Haters Gonna Hate

Marlee Matlin Haters

Obsession Level: Really Just More Overwhelmed at Your Stupidity

This is a little different than my normal Blog posts...but I really feel like this needs to be said, and I want to say it...so I shall.  

So if you're a Marlee Matlin fan, which I am,  or even if you follow her just a little bit, you'll find out that people have a lot of strong opinions about her, especially within the deaf community.  People love her...people hate her...people just can't make up their minds.  It's really mind-boggling if you pay attention to it.  

Now, I don't hate any celebrities.  Some people I don't really care for all that much for one reason or another, but I don't hate them.  Ain't nobody got time for that.  Except for people who hate Marlee Matlin, apparently they have all the time in the world for that.  

I came across a particularly intense website that someone had made specifically for people to gather together in mutual hate and condemnation of this woman.  They rag her for everything in the book, they defame her personality (and I'd bet money most of them have never even met her), and they say that they hope she reads it and understands how despicable they think she is.  

I don't know if she's read it or not.  If she hasn't, she shouldn't.  If she has, she's been big enough not to say to them what I would say if I were her...I don't think I'd have nearly the self control she typically shows.  In fact, I'd probably have one great big sign for all the delightful little haters.  This one:

So I've decided to respond to a few of the things that I've read about what people do and don't like and what they've had to say.  To keep things interesting I'll be using some pictures that I've borrowed from the internet to illustrate my points and to break up the text...since it'll probably be long. So here goes...

First of all they say she's snobby, rude, etc.  What do they base this opinion on?  Whether or not she spoke to them when they saw her somewhere, how long she spoke to them etc.  

The first person I would respond to would be the person who posted the delightful rant about how they used to be a "huge fan" until "this happened" and then posts a video of Marlee...in a crowd...with her back to them...and they're yelling at her...but she's so rude that she doesn't even turn around, find them in the crowd, and speak to them.  To that person, this is how I felt when I read/watched your rant:

You apparently aren't a very big fan...or either you're just incredibly stupid...I don't even know how to respond to you except that your rant makes just about as much sense as if Star Jones had gotten mad at Marlee for not responding to what she whispered in her ear on Celebrity Apprentice.

The second group felt they didn't get the "attention" that they should have gotten when they met her.  Now, being a huge fan, I can understand that what you might want in terms of attention from your favorite celebrity and what you actually get may be different...and you may be a little let down...after all my three year old godchild cried for an hour after meeting her hero (who held her, hugged her, kissed her, and really gave her quite a bit of attention) because she wasn't going to get to take her home with her and keep her as what I can only imagine to be some kind of pet...but you're not three.  Get over it.

Think about this logically.  She's a celebrity...that means she has a lot of fans.  A lot of fans + limited time = be happy with what you get.  Also think about how weird that would be.  I sincerely doubt that any of you could be approached by an absolute stranger (because remember that even though you might be obsessed with her and feel like you know her, she didn't even know you existed before you walked up to her) who's all excited and grabby and stuff and become their instant best friend and want to marry them and give them a kidney in three seconds flat.  Now imagine multiplying that experience by about 200 people in an hour.  I'd want to hide in a closet.  So the fact that she's as friendly as she is with you for the few minutes she gets to know you means she's not half bad...and she's not easily frightened.

Then there was the goober that posted that she obviously had something against the deaf community.  They said it was like she wanted everyone to be hearing or would prefer to be hearing.  They said it was probably because she hasn't come to terms with the fact that she is deaf.

Now don't get me wrong, goober...I'm sure in other situations you have been an intelligent person and spoke only after thinking, but this wasn't one of those times.  She's been deaf most of her life...I'm pretty sure she's come to terms with it.  She does all kinds of things to advocate for the deaf community.  In fact, it was because of her that I became interested in finding out more about the deaf community, their obstacles, and how to get involved.  Enough said.

Then there's the whole speak/don't speak/sign/don't sign fiasco.  There's just no way she can come out a winner on that.  If she speaks, then people say she's all about audism, if she doesn't speak then there are people who say it's going to hurt her career.  

When she's signing, there are people that don't like choices she's made about signing (Signed English or ASL), and there are others that say that she's against using ASL and doesn't support it like she should because she speaks at times. 

Just try and work through that puzzle...you'll need Valium, a bottle of Scotch, a bottle of Tylenol, and probably a gallon of ice cream.  I bet you still won't be able to make sense of it.  The whole situation reminds me of an old adage I heard once: "It's like being a dog in heat, if you stand still they f*** you and if you run, they bite you in the a**."  You're not getting out of that one without someone thinking their way is better.

Oh, and by the way...she's against ASL?  There's an app for that...

Then let's also explore momentarily the fact that some individuals were ranting about her choice of the Starkey Hearing Foundation as her charity for Celebrity Apprentice.  Apparently to some this was just "more proof" that Marlee Matlin secretly hates the deaf community.

It's a charity.  It helps children.  It does good work.  She feels strongly about it so she chose it.  She did a phenomenal job raising a ton of money for it.  But no, don't worry about that...continue to  try to rip out her throat because it's not what you wanted or would have done.  That's logical, because we all know their are only two types of charities in the world: Your Favorite and Ones That Don't Deserve Any Recognition.

Then there are the people who constantly dog her about EVERY SINGLE THING SHE DOES OR SAYS!  If she doesn't speak out about something that they feel is unfair, insensitive, etc. then she's a terrible person for not speaking out on the matter.  If she does speak out about it then they say she should have kept her mouth shut or that she overreacted or didn't say the right thing.  It's another one of those impossible situations.

Then there's one that's a personal favorite of mine.  The haters that can't find anything better to complain about than the fact that Jack is her interpreter and it annoys them because she's a woman and should have a female interpreter because it just makes more sense.  I seriously can't even respond to that...

So that's my response to the main problems of the haters.  The fact that they feel the need to make websites and post entire channels of youtube videos just to hate on another person is ridiculous.  I wonder if she ever looks at that garbage that some people post and thinks: 

What I think it really boils down to is jealousy and sour grapes.  The only reason you would have to feel that much anger and hate toward someone you don't even know is if you're dealing with your own issues and you're jealous of something they have.  Maybe you should put all that negative energy into doing something productive that will make your life or the life of someone else better, instead of using it to attack someone, especially knowing that you would never say those things if you weren't tucked behind your screen and protected by the anonymity of the internet.     

So to those haters, I hope you find this and it makes sense to you, in which case you might stop being such a hater...or if it doesn't then you're welcome to hate me too because I would hate for you to run out of things to hate and have to look for even more trivial things to pick Marlee apart about.  

And if Marlee should see this, don't pay the haters any attention.  It's their problem, not yours.  When they get started, just smile at them and think:

Disclaimer:  These are my opinions.  Not Marlee Matlin's.  If they annoy you, it's all on me.  Have a nice day.

And this  one just because it's hilarious...I would totally ride a unicorn bicycle.