02-12-2009, 10:36 PM
Paul F. wrote:
It was a 16 year old girl being silly.
It wasn't right. She should be chastised for it. She has been. Now it's time to move on.
If she was 18, it would STILL be time to move on.
19? 21? Spend some more time on it... that's old enough to know better, and not "be silly".
25? 30+? Legitimate to hang on to the story for quite some time... let her serve as an example to the 16-20 year olds of behavior that is NOT OK.
But she's 16... acting like a silly girl with her friend. She's been called out on it. Time to move on.
No, she is not just a 16 year old, she is a 16 year old money making machine for her family and Disney. She has fame and public perception to deal with. This is not just some kid off the street. For better or worse, she accepts all that comes with this fame and consequences to her actions when she accepts these millions.
Let's say she has done something in that photo that made fun of a stereotyped feature of African Americans, we would be hearing a lot more outage and calls for boycotts.
Does it offend me what she did? No, but I think she is stupid for her to let someone take her picture doing it. Does it offend many other people, quite possibly and they have a right to express their opinion. I don't think it came from a malicious place but it sure stoked the memories in my mind of getting beat up as a kid for these eyes that are on my face.