Caroline Flack

[AmandaJR]

Watched the documentary "Her Life and Death" last night and one of the saddest things I've seen in a long while. The honesty and grace her Mum, sister and friends showed, whilst clearly broken, was just heart-breaking. Not a finger-pointing exercise although highlighting the power of the media to pretty much wreck lives and how throwaway comments can dig deep.

I've always tried to be a person that doesn't make a flippant comment and hope it is taken in the right way - as my right way might not be the same as the recipients.

In a world where you can be anything, be kind.

 

[backwoodsman]

Sounds like something to watch. What channel was it?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Watched the documentary "Her Life and Death" last night and one of the saddest things I've seen in a long while. The honesty and grace her Mum, sister and friends showed, whilst clearly broken, was just heart-breaking. Not a finger-pointing exercise although highlighting the power of the media to pretty much wreck lives and how throwaway comments can dig deep.

I've always tried to be a person that doesn't make a flippant comment and hope it is taken in the right way - as my right way might not be the same as the recipients.

In a world where you can be anything, be kind.

Spot on and you only have to look at the recent threads and media coverage of Harry and Megan to show that people quickly forget how easily the media can damage people’s lives

Caroline Flack was ripped apart by the media and it won’t be long before some really fights back at them

 

[AmandaJR]

Sounds like something to watch. What channel was it?

Channel 4. Well worth watching as also makes you think about the person behind the public persona, which can be very different and very fragile.

 

[AmandaJR]

Spot on and you only have to look at the recent threads and media coverage of Harry and Megan to show that people quickly forget how easily the media can damage people’s lives

Caroline Flack was ripped apart by the media and it won’t be long before some really fights back at them

The media was one thing but the absoulte vitriol by the public on social media was shocking.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

The media was one thing but the absoulte vitriol by the public on social media was shocking.

Absolutely- Twitter at times is horrific , the level of abuse aimed at anyone at times is sickening at times

 

[theoneandonly]

I hope this is a little more thoughtful than the last Caroline Flack thread I read on here...

 

[SaintHacker]

Absolutely- Twitter at times is horrific , the level of abuse aimed at anyone at times is sickening at times

This is something i dont understand. Being bullied in person is a terrible thing and there's often no escape from it. Cyber bullying there is a simple out, just dont go on social media. Or if you're in the public eye and need it for whatever reason employ a media manager to look after the accounts for you.
This is in no way excusing the cyber trolls who are in my mind worse than playground bullies as they are doing it from the safety of their keyboard

 

[AmandaJR]

This is something i dont understand. Being bullied in person is a terrible thing and there's often no escape from it. Cyber bullying there is a simple out, just dont go on social media. Or if you're in the public eye and need it for whatever reason employ a media manager to look after the accounts for you.
This is in no way excusing the cyber trolls who are in my mind worse than playground bullies as they are doing it from the safety of their keyboard

Her family and friends did say she was obsessed with checking her phone and they just couldn't stop her.

 

[Tashyboy]

This is something i dont understand. Being bullied in person is a terrible thing and there's often no escape from it. Cyber bullying there is a simple out, just dont go on social media. Or if you're in the public eye and need it for whatever reason employ a media manager to look after the accounts for you.
This is in no way excusing the cyber trolls who are in my mind worse than playground bullies as they are doing it from the safety of their keyboard

I personally think that social media has a lot to answer for. When I read Mark Zuckerberg for a New Years resolution is going to learn Mandarin. Maybe his time could be better spent permanently banning people who spew abuse and insults on his site. Also block the accounts of fake news etc.
Re celebrities having accounts, I am all for that even though I don’t follow anyone. Some folk are interested in what they get up to. Unfortunately it also allows the Village idiots to have there say as well. Ban them forever.
Ironic we talk about some of the things that happen on social media when I read some of the things said on this forum.

 

[Beedee]

I have a twitter account to follow a few sportspeople, comedians, bands, etc. I knew it could be unpleasant on there sometimes but didn't realise how bad it was.

A few years ago I was looking to learn some "big data" computer programming techniques. I needed a source of lots of random'ish data. Twitter provide an interface to view messages and metadata without using their app so I wrote a little program to extract the next 100,000 tweets in the English language. They were just the next 100,000 tweets to be sent, not following anyone in particular. Tbh I was horrified by the content. A shockingly high percentage was hate, bile, insults and threats. I don't know if Twitter have improved their monitoring since then but I somehow doubt it.

I can't imagine being on the receiving end of it.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Her family and friends did say she was obsessed with checking her phone and they just couldn't stop her.

How do you resolve that conundrum? The success of her career was based around the benefits and reach of social media, it brought her money, success, fame. All of the things she wanted. At the same time it was destroying her mentally and she did not seem able to walk away from it. Very sad.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

...and unfortunately it is almost inevitable that there will be nasty comments on social media about the documentary and the contributors - especially her family...comments that will beggar belief. Desperate.

 

[Orikoru]

This is something i dont understand. Being bullied in person is a terrible thing and there's often no escape from it. Cyber bullying there is a simple out, just dont go on social media. Or if you're in the public eye and need it for whatever reason employ a media manager to look after the accounts for you.
This is in no way excusing the cyber trolls who are in my mind worse than playground bullies as they are doing it from the safety of their keyboard

I think this is a fair point and I have thought the same before. But also the owners of social media platforms need to do a hell of a lot more. It's far too easy to just anonymously send abuse to basically anybody. That just shouldn't be the case.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

It’s hideous the abuse some celebrities take, it’s also a very difficult line when they go craving attention and the freaks come out.

As for this forum, have a look at this forum the past few days were faceless/nameless people are insulting each using words like “dense” “moronic” “stupid” etc at each other.

These words have such a different impact face to face or when the tone is heard, but comment or pick it up and you risk being abused for being over-sensitive etc.

As Amanda said in her op

“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”

 

[Liverbirdie]

I personally think that social media has a lot to answer for. When I read Mark Zuckerberg for a New Years resolution is going to learn Mandarin. Maybe his time could be better spent permanently banning people who spew abuse and insults on his site. Also block the accounts of fake news etc.
Re celebrities having accounts, I am all for that even though I don’t follow anyone. Some folk are interested in what they get up to. Unfortunately it also allows the Village idiots to have ther say as well. Ban them forever.
Ironic we talk about some of the things that happen on social media when I read some of the things said on this forum.

Yeah, like you calling Scousers victims, perhaps?

Let him without sin and all that.

 

[Kellfire]

Walking away from social media is no easier for some people than an alcoholic not picking up that bottle or a gambler not filling in that betting slip. It’s easy to say “Just don’t read it” or “Log out” if you’re not addicted and obsessed with it.

We’re in unprecedented times with the amount of access we have to celebrities and while of course this brings them fame and fortune it also sadly brings them personal insults that very few people could withstand.

Mental illness is a terrible thing and we must learn to fight against attitudes like “just ignore it” and the infamous “man up”.

 

[Ethan]

I have a limited amount of sympathy for those who try to exploit the media for their brand but then complain when the media coverage, inevitably, turns against them. I would have the same limited sympathy for someone who tries to feed raw meat to a pack of wolves and then complains when the wolves bite after the feeding stops. A lot of those in careers producing the sort of social media baiting drivel that Caroline Flack did appear to have personality disorders (narcissistic or borderline, probably) and may be vulnerable to critical coverage, but at the same time they feed the media with all kinds of story, gossip and pics to create that brand.

The proximate reason for Flack's suicide was the police investigation (with pics) of the scene after she (literally) lamped her boyfriend. The media didn't make her do that.

The media gets a lot of criticism for Diana's death, but the cause of that death was her getting into a car driven at speed by a drunk guy and not putting on a seatbelt.

Tiger Woods and Nike also tried to create a media brand, the modern American pioneer story, diversity version, and the family life with the cute blonde wife and mixed-race kids, but that blew up too.

Harry and Meghan are trying to do the same, build a media image to sell whatever to is they are going to do from now on. That'll end badly too.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

I have a limited amount of sympathy for those who try to exploit the media for their brand but then complain when the media coverage, inevitably, turns against them. I would have the same limited sympathy for someone who tries to feed raw meat to a pack of wolves and then complains when the wolves bite after the feeding stops. A lot of those in careers producing the sort of social media baiting drivel that Caroline Flack did appear to have personality disorders (narcissistic or borderline, probably) and may be vulnerable to critical coverage, but at the same time they feed the media with all kinds of story, gossip and pics to create that brand.

The proximate reason for Flack's suicide was the police investigation (with pics) of the scene after she (literally) lamped her boyfriend. The media didn't make her do that.

The media gets a lot of criticism for Diana's death, but the cause of that death was her getting into a car driven at speed by a drunk guy and not putting on a seatbelt.

Tiger Woods and Nike also tried to create a media brand, the modern American pioneer story, diversity version, and the family life with the cute blonde wife and mixed-race kids, but that blew up too.

Harry and Meghan are trying to do the same, build a media image to sell whatever to is they are going to do from now on. That'll end badly too.

The problem comes when the media go after their families who just happened to be related, phone hacking etc.

I take your point over these “celebrities” but I do think these days the media prefers the dirt to the good, which in turn reflects on us in society as scandals tend to sell more news than good news does.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

This is something i dont understand. Being bullied in person is a terrible thing and there's often no escape from it. Cyber bullying there is a simple out, just dont go on social media. Or if you're in the public eye and need it for whatever reason employ a media manager to look after the accounts for you.
This is in no way excusing the cyber trolls who are in my mind worse than playground bullies as they are doing it from the safety of their keyboard

The issue is though that the bullies win then if people are forced to leave social media

Social media need to do more to stop the bullying and abuse that people get

Right now it’s footballers being racially abused

How do you resolve that conundrum? The success of her career was based around the benefits and reach of social media, it brought her money, success, fame. All of the things she wanted. At the same time it was destroying her mentally and she did not seem able to walk away from it. Very sad.

Caroline Flack was very much an established television and radio personality before social media exploded - the success of her career was not based around social media