It’s been mere hours since news of rapper Kanye West’s hospitalisation broke, yet the public’s response has already proven to be predictably ugly.
“Predictably”, of course, because it was only months ago that we saw similar vitriol spat at the 39-year-old’s wife, Kim Kardashian West, after she was robbed at gunpoint in a Paris hotel room on October 3.
It’s a sad reality that the noise of Kanye’s mental health battle – which has played out in the public eye with a series of confused, rambling diatribes – is already drowned out by a torrent of directionless hate.
What’s worse is that many seem to find unreserved glee in the Kardashian Wests’ misfortune. Again.
When Mamamia shared the news of the father-of-two being led to a Los Angeles hospital in handcuffs for a psychiatric evaluation to our Facebook page, the overwhelming majority of comments were troubling.
The very first to be published read, "there's no cure for being a jerk". Moments after: "Finally, someone hospitalised his crazy ass."
A quick glance produced equally disturbing variations of the same hateful sentiment:
"Did he finally trip over his ego?"
"[This] just brightened my day considerably."
"Hope they have a cure for narcissism."
"Hope karma takes his ass out."
Of course, those are just a handful from our own Facebook. A broader search provides endless cruel memes and gifs - which we will not share here.
As it stands, we know very little about the situation that led to Kanye being medically treated for "his own health and safety". What we do know is that he's the father of a little girl, North, and her tiny brother, Saint. We know that he is a husband. And we know that he is very unwell.
We know that someone who is in a good place does not cancel the rest of their highly lucrative tour - amassing 21 shows - on the spot.
What you think of Kanye West is irrelevant. You needn't like his personality to show compassion or, at the very least, keep your inner hatred from spilling like thick tar across news feeds.
If you're happy that Kanye West is unwell, that says a lot about you - and nobody else.
Top Comments
I don't have any substantiated thoughts about Kanye. I don't know the guy personally. What I do know for sure is that I am a 'private' psychic who does not make any money from my gift. Believe it or not. I have one thing to say about Kanye & Kim, (and again I do not know these people). Something extremely bad is going to happen to Kanye over the next 2-3 years. This may or may not 'include' Kim. Be it a scandal or a tragedy I don't know but it's going to rock the whole world. This will be the end of a cycle and the end of an era really. It's also going to be tragic. This comes to me very strongly and I ask anybody else who has the same gift to see if they get the same messages.
Honestly, my first thoughts when I heard the news was "there you go, we all knew Kayne was crazy"... "this is going to be the beginning of the end to his marriage / career etc" .... all very judgemental and negative thoughts which i am ashamed to say as 4 years ago, my mental health got the better of me also. As soon I remembered my own experience I felt began to feel empathy and compassion. I also underwent treatment although was able to keep it very private (unlike Kayne). Unfortunately some people turned their backs on me and made assumptions and judgements that were very wrong. All I needed was support and empathy so I could get back on track with my life but instead felt the added sting of shame and rejection.
We are all different people with different views on the world, and regardless of whether we agree with Kayne's views, he deserves everyone's respect and empathy so he can heal and recover with dignity. I wish him well.