30th
Judging from the laughter in this class at the Leave Britney Alone video, I might be alone in my opinion about this video.
If this class could have had a title, it would be “respect and persons”. A person is someone who deserves respect - whether that respect invovles their bodily integrity, their ability to make decisions about how they conduct themselves, their access to food and clean water, to the basic necessities of life. This respect not only invovles these very basic human needs, but also, I believe, an emotional security, the ability to respect oneself. I do my best to respect animals, human and non. I do not believe that it is respectful to cause anyone or being any undue emotional harm.
When someone splatters tabloids of Britney - and we all know what these tabloids say about her, or any other female celebrity - these hurt Britney Spears. She braves a face of calm demeanor, the public image. The perfect daughter, public woman. But inside, she is hurting. She cries. She, too, feels sadness and insecurity, self-love and hatred. Maybe more profoundly than anyone living today. I can’t profess to speak for her, to know how she feels, but I don’t think that it would be possible for her to not have an emotional connection to the images of her. Her music videos and live performances are a celebration of narcissism - one that is ultimately unfulfilling and doomed. When she gains a few pounds, ages a few years, she will be hated. Is there any way that knowing that millions of people engage in schaedenfreude specifically in regards to your conformance to current beauty standards could not have a profound and potentially devastating effect on your emotional wellbeing?
When I shaved my head last week, it was because my friend accidentally gave me two bald patches. I didn’t want to go around uneven, so I did away with it the whole lot. I felt nothing except the cool wind on my head - it felt good. I was interacting with my environment in a way I’d never done before. I did not react the way I would have a couple of years ago. I know that I would have cried, as Britney Spears’ hairdresser said she did after she took clippers to her hair. Her hair extensions were hurting her, like someone pulling on your hair 24/7. She didn’t want to be in pain anymore. Her baldness was a sign of something deeper? Was she throwing something off? What were her conclusions?
What makes someone deserve personhood? What makes someone deserve respect?
The woman who made In My Language … she wants respect. She wants her life experience to be, not only valid, but afforded the human rights of other life experiences.
The woman who is Britney Spears needs respect. She needs the respect that is rarely (never?) given to (female) celebrities.
The person who made Leave Britney Alone truly feels an emotional connection to the pain Britney Spears is in.
Why are we so desensitized to the pain of other humans?
