I sit here absolutely stunned at the barrage of hate currently pouring out of Twitter, Tumblr, and all avenues of the internet after the last episode of Gossip Girl. A single episode titled, The Princesses and the Frog has been met with a ferocious outpouring of hatred I have not seen since… well I can’t really remember anything in the last few years really.

The sad thing is that we have had so many events lately which should have made society as a whole reflective about the real world around us, and yet it is a TV show that has become the focus of people’s hatred. On a day where people were remembering loved ones who had tragically been lost in real life ten years ago, others were using the words rapist, abuser, and misogynist about a fictional character developed in the imagination of a writer four, or so, years ago.

Apparently if I still want to see a fictional character redeemed into a better fictional character, then that says something about me morally as a person. I think it would say more about me more if I actually saved those derogatory words for people who commit those crimes in the real world that I live in who actually deserve them. I do not use words lightly, and I only judge someone when they have done something that needs judging. I also want to see real life abusers redeemed into better people as I do not want them let out into society only to reoffend, but that’s just me.

There is a world of artistic expression around us which has been created by people who believe in the right to express a perspective of the world around them. It may not be pretty or picture perfect, but then neither is the world we live in. Yet we process these things as works of fiction because they have not actually happened. If we were to inhibit the artistic process, then everyone who has a history of something dramatic happening in their lives could halt the artist from producing their work. You may not like what they produce but you have to respect their right to produce it.

The first thing that came into my mind when I read the words of hate on my Twitter feed, and Tumblr, was “My god, these people would hate Wuthering Heights!”

Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite teenage novels, and is a story of all consuming love that has driven the romantic leads to proportions of madness. If you think Chuck is abusive, go do a character study of Heathcliff, and you would declare Chuck as minor league, and Cathy makes Blair look like a beginner.

Do you look at shows like Dallas, Weeds, The Shield, Dexter etc.. to provide you with a clean moral compass to look upon the world? When I look at these shows I know what I am getting, and I accept that when I view it.

Would I accept these events in real life - NEVER!

I have the perspective to see that this show is not real life, and Chuck and Blair do not exist. The glass was never smashed and there is no Prince Louis of Monaco who became engaged this week.

If you think people will accept these kind of events in their real life because of a TV show, then these people should not be watching Gossip Girl or any similarly rated show in the first place. The horrors of the real world we live in are, unfortunately, much worse than any situation that the writers of Gossip Girl could produce. People are murdered in their own homes, planes are hijacked, children kidnapped and all these events are filling our newspapers every day. I will save my anger and rage for the people who commit crimes who are real and deserve my negative emotions.

I also believe that people deserve the freedom to express themselves artistically, and will defend that with all my might.

I do not want to live in a world, similar to a police state, where I have other people deciding what I am allowed to watch, listen to and think about. If you find Gossip Girl objectionable, then watch something else on another channel and make your views known that way.

By abusing other people and using words of hatred you yourself are reinforcing the violent nature that you are objecting to. The difference is - you are not a fictional character.
http://bellemme.tumblr.com/post....fiction