Whenever I post something about Madonna on FaceBook or Twitter, there are invariably a few people who feel the need to make snarky, and often outright rude, comments about her. While everybody is entitled to their opinion on Madonna, it’s no secret that I happen to love her, so whenever I see that one of my supposed “friends” or “followers” makes a disparaging comment about her, I can’t help but feel it’s a disrespectful dig at myself. I can take a joke as well as most (and at this point far better) and I can also appreciate constructive criticism and a challenging dialogue on Madonna. But making ageist, sexist, cruel comments on her appearance and body is simply rude and hateful. Part of me thinks they do it just to get a rise out of me, or some sort of response from someone who otherwise wouldn’t even bother with them. Part of me thinks they really hate Madonna and will say anything bad about her anywhere. And part of me thinks it’s their own unhappiness that makes them, unconsciously or not, strike out at others.
I guess what bothers me the most is that they put it on my page. If they want to write all that negativity about Madonna on their page, they are more than welcome to do so, but to write it on mine baffles me. I do not like Justin Bieber, and have said as much and more on my own page and Twitter feed, but I would never write that on a Justin Bieber fan page, or to someone that I know loves him. That’s just going out of your way to be a dick, and it’s a mentality I will never understand.
Let’s be honest, Madonna doesn’t give a flying fuck about what the naysayers write. She doesn’t care about what I think or say. But if you’re my friend, I would hope you care enough about me to not bad-mouth someone I’ve loved for thirty years.
