The End of Brangelina – Is it Wrong to Laugh at the Other Women’s Misery?
So just last week we saw the demise of yet another Hollywood couple, Brangelina. Divorce doesn't come as much of a shock these days. It seems that in actual fact we aren't all that interested in what went down between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The media are far more concerned with the little subplot and particularly what ex-wife Jennifer Aniston has to say on the matter, especially since Angelina Jolie was the Other Women that broke up that marriage.
Various media channels have been having lots of fun speculating about how Jennifer Aniston must be delighted right now. From the humorous headlines such as “Jennifer Aniston hospitalised after dangerously prolonged laughing fit” and those British tabloids telling us that their ever-so-reliable sources inform them that she has said that the Brangelina split is ‘karma' to the millions of memes circulating social media showing us how the nice girl gets the last laugh – it seems Jenny is once again going to be forced into making an appearance in the latest episode of this saga, whether she likes it or not.
Aside from the fact that there is no real evidence of Jennifer Aniston skipping through fields of daisies, singing happy songs or generally gloating at the downfall of Brangelina, this whole drama does make one question whether in such love triangle-ish situations we should be LOL'ing at another person's misery? Is it really that wrong especially in cases where that person/people did us wrong?
I'm a little bit torn on the issue, to be honest. On one hand, I'm sure if I ever found myself in Brangelina-esque situation, I'd probably have a secret giggle (or maybe share the laughter with a few of my closest friends). Maybe a less mature version of myself would enjoy having a bit of a public gloat with a not-so-cryptic status update on social media. Say what you want about the silly memes on social media but I think they are simply a reflection of how people truly feel – we are all human after all.
On the other hand, having been victim to this philandering jerk's behavior in past there is no one better placed to empathize with Angelina's suffering than the ex-wife. It's easy for us outsiders to bombard the Other Woman with those classic ‘I told you so' lines such as ‘If he cheated with you, he'd also cheat ON you' but really what good does any of this do? Again, this story raises the question of why women overwhelmingly feel the need to hate on other women (not just the home-wrecking ones) and see them as competition? The world seems to have forgotten that Angelina too has not one, but two ex-hubbies but we don't see hilarious memes about them. Is this because there is some secret bro code which bans guys from enjoying another's misery?
To conclude, of course, we can't tarnish the whole female species as a heartless breed of person that receives endless amounts of joy at seeing our fellow chicks fail in life. That said, let's be honest we probably are the bitchier sex. As for the Other Woman, there is no justifying that sort of skank behavior- whatever the excuses (they were young and naive, and the man tricked them into believing they were special – blah blah blah!) – they lack morals and decency. However, that's not to say that they can't learn from these experiences and change themselves.
You can't blame anyone who finds themselves in Jennifer Aniston's position from having a good LOL at the homewreckers expense. Regardless, it's probably best to do it privately. In public (and most importantly on social media), we should maintain a mature facade and follow Jenny's example of taking the high road and showing the world we are above this guttersnipe activity that our ex's choose to be involved in.
Shantalie aka #EnglishRosiee likes to think of herself as Cape Town's answer to Carrie Bradshaw. When she isn't writing about politics, fashion, dating and the quest for happily ever after she is busy running marathons and/or drinking champagne 😛
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