After six highly explosive six-week-long defamation lawsuit between Hollywood actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, the verdict has finally come to a consensus: Johnny Depp, at last, has emerged victorious.
While avid followers of the trial have actively formed their own personal judgments online throughout the six-week course fiasco, with them coming up with hashtags like #JusticeForJohnnyDepp and birthing the meme Amber Turd, it does beg a question: where do we draw line between defending victims of domestic abuse and cyberbullying?
Survivors' stories are often unique from one another, and unfortunately for Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard, theirs have been globally showcased for their supporters as well as the naysayers to speculate for themselves. Let's take away the spotlight from the Hollywood ex-couple for a second and focus on the behavior of the common spectators AKA us.
Media literacy around this trial was abhorrent. Most people, even if they say they did, DID NOT watch the trial. They watched TikToks and YouTube videos, most of which were biased for a clear economic purpose. Thats not the same thing.
— Kat Tenbarge (@kattenbarge) June 1, 2022
Amidst the sea of TikTok edits, Reddit discussions, Twitter memes, and the likes surrounding the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial, we tend to forget that actual victims of domestic abuse around the world are watching as well. While it is incredibly exciting to jump on the bandwagon of who's on the right side of justice, behaviors of mocking testimonies and dismissing shreds of evidence, no matter which side it lands on, could very well be triggering factors for those who have actually lived through and survived domestic violence.
Yes, Amber Heard has had her fair share of "karma", for lack of a better word, but the online abuse directed towards her reflects the ugly behaviors that are commonly received by actual victims of abuse whose stories are often ridiculed for simply coming forward. Domestic abuse victims or members of the #MeToo movement have had a long history of being ostracised for simply telling their stories.
When people cherrypick from Ambers testimony, hyper fixate on her emotions and body language, lie about her, and make fun of her, they feed into this culture that hurts ALL victims. Even if Amber isnt a victim, this behavior hurts victims.
— Kat Tenbarge (@kattenbarge) June 1, 2022
The key point from it is this: take a moment to reflect before you hit that send button. It is always noble to strive to be a better participant on the internet.
You can support an individual without demonizing another, especially when said person claims to represent all domestic abuse victims. Lastly, congratulations to Johnny Depp for winning the trial!
