Any given week, outlets such as the Huffington Post will have a story about someone triumphing against online shaming. A person will receive lots of negative comments about looks or weight and because of them or someone on their behalf standing up to those comments, thousands if not millions of people support the heroic effort of people fighting against the shaming. Celebrities normally fight back against people who have a criticism about them. Taylor Shift even has a hit song where she sings Haters gonna Hate, which has become an anti-shaming mantra.

I have realized there are some people for whom it is OK to online shame without any fear of reprisal. I was on Huffington Post and there was an article about Kylie Jenner. There were close to 50 comments about the story and none of the comments were positive. Words like fake, slut, no talent and other negative terms were used to describe her. On the one hand, people will claim she is a celebrity and publicity, both positive and negative, is the price of fame. Yet when people make those hateful comments I think they forget she is a 17 year old girl. She may be famous, and I know people will agrue about how she arrived at that fame, but despite the fame does someone famous deserve to be called hateful names? What is the difference between Kylie Jenner as a 17 year old getting huge amounts of negative and hateful comments and a 17 year old girl from Nebraska, Montana or New York getting those same kind of comments?

Honestly the whole Kardashian family falls under the shaming attack. From mother Kris to the rest of the family, people feel it’s OK to label them with the foulest of comments and feel free to do so because they know the general public isn’t going to protest it. The only person in the family that gets a huge amount of online support against shaming is Caitlyn Jenner, and that can be attributed to recent events in Caitlyn’s life. I know there are people who will read this and wonder why anyone would feel sorry for the Kardashians. They would claim they are a talentless group of people who have made millions, which could cushion the blows from negative comments. I would say is there some monetary or support system level where it is OK to shame someone without rebuke? People may dislike the Kardashians, but while they complain about the publicity the family gets, they forget a large amount of the public is fascinated with the family. The family doesn’t get the publicity in a vacuum.

If there is anger about the fame and money the family gets, you may want to look at your neighbors and friends that watch the Kardashians shows, pick up their products and follows them on social media. The photo that was posted of Kylie Kardashian, which prompted the article in the Huffington Post, showed that over 1 million people liked the photo with 87000 comments. That’s a lot of people and would seem to indicate a lot of support for her, but the same could be said, proportionally to people who get online shamed. They might have lots of friends and family who support them, who love them, and have a small group of people making negative comments. So what makes them special enough for strangers to offer anger against the haters yet someone like Kylie Jenner allows people to feed the hate?

Honestly, I’m not writing this in defense of Kylie Jenner or her family, but what I find disturbing is how the same people who would be up in arms if their friend, co-worker or family member was referred to as a slut, tramp or prostitute yet when a Kardashian is the target of such speech there is silence. As human beings, don’t they deserve the same vigorous denouncement of hate speech thrown at them as others receive?