Yesterday just before filming the latest episode of our podcast BoldFaceFriends I saw a tweet from the Toronto Star which was highlight a person charged with tax evasion. Just looking at the tweet I knew EXACTLY what I would see. The world, society has jaded me, condition me. I have defensive system where I imagine conversations, go through all possible scenarios. I wasn’t wrong the tweets below were exactly what I feared.

I’ve talked before, on this blog, on my YouTube channel, and now on out Podcast about the harm caused by portraying villains with facial differences. The tweets I saw are the embodiment of that.

Here is the link to the story. It is most likely behind a paywall but you only need the picture to get where we are going.

Now let’s highlight some of the tweets that appeared under the story posted on Twitter. I didn’t include their Twitter handles as this isn’t relevant.

See a theme? Still think “but they are just movies”? They will always defend themselves saying “this guy is a criminal “ or whatever. But what the person did or didn’t do is irrelevant. I dislike the current leader in the U.S. with every fibre of my being. But I still won’t make fun of his looks. Making fun of someone isn’t funny and it isn’t a joke. Movies have normalized this behaviour. People do not believe that it has real world consequences.

These next few tweets were in response to me calling out their bullshit.

There goes that defence system, I can hear what you are saying as you read this. “Why even respond to them?” “You are beautiful.” “They only says these things because they are insecure”…. I also was surprised by a couple of people who did acknowledge what a shirt thing it is. Here is one example.

You are right, I don’t/didn’t have to respond. My mental health would be better off. However I vowed a long time ago that if I see something, to say something. This couldn’t be ignored. A statement from a great Doctor on her YouTube channel is something I decided to incorporate in to my everyday life. “If what you put out hurts just one person, that’s a net negative”, to me this means I will always try to ensure what I say or do hurts no one directly. I’m not perfect, but I would and never will make fun of anyone. I hope the people who tweeted will get on board.

I took today off Twitter because I honestly needed to recharge. It is really hard to just shout at the void and no one seeming to care.

You are also right, I am beautiful.