By Jacqueline Wostrel
It seems to me that people have a bit of an issue putting themselves in the shoes of another living human being. Kim Kardashian, for all the money she has, was robbed at gunpoint while she was in Paris Sunday night, and for some reason people are making this out to be a laughing matter. Thankfully, her kids weren’t with her. I’m sure she and her husband, Kanye West, are both thankful for that too. Some people are acting like this is something to be laughed at: a person who could have had their kids with them being tied to a chair and robbed. Others, the good folks that give me faith that this world isn’t all bad, are standing up to the haters and letting people know that this is not something to poke fun at. Here's what I think we need to be considering in the aftermath of this crime.
1. Kim Kardashian, even with all of that money and recognition, is still just as human as you and I.
People seem to forget somewhere along timeline of a woman gathering fame and fortune that celebrities are still human, and capable of losing everything. She’s got people who care for her, and want her to be safe and happy. When the robbers took that safety from her, they violated her. I don’t understand why people seem to be brushing this off.
Celebrities are humans too; they’re just humans that are all over the media. They do things to entertain the public, but that doesn't mean anything they do is game for us to mock and laugh at. Fame alone is not an invitation for cruel things to happen.
Although they don’t get as much privacy as people who work as teachers, construction workers or hotel managers, they still have private parts of their lives. But the public they perform for doesn’t allow them to have privacy. When things like this robbery happen, the public should not shame Kim, or blame her. We should rally behind her and support her.
2. Her sense of personal safety was violated, so why are we bringing up Taylor Swift again??
This is just incredibly stupid for so many different reasons. First off, that’s so much effort for Taylor Swift to have someone steal $10 million from Kim in Paris over something that is, to be completely honest, old news. Taylor Swift is worth $200 million. She doesn’t need it, and I doubt she wants to start the drama back up.
Women are still being stereotyped as catty. Even a person who is catty, whether they have a vagina or not, would probably not go through the effort it takes to stage a robbery. And besides the effort, it's just incredibly cruel. Kim being in a situation she could not escape is not a laughing matter, nor is it one, I imagine, that you’d love to be in yourself. Do not use the feud that happened ages ago between Kim and Taylor as a way to make this into a joke. News flash: This isn't a funny situation.
3. Despite all the terrible people, there are some brilliant humans who tried to be there for Kim.
Chrissy Teigen and James Corden promptly shut down the haters. Hello, lights at the end of the tunnel. Thank you. Thanks for being brave enough to invite trolls (who should really just be called bullies) on to your social media feeds, and for speaking out for a woman who is being treated as a joke when she was terrorized in her own hotel room. Kim had something happen to her that no one would wish on themselves, but because she is a celebrity some people think that she somehow invited this into her life. Again: She was not ‘asking for it’.
Speaking out doesn’t have to be on the internet, where bullies will show up. You can gently correct a friend when they laugh at a joke, smashing this culture before it spreads. You can stop fueling the fire of hate on your own social media. You can walk like you talk. You can treat others the way you would like to be treated.
This woman is a human being. Her social status is higher than most, but that doesn’t make her less human. I shouldn’t have to say that.
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