Not a fan of mummy bloggers but glad to see someone saying that about Constance Hall. I'm sick to death of seeing her thanks to friends "liking" her page.
That post regarding the little boy and "blackface"? There is a very REAL story behind all of that and it's not coming from CH. Not that her "Queens" would bother noticing but the mother who originally did that post on there came back in her own name, faced down those thousands of so called Queens and posted probably one of the few posts there that I respect.
She was extremely upset, had been abused and sent death threats by CH's followers, her son couldn't go to school and she'd been shamed in the worldwide media.
She also apologised with genuine remorse and kindness, was (unlike CH) eloquent and had class and also requested that people also please stop abusing CH. She's a better woman than me, can't say I saw any apologies or even acknowledgement on CH's end.
The mum did have doubts doing it but went with it as her son desperately wanted to dress as his idol, AFL star known as Nic Nat. It was never done in the spirit of blackface, you simply don't that shit here, our natural land owners of course are Aboriginal.
It was done as her son wanted to look like his idol. She screwed up, she admitted that. No, I wouldn't do it but I've had a unique insight into what really went on there and that mum is genuinely someone who simply fucked up yet is a really lovely, giving and kind person. I did speak with her and yes, know what was done to her, it's bloody horrific.
CH could have removed the post and addressed the mum personally. If that had been done then I can tell you right now there's no way in hell she'd do it again.
I do find blackface offensive but also know it was NOT done with that intention at all and there was no malice behind it (except on Constance's part), it was genuine screw up.
But no, CH had to make sure her Queens knew how offended she was and how kind she was for taking the post down. You'll find those who disagree with her doing that publicly and shaming the mother are mostly much more multicultural than CH.
And it was mostly those patting themselves on the back for how non-racist they were and how great CH was for showing that mother up that sent some of the worst abuse and death threats.
CH followed it all up with a photo of her in tears saying how she'd been viciously abused and attacked, and also said the mother's family all abused her.
Only one said something nasty to her. The mum's partner saw his partner and son totally broken after being shamed and abused in the media and did indeed admit he called CH a "c*nt". He did apologise, he was (understandably) upset at the time.
No one else said a thing.
CH said in her first post that she had no idea how the media got hold of it or the screenshot (800,000+ followers would be a hint) and that she hadn't spoken to them.
Not quite true.
In fact not only did she speak to them, it was her that contacted the tabloids originally with the screenshot and her response. It was also her that then alerted them to the fact she would be posting again about it BEFORE she put up the post and photo of her apparently crying.
It's why you will find that on each article it just so happens to link back to her facebook page.
And when the mother posted others were told to shut up by CH's fans as it didn't matter that there was any kind of ongoing abuse and threats to the mum and she was struggling and did come forward and yet ask that others NOT abuse CH, it wasn't seen as mattering anymore as in the words of all her "Queens", Constance had moved on so why on earth mention it?
That was when the mum posted so yes, the abuse was ongoing and CH had simply "moved past it" as it was the next day so no longer her issue and it was much more important to promote her book again.
The whole thing was a total farce to have the intended effect of more traffic to her page while she's full on promoting her book.
The reason I do know so much and did speak with the mum is because of two friends who are journalists, one won a slew of awards last year and both aren't tabloid ones, one writes for a well known serious paper and the other is a new reporter.
One is an old school friend and the other I got to know via an investigative report he was doing. With some of the work I do I'm able to give them stuff they can use first and they in turn help out with info needed on others things. This wasn't up their alley but something just seemed off about the way it was done so I asked if they had heard of anything.
I honestly had no idea who Constance Hall was other than things popping up from friends, it just popped up on a tabloid and I thought "wtf?" as she looked really familiar. Seems her claim to fame was being in Big Brother and being kicked out at the start for lying about certain details.
So I figured I'd ask these two and see what the deal was and both said the same thing, one actually showed me the stuff sent through to a tabloid (friend of his works there) by Constance herself. She took the screenshot and everything, I was just disgusted.
So yep, I did go and have a look and then found the mum had just posted, so outed herself and it was pretty clear who the honest one was.
Honestly, after seeing and knowing all of that I just thought "You nasty bitch" about Constance Hall, the mum had fucked up and we all do at some point (just maybe not quite like that) and she learned from it but would have done so still if it was addressed with her privately.
She faced up to it and wore it, she also told people to not abuse Constance and frankly I think she really showed who the better person was even if I hadn't had known the rest of it.
But to shame another mum in the national (and worldwide really) media to promote your stupid book? Not cool.
I had looked through her page and thought "Oh heck yes" about stuff that I could relate to about warts and all parenting but a few things cropped up there (unrelated to those posts) where stuff was carefully staged, so it made wonder what was real.
I'm the first to admit I tend to be either totally chaotic or so laidback my kids have to kick me to make sure I'm not dead, but so much there just seemed off after that.
Bloody hell, sorry about that huge length, I'd tell people to down a bottle of wine or 2 to get through that but since it's evening here there I probably shouldn't be encouraging you all to get pissed at breakfast time. Maybe wait until morning tea...
Sorry, I'm being bloody ranty but I think I mentioned before as hell yes, I was seriously pissed off once I saw the reality and wish I'd never bloody heard of her now.