Angelina Jolie AFP
Stars who’ve been dissed on social media have cried out loudly and pleaded for first aid to relieve their physical and psychological pain—and for antidotes or juju incantations to get back at their hateful critics.
More experienced stellar targets come to the rescue with these insights and proven countergambits:
First, realize that some dissers should be paid attention to, because they could tell you things about yourself that you have subjectively and self-defensively tried to avoid confronting and solving.
So, learn how to tell the candid comment from the kneejerk, cynical put-down that’s been calibrated to be pungent or stinging enough to catch your attention—and ruin your day!
Chances are, however, that the majority of negative comments you get are not to be taken seriously, because they are motivated by peevish envy.
Fans may adore the idols they admire, but some also envy them and are jealous of their beauty, talent, success and wealth. Since fans are rendered basically unreliable as objective commentators, stars must make it a point to not “empower” them by reacting to their tirades.
Also keep in mind that other stars’ fans look down on rival celebrities, and extol their favorites by dissing the stellar competition—so, their tirades are similarly undeserving of serious scrutiny or reactions.
These thoughts come to mind now, because in the course of our research on Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s marital troubles, we’ve been disturbed and even shocked to see that Angelina has been beaten to a pulp in social media, much more than Brad.
Why the “epidemic” of hatred hurled in her direction? Being a rare combination of beauty, talent, wealth, fame and sterling reputation as a humanitarian of “world-class” stature, she has attracted more than her envious share of dissers, who “love and pity” Brad—but hate her with a purple passion!
To cut her down to size, they love harking back to her “tempestuous” youth, when she made big, embarrassing mistakes, took “cultish” detours, dallied with older and odder men, etc.
Yes, they sourly admit, she’s cleaned up her professional and personal acts now, but don’t forget, she was such a loose cannon then.
Angelina’s critics are mostly faceless dissers, but some are popular or notorious in their own right.
For instance, producer Scott Rudin has snottily dismissed her as “a minimally talented spoiled brat,” and singer Melissa Etheridge has blasted Angelina for “cleverly” making Brad look really bad in news accounts, so that she can have full custody of their children.
Other Angelina bashers cynically ask: “Is she using the system to separate her children from their father, and psychologically abusing them to hurt Brad?” “That hag needs to get on her broomstick and fly off back to obscurity she belongs in.”
“Despite her name, Jolie is lacking in gaiety, and we gawk in sheer wonder at the carnal embouchure that is her opulent mouth.”
Even as a director, Jolie has been getting flak for her recent cinematic efforts—like “By the Sea” being dismissed as “a vanity project that has no reason for being. If it weren’t so aggressively humorless, it might qualify as camp.”
What’s a poor, golden screen goddess to do?