My moan this Monday is about online bullying, particularly on Twitter, and I am discussing the most recent celebrity to fall victim of 'Mass Online Bullying', Gemma Collins.
An unbelievable tweet that left me lost for words
You've read the name Gemma Collins and are probably thinking 'Uh oh, not this again' but the amount of hate she has received in the past week has really rattled me. I logged into Twitter and she was trending as soon as she entered the jungle, before any commotion had even gone on, and I was absolutely disgusted by most of the tweets insulting her, mainly about her weight. I thought the UK was moving forward and had become more accepting of plus size women in general, but the amount of abuse Gemma was receiving made me contemplate if plus size will ever really be accepted.
Some spiteful jokes and images where they couldn't even spell her name correctly
I know a lot went on with Gemma, she had a panic attack and had to get out of the helicopter, she moaned and she cried, a lot, but what did her weight have to do with that? The tweets flooded in and Gemma Collins was trending for days, most of the Tweets either joking about her weight or completely slating her. Everybody reacts differently to situations, Gemma clearly didn't react well and it was all too much for her, resulting in her leaving. People were asking 'Why the hell did she go in the in the first place?' and I thought that was unfair, because until you are actually in a situation you don't know how you will react. It's like saying 'Why did you go on that ride if you now feel sick?' well, you didn't know the ride was going to make you feel sick until you tried it.
Just a handful of disgraceful tweets
News of Gemma leaving caused an uproar on social media, particularly Twitter, where people were directly sending tweets to Gemma slating her in every way imaginable. Again, mainly targeting her weight which had absolutely nothing to do with everything that had gone on in the jungle. There were endless, may I add, sickening jokes and people conversing with each other about 'how useless she was' and 'how fat she is'. I honestly felt so sad reading them and so I can't even begin to imagine what Gemma must've felt like when she scrolled through her feed.
One tweet inparticular caught my eye and it read 'Some of these Gemma Collins jokes are awful, if she wasn't a celebrity it'd be bullying', I froze for a second disbelief. Every single tweet aimed at Gemma was bullying and, for a moment, I couldn't believe what I was reading. The rules of bullying don't change for celebrities, it was bullying, word for word, clear as day.
Thankfully there were some people who also shared my point of view, although these Tweets were extremely scarce amongst the litter of abuse
What Gemma experienced was what I would call 'Mass Online Bullying', it was out of control and unstoppable. I always say if you wouldn't say something in real life, don't say it online. The online bullies think they are safe behind their phone, laptop etc and use it as a shield but a shield won't protect them forever. If they saw a plus size person in the street they wouldn't say anything so just because they're behind a screen doesn't give them the right to bully someone. Anyone that sent an offensive tweet to Gemma is a cowardly bully and I can guarantee if they had seen her in real life they would of most probably said... Nothing.
Unfortunately this isn't the first case of online bullying and sadly it won't be the last. In Gemma's case, she wasn't rude, she wasn't nasty but she is plus size and that seemed to be the reason people went so hard on her. To top it off the Daily Star posted this image of her leaving Australia saying she looks 'Gloomy', how did they expect her to look after reading all of the abuse, like a cheshire cat?
Unbelievable.
