It was obnoxious and unnecessarily mean for a long time, but it didn't seem to be anything more harmful than pettiness.
For a while now, the gymternet has been caught up in the internet trend of being more enthusiastic about what we can trash and shred than, you know, what we like and enjoy.
There was Mykayla, who, make no mistake, has absolutely posted things she shouldn't have on social media. But can we really claim the moral high ground when we comb through everything we can reach-- including hunting down her family's accounts-- to find ways to crucify her? And why, if it was the problematic stuff she's posted, was so little of the focus of the crusade on that as opposed to the cocky stuff she's posted?
There was Ashton. Again, people were bound to take issue with her political posts. But hating on her for crying? There were comments on
the confession accusing the gymternet of double standards with defending Nina because she's white (oh don't worry I'll get to Nina) where people were saying "No it's because Ashton supports Trump!!"... so that makes you being a hypocrite morally superior? But hey, at least you're admitting your double standards.
People were all over Maddie for a while for saying "let's be nice to each other regardless of who we voted for."
Various Russians have been in and out of the firing range for months.
Nina is the most obvious example of a gymnast just seeming to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. For no apparent reason other than people were looking for a new whipping boy, they jumped on the first at all questionable thing they found and shredded her for it. I mean, just look at the floor final for proof it's not arbitrary. Look at how everyone was responding when the champion was hugging people and quietly celebrating while Vanessa was still on the floor being seen to by the med staff. No double standards here at all...
But that's all just pettiness.
Add the Nassar scandal to our harpy mentality, and now you're playing with fire.
I've been worrying that we were going to end up crucifying one of his victims for how she dealt with this. I didn't think it was actually going to happen.
And enter Gabby.
Now, I am not saying her tweet was right. I am not saying you need to forgive and forget or that your opinions of her should go back to what they were two weeks ago. What I AM saying is this should serve as a wake-up call to the gymternet for our toxic mentality.
Because now we know
Gabby was a victim too. And the gymternet spent days trashing her for the way she's handled the scandal. And some are so far down the rabbit hole they're even
accusing her of lying.
Again, the fact that she was a victim doesn't make what she tweeted okay. But it does mean she deserves our compassion. And because we're all so sure we know these women as people from what they post online, it didn't even occur to most that she could have been a victim.
And from
so many of those same places, we're seeing no apparent acknowledgement or concern that Gabby was abused (I'm referencing especially the comments with that post). Gabby's story shows precisely why the "S/HE IS CANCELLED!!" stuff is so wrong.
Can you really claim moral superiority?
I just want to leave with these two comments on how we need to treat the Nassar scandal:
 |
| Source: The Gymternet-- You Asked, the Gymterner Answered |
And, to leave on a better note,
Nassar is going to prison. May he rot in his cell.
