I made some fantastically stupid mistakes in my teens and twenties. I managed to stay out of jail and brothels, but I still had plenty of asshole moments. For instance: I skipped 90% of my lecture hall classes for the first two years of college. I tried to have a one night stand with a guy my friend introduced me to (fail, but that’s another story). I stayed in a relationship where I was never the girlfriend (always just a friend) and rarely given affection or romance. Stupid. There are a LOT of examples…
And when I was 22, I cheated on my boyfriend with the 41 year old Scottish driver I met on my tour of Ireland. That’s right. I was 22, he was 41, it was a fun vacation fling, and it resulted in the end of my relationship when I got home. Because I was stupid.
I’m remarkably lucky: not only because I was able to make mistakes and learn from them, but because I didn’t have to deal with international idiots during the fallout.
Over a decade later, I can look back and say “dumbass, why didn’t you END a broken relationship before you fucked someone else…for their accent…and why fuck someone for an accent anyway?” (DAMN Scottish accents: that’s some powerful stuff!) Because I learned from my mistake, and forgive my younger self for being a stupid asshole. I also don’t have a zillion Twitterers attacking every aspect of my life under a microscope. I don’t have TMZ following me, slavering for photographic evidence of any misstep I make and broadcasting it to the world.
People, even celebrities, are human. Humans fuck up, regularly. A LOT of those fuck ups are relationship and/or sex driven. Human nature is to focus on the most salacious public falls from grace, but the sick fascination we have for barely-out-of-teen mistakes is really pretty disgusting.
Honestly, I’m not a fan of the Twilight crap (again, another post). I’m also not a huge fan of Kristen Stewart’s work, although I DO want to see her Snow White. *shrug* I highly doubt she gives a hoot whether I enjoy her acting or not. I also (GASP) don’t give a SHIT who she sleeps with, whether that person is married or not, and whether she breaks up with her boyfriend over it. Why? Because I don’t know her, I don’t know the circumstances of her life or relationships or anything other than what Huffington Post, US Weekly, TMZ, and Twitter have posted. Shockingly, I don’t think any of them are all that accurate…and to be fair, I don’t care.
But, the level of horrible things I’ve seen said about this 22 year old is just…gross. I think public skewering for something so fucking stupid, so trivial in the scheme of everyone else’s lives, is 100% asshole behavior. There are six people’s lives ACTUALLY involved in this stupidity: everyone else needs to focus on stuff that actually matters in life.
Like how to get Kevin McKidd or Gerard Butler to show up at my door…
No Pithy Phrase 