Well, Thanksgiving is officially over as I have no more leftovers from turkey dinner. Drats!
Although, the night is not a total bust seeing as Below Deck aired a new episode. One that, dare I say, offered little to no drama, at least surrounding myself. And isn’t it funny how not one of my “haters” commended me on keeping my mouth shut and doing a job well, despite them requesting such of me every other week? Isn’t it funny that they only have nasty and disparaging words to spew when they feel as though attacking me may be seen as virtuous and just in their eyes and perhaps agreed upon by fellow viewers? Isn’t it funny…oh, who am I kidding, it’s all a joke when it comes to the battle of the keyboards these days.
I often get asked, how am I able to cope with all the rude, distasteful, vulgar and threatening comments literally sent to me daily from random strangers. It is simple. These strangers, the “haters” or “trolls” as they are commonly referred to, are people just like me. The difference is, what they do, say, feel, think or care about has nothing to do with me, even when directed at me. Sure, without viewers, whether fans of me or not, the show wouldn’t be as successful as it is however, what is that saying? Any press is good press? Perhaps that’s true. It certainly keeps my name alive and well and on the tip of all viewers tongues at any given day of the week, not just Mondays at 9pm EST.
What it boils down to, I would suppose, is that I am fortunate in that I have thick skin. I’m a pretty tough cookie (Get it? Pretty and tough? Get it? GOT IT??). I can take it for the mere reason that, I don’t know these people making snide comments. They aren’t addressing me in any way other than behind the fact that they feel strong and correct in their judgment given that they can say it behind a computer screen and not to my face. But what difference is there really when threatening my life via text versus in person? Perhaps if they feel it necessary to approach me in public, both theirs and my response would be different than expected. But does that make their distasteful behavior any less uncouth than my own? Form an opinion, it’s not frowned upon, wait, I take that back. It is frowned upon especially if it is your opinion and not my own. Oy!
Spewing hate publicly, for what is technically, a biased and unwarranted reason, is quite a bit more appalling and tell-tale of ones character, in my opinion, than watching edited reactions to an environment only experienced by those privy to the situation in its entirety and understanding it for what it is, Monday night entertainment, not a free-for-all for cyber bullying/bashing.
There are some interactions that must be experienced in order to appreciate the intent. Being everyone’s cup of tea is not a matter of importance to me, nor should it be to you. I take gratitude in being able to do what I want to do, when I want to do it and know that my close friends, family and even fans in support of me are able to see past the shows antics at creating a drama reality series and recognize me as someone else just living my life like the rest of us. Having the freedom within myself to recognize hate coming from complete strangers as something sad that lies within them is something I wouldn’t trade for anything. It’s also something I would wish for those that perhaps, aren’t as strong in their convictions. You have to be tough in this line of work, not just the manual labor and tedious hours of working on the water, but also, walking a mile in your own shoes and focusing on yourself versus the brand, style and size of others.
In short, so long as the hate doesn’t come from my mother or worse, my (would be) 75 year old grandfather, who was more likely to be doing respectable “grandfatherly” activities such as playing a game of cribbage or watching an Andy Griffith sitcom versus caring about how many likes, retweets and compliments he got while regurgitating sexist and vulgar one-liners directed at colleagues half his age, I’m all thanksgiving gravy baby!
