

I refused to kiss a guy who’d given me a ride on his motorbike when I was 19 and in retaliation he punched me hard enough in the stomach that I doubled over. I was so shocked that one human would do that to another that I actually did not know how to react.
It was a bit of the same stunned immobility that took over when I was attacked on Monday by a newspaper columnist over my “weird” decision to take my six-month-old daughter to a film premiere dressed in nothing but her nappy.
The column was a piece-by-piece takedown accusing me of being a dodgy mother making a “massive fashion faux-pas” with my infant. An accompanying photo showed me beaming proudly at the camera while holding my surprised-looking baby. (Photographers seem to love a baby. I love a baby! I love nothing more that the rolls of fat on a baby’s legs, than the smooth, downy head, the oversized eyes, the flawless skin.)
The ensuing furore was nothing new. I’ve been at the centre of a furore before and I have an idea of how it goes:
Someone says something that is designed to provoke “outrage”. “Outrage” creates a delightful cocktail of anger and righteousness that gives the beholder permission to spew poison, insults and hate at whomever has provoked the outrage.
The picture of Yumi and Mercy that sparked “outrage”.
So in this case, the columnist created a two-pronged outrage. One – directed at me, for being so crappy a person as to take my child to a fancy event chronically under-dressed. How dare I? The other – directed at himself for being a judgemental douchebag who really has no right to comment. It’s a win-win for the columnist, of whom no one has ever previously heard and whose worth is measured in clicks.
If someone at the centre of the furore weighs in – apologises, for instance, or adds a fresh viewpoint, or stands up for herself, the story has steam that will get it through to another day.
If you ever feel outrage at something you see online, I suggest you look twice. You’re usually being played. And watch how far that outrage goes: sometimes the behavior of the outraged is far worse than that which provoked it.
Top Comments
you're both YUMMY. I love that you are normal and I reckon Nicole Kidman would've loved seeing that gorgeous little baby in your arms, all chubby and perfect.
Mercy, A beautiful name a beautiful concept.