I am not the world’s greatest authority on the topless model, author and ‘reality TV star’ Katie Price. I know that she has enjoyed an astonishingly successful well-spun career on the back of – and I how shall I put this? – a threadbare level of talent and a large pair of surgically enhanced breasts. I hope this doesn’t sound too sexist – I’d criticise equally a man who’d made a fortune on the basis of having a large phallus (John Wayne Bobbitt, anyone) – but I struggle to see the attraction of her career.
However, I do worry about the poisonous trolling her severely disabled son Harvey attracts on social media. I have not actually seen the material because I do not follow Ms Price on twitter or anywhere else for that matter. Her life is of no concern to me, but I do think a line has been crossed if her son is getting it in the neck for any reason at all.
That’s part of the problem with certain social networks, though, isn’t it? People can set up any number of accounts on twitter without anyone in cyberspace or beyond knowing who they are. If you are so inclined – and I sincerely hope you are not so inclined – you can simply set up a new account and say horrible things to a disabled person. This will be very upsetting to the victims of social network abuse and, of course, their families who can feel helpless.
Ms Price is highly media savvy, so it is good that she is using her influence to make on-line abuse a criminal offence, or is it? To be honest, I have not seen the arguments on both sides – if there are arguments on both sides – particularly relating to free speech and the method of determination where the legal line may have been crossed. In principle, it seems an eminently sensible idea to make vicious trolling an offence. I will need to be unconvinced of the need, rather than the other way around.
Whilst in no way condoning the haters and the trolls, I do wonder if Ms Price could perhaps do more to keep her son out of the highlight. A brief dalliance with Mr Google reveals all manner of manufactured ‘news’ items in the red top newspapers and the gossip magazines which, if not planted by Ms Price, then they were certainly published with her consent. Why did she tell the Express that Harvey had a girlfriend or take him on the ghastly TV show Loose Women in the first place? These are hardly the actions of someone attempting to keep a loved one out of the spotlight. The exact opposite, in fact.
I can foresee no circumstances under which I would expose my own family to media exposure for any reason at all, the most obvious being for the purpose of making money.
The best way for Ms Price to protect her son is to live a more ‘normal’ life, outside of the media bubble and its attendant publicity maelstrom. Reality TV is anything but reality. Relative obscurity may bring less by way of riches in financial terms but it’s surely better than putting yourself and so you family in the spotlight, with all the horrendous side affects it brings.
