • That Carrie Fisher’s response to her critics can be classified as a tantrum (or “Twittantrum,” as he so cleverly put it);
  • That not being an actor or other public figure miraculously frees one from ever being judged by one’s looks;
  • That Carrie Fisher, having once “made millions off being pretty,” has no right to complain about ageism, weight-ism, or impossible beauty standards in Hollywood;
  • That Carrie Fisher should be thankful for any pressure to be thin, because similar pressure might have saved the lives of Scott Weiland (drug overdose) and George Harrison (lung cancer);
  • That Carrie Fisher may have never succeeded as a writer without having first found success due to being “young, slim and cute”;
  • That Carrie Fisher, and others like her, should stop being so bitter and instead just be “grateful they had a turn at the top.”

Yikes.

Needless to say, there was some backlash.

Here’s the thing about idiots, though:  Unfortunately, it’s pretty rare to find you have convinced one that he or she is wrong.  I suppose it’s noble and valiant to keep trying, but it also lends just an ever-so-slight air of validity to the idiocy you’re arguing against.

And so.  Here’s my proposition:  What if we all just quit arguing with them?

Really.  I mean this.  What if we quit giving them our time and attention and outrage, and instead, just ignored them?

It’s hard not to argue with an idiot.  I know.  I’ve done it a million times and in fact, I’m kind of doing it right here.  Still, I love the idea of a world where we don’t bother, because the fact is that even when you think you’ve won, or proven your point, or SHUT THEM UP, you haven’t.  It’s a false victory, because 99 times out of 100, an idiot remains an idiot and the owner of a toxic opinion doesn’t give it up just because you’ve out-tweeted him.  For that matter, he probably doesn’t even believe you’ve out-tweeted him. In my experience, owners of toxic opinions always, always think they have won.

So, what if we let them think it?  Does it really hurt anything in the long run?

I don’t think haters are like weeds; I don’t think they’ll proliferate if we dare to quit attacking them.  On the contrary, I think that deprived of the sunlight and oxygen of our attention, many of them may just wither up and go away.  The strongest may survive, but so what?  Let them stew in their own venomous sarcasm.

And a note to Carrie Fisher:  I’d have read your books even if you looked like Shrek.  Which you didn’t, and still don’t, and funny beats young EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.

*****

About the Author

Melissa Janisin is a mom of two and also, coincidentally, a daughter of two. She writes about both these roles and more at goodnessmadness.com. You can also find her on Facebook  and Twitter .