By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com
I'm only putting my one cent in here, and not two, really. But I still feel dirty for commenting on such an overblown story.
I'll get the superficial out of the way first: He was quoted as saying after being hit for the first time he thought his eye was going to fall out. And look at that horrifying gash to justify that fear! That's unforgivably wussy. That's the end of my superficiality.
The story reminds me of something written by one of the best American writers under the age of 40- Chuck Klosterman. In the January 2008 Esquire (it could have been the February, actually. The link to it is here.) In the article's second to last paragraph he writes...
It is impossible to deny that the culture is coarsening. Everyone concedes this -- even the people who are happy about it. It is now acceptable to say almost anything, about almost anyone, in a public space, and for no reason whatsoever. There is no line to step over, because such lines no longer exist. And I think those boundaries disappeared the moment people really, truly lost the fear of getting punched in the face. Americans have understood this intellectually for decades, but I don't think we accepted it in totality until now. Adults are now so insulated by technology (and so protected by modernity) that the possibility of a physical consequence for any action is a psychological nonfactor. We have removed interpersonal fear from day-to-day behavior. Today, boxers are the only people who get hit for fucking up.
I think Klosterman makes a great point- it's much easier to blog something rude about someone than it is to say it to their face. The reason? The likelihood of getting punched in the face.
Probably no one on the web has enjoyed the internet-insulation more than trash blogger Perez Hilton. Whether he's outing a fellow gay person, pointing and laughing at someone's drug addiction, or just berating someone in a mean-spirited fashion, Hilton seems to be the poster-child for Klosterman's theory.
Now we'll see if his writing is any different after getting punched in the face.
UPDATE: What I wrote above, the blurred lines betwixt reality (where you may get punched in the face) and the internet cushion (where you're safe from that happening) are illustrated hilariously, and accurately on this site which I copied and pasted below:
I don’t know if you knew this, but if you’re a guy, and you go out of your way to antagonize and provoke another guy, if you try to embarrass him in front of his friends and peers, if you call him the worst names you can think up, that may lead to a fight. Shocking, yes?
This is what happened last night after the Much Music Awards in Toronto, according to Perez Hilton after Will.I.Am allegedly punched him. The summary is from MTV.
“And that’s when I made the split-second decision that I was going to say what I thought was the worst possible thing that a thug would ever want to hear. … I told him, ‘And you know what, I don’t need to respect you … and you’re a f–. You’re gay and stop being such a f—-t.’ And I knew that was going to set him off, but I didn’t want to get into a fight with this person, so we leave. [He] followed me outside of the club … then his manager, Polo, whom I have met before, from behind, comes up to me, clocks me in the eye and punches me two or three times. I am in shock. I just did not know what to do.”
If this we’re a Hollywood movie, no one would ever believe it. But this amazing tale really happened! One guy provoked another guy and called him a fag and it led to a fight. What a shocking conclusion. If they made a TV show about this, they should call it “Shocking Conclusions”.
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