How do you react when you see a person fall?

Soooooo Madonna fell off stage at the Brits last week and I think it’s fair to say the internet CAUGHT FIRE.

I mean, I’m not going to lie. It was shocking. But what I found most interesting was the public reaction.

There was the jovial tongue in cheek banter you would expect. Too much material for the material girl. Ha! Witty! Then came meme’s and gifs with light captions. NO CAPE! Many people gave kudos to Madge for her professionalism: the show WOULD go on damnit! And credit to her.

(Image via)

While many commended the Queen of Pop for getting on with it like a complete #BOSS (despite whiplash I might add) there were a number of commentators ready with the claws out. Cue an onslaught of sexism, ageism and everything in between.

‘Wow, that poor old lady just fell off the stage.’ Said one charming chap.

‘She’s too old to be up there anyway’. Said another who had taken a break from ball scratching to add his tuppence worth to the conversation. 

I walked past a pub in East London with this sign:

Hilarious. 

I get it. I get it! The roots of comedy often lies in tragedy and pain. I am the first one to laugh when I trip in the street or walk into a glass door (it’s been known to happen). I comprendre, but geezeeee some of this rhetoric was just a bit, well, mean.

It got me thinking about how cruel people can be. This wasn’t humour teamed with irony or empathy or slapstick charm – a brush of the it could happen to anyone jest. Jokes (which weren’t really jokes – just statements of opinion) were circulating about menopause and how the queen had finally fallen. 

I mean where’s the damn line? Where does harmless banter turn to ridicule? And how does it affect our perception of what it means to fall in life? 

The #MadonnaFallsAtTheBrits fiasco seemed to illuminate the darker side of human nature, and with it a sad truth: mankind loves to see successful people fall down. Some folks get off on it.

This leads to the pressing question: Who ARE these assholes?

I recently deleted a guy from Facebook who told me, in the wake of my family’s bankruptcy a few years ago, that ‘we were nothing now’. Thanks for pointing that out mate! I’ll just remove this knife from my back, shall I? For years I had felt shamed and humiliated by the remark. I didn’t realize that the statement was more a reflection of his poor character than mine. 

I have no space in my life for such people.

Sadly, the world is full of them. Those cretins who get satisfaction when your business goes into bankruptcy. Those people whose eyes light up when they gossip about someone else’s failed marriage. The kind of people who are the first to point out your weakness’. Those who never let you forget your failures. The people who sit within the barracks of society without stepping out onto the front lines, and then have the nerve to tell you ‘I told you so’ when you return with battle scars. The people who risk jack shit but judge anyone and everyone who dares to live outside their comfort zone. Snug in the safety of their uninspired mediocre lives prattling on their phones or hunching over their laptops in darkened living rooms feeding off other people’s misfortunes. Social vampires. Seriously? WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?

To fall, means you were brave enough to risk.

The interesting thing is, all these haters seemed to be sending out the message that to fall is to experience shame or embarrassment or humiliation in some way. 

For Madge it was… she’s too old, too famous, she’s had her time, she deserved to be brought down a peg after all the success she’s had. Chomp, chomp, chomp. Like a raging Pacman of negativity and scorn.

J.K Rowling put it beautifully.

Are you the sort of person who gloats when they see a woman fall, or the kind that celebrates a magnificent recovery? #TeamMadonna

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 27, 2015

Debra Orr recently commented in The Guardian that many critics neglected the fact that Madonna didn’t merely fall off stage but was yanked. Her recovery was impeccable. ‘What a trouper!’ Orr remarks. ‘That’s inspirational’. Yes, it bloody well is! When I’m in my 50s I hope I’m working it half as well as Madge is.

You see, falling requires risk.Whether you are an artist or entrepreneur, explorer or athlete, pop star or just a regular joe making your way through life: don’t be afraid to fall. Success requires risk.

It’s like that scene in Birdman when Shiner confronts that stiff lipped theatre critic who’s threatening to write a bad review:

‘At 8 o’clock tomorrow, he’s going to get on stage and risk EVERYTHING.
What are YOU going to be doing?’ 

Yes quite.

Have a great week peeps!

x

If you enjoyed this article, why not check out ‘It Happens To The Best Of Us‘ or ‘Compare Leads To Despair: Why You Should Stop Comparing And Start Living’?

Tags: bitching celebrity empowerment madonna The Brits

Categories: Mirror Mirror: Self Improvement Rant Yazmin Joy