So, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about all the controversy surrounding Jane of Sea of Shoes. Honestly, just google Jane her blog and you'll find post after post just bashing her and her blog and her mother's blog Mom of Shoes. Then there was the rant so many people went on a few weeks ago when Jane finally decided to remove comments from her blog. The hate (yes, hate) and rage that people felt towards her was astounding to me. And when I finally got curious enough to visit her blog, fully expecting to be enraged as well... Well, let's just say that didn't happen. At all.
As far as I can tell, Jane is from a very well-to-do family that is heavily involved in both fashion and photography. She's young (I'm guessing 17-18ish) and yet remarkably poised, not to mention totally stunning. She has definitely lived a priveleged life and her clothing and shoe purchases reflect that. She's also cultured and well-traveled, most likely thanks to her parents. She seems to have a great relationship with her mother who owns a vintage clothing shop. But in addition to the extravagant clothing and shoes she sports in her blog, she mixes in quite a bit of vintage and thrift shop finds. I just saw a post of hers where she sported a thrift shop skirt she found for $2.99. To some, that may not be justification for also spending $800 on a pair of designer heels, but to me it shows that she's not purchasing expensive items simply for the label- she's buying (and wearing) them because to her they are beautiful. And the $2.99 skirt is beautiful to her as well. She clearly loves fashion. What is so wrong with that?
So here's my question: Why the hate? It seems like petty jealousy and nothing more. I suppose a blog that reaches the popularity of Jane's is bound to garner some negative comments. That much is to be expected. (Heck, even my humble blog has experienced the occassional negative remark.) It's par for the course. But when I read some of the negative things being written on other blogs about Jane and her blog, I was horrified. It has gone far beyond a simple remark about an outfit not being flattering or stylish to a level of hatred. You can really feel the anger in some of these posts.
I guess my point is that I don't understand why someone would put such an enormous amount of energy into completely bashing another person they don't even know. Some of these blogs are even dedicated solely to ridiculing fashion bloggers in general. That's right- a blog centered around negativity and nothing more. I suppose that's a large part of why I've tried to keep snarky remarks about other bloggers and other people out of my blog. As Leo stated in Inception (GREAT movie, by the way), "Positive trumps negative every time." I'm paraphrasing, but you get the idea. I suppose I'm particularly disturbed by the fact that it's mostly women ridiculing other women. We have fought for years to be treated as equals to men- to earn the same amount of money (we still don't), to be eligible for the same types of positions in any industry (we still aren't), etc. Why then do we feel the need to constantly cut each other down? Shouldn't we be lifting each other up? Supporting each others endeavors and goals? Is it really that much more satisfying for some to be so negative about others that they actually spend time writing blog posts day after day after day about it?
I'd like to ask all of you to do me a favor today in protest of these negative bloggers. Read one of your daily blogs (preferably written by a woman, but not necessary) and then leave that person a comment of encouragement and support. It sounds so cliche, but let's all be louder than the haters today.
