For several years my daughter and I used to enjoy a show on Nickelodeon called
The Amanda Show. It was a sketch comedy program for pre-teens starring Amanda Bynes. On the set she was naturally silly, funny, confident, and talented. She seemed like she was having the time of her life, just living a dream. It was just a pure, clean, wholesome program that gave us lots of smiles and laughs.
Recently, I read a story that Amanda has had more than half a dozen run-ins with the law since March of this year. She seems to be struggling with alcohol and depression, and her life is going down a destructive path that is playing out in the checkout line rags. In one online news forum, I came across the following reader-posted comments:
- That one's not going to age gracefully.
- She's not hot at all, rather ugly in my opinion.
- She was stupid when she was a kid, she's still stupid!
- Typical Hollywood type, no morals.
- Another self-absorbed snot-nosed little starlet.
- Another train wreck in Hollywood.
- Why is she considered a "star"? She's dumb, she's ugly, and she's a loser.
These comments just kind of ate at me. They were polluting a very positive association of time with my daughter and, more importantly, they were attacking a person who is struggling with her existence and circumstances in the worst way. Nobody will ever look good or honorable or rational or in control or well adjusted when being judged by their worst moments. Not Amanda Bynes and certainly not any of us.
