I would respond to any public statements made by public figures
I think this is completely legitimate and, in the example you gave of someone making hateful comments, even necessary. If someone - anyone - makes public statements that you disagree with, it's absolutely your right to respond to them and offer criticism.
What I think crosses the line is passing judgement on their personal behaviour (assuming this behaviour isn't impacting on others - it would be quite all right to criticism someone for, say, beating people up or harassing others, of course). When someone makes a statement and you [generic you] express disagreement, that's discourse and there's nothing wrong with it. When someone makes a personal choice and you feel the need to voice your disapproval of it, I think that's being overly judgemental. Essentially, it's the difference between "I disagree with what Ashlee says here" and "I disapprove of her choice". The first is legitimate, the second not so much.
I've only paid attention to her because of her connection to Pete Wentz, so it's likely that my comments on her will reflect that
Going off at a bit of a tangent, this is part of what I find very off-putting about bandom. I'm not a part of it and don't have any real interest, but a lot of people on my flist are so I pick stuff up by association, and it bothers me that I almost never hear bandom folks talking about women other than as WAGs. In fact, your poll about hot bandom women a little while back jumped out at me because I'd not seen that discussion before. While I know that "interested in pretty boys" =/= "rabid vagina-hater" I find that a) the all-boys element puts me off because I really like women and b) I see posts on metafandom and the like that talk about bandom being all gender-transgressive and stuff, which only mention men and go all "LOL, gender-transgressive phallocentricity, O RLY?"
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 11:16 am (UTC)I think this is completely legitimate and, in the example you gave of someone making hateful comments, even necessary. If someone - anyone - makes public statements that you disagree with, it's absolutely your right to respond to them and offer criticism.
What I think crosses the line is passing judgement on their personal behaviour (assuming this behaviour isn't impacting on others - it would be quite all right to criticism someone for, say, beating people up or harassing others, of course). When someone makes a statement and you [generic you] express disagreement, that's discourse and there's nothing wrong with it. When someone makes a personal choice and you feel the need to voice your disapproval of it, I think that's being overly judgemental. Essentially, it's the difference between "I disagree with what Ashlee says here" and "I disapprove of her choice". The first is legitimate, the second not so much.
I've only paid attention to her because of her connection to Pete Wentz, so it's likely that my comments on her will reflect that
Going off at a bit of a tangent, this is part of what I find very off-putting about bandom. I'm not a part of it and don't have any real interest, but a lot of people on my flist are so I pick stuff up by association, and it bothers me that I almost never hear bandom folks talking about women other than as WAGs. In fact, your poll about hot bandom women a little while back jumped out at me because I'd not seen that discussion before. While I know that "interested in pretty boys" =/= "rabid vagina-hater" I find that a) the all-boys element puts me off because I really like women and b) I see posts on