Gabby Douglas has received less than positive media during the heat of the 2016 Rio Olympics. She's a decorated Olympian, winning gold in multiple competitions. Naturally, it would seem she would be adored as a public figure.
I have seen too many recent articles about the Rio Olympics circulating on the web, talking down about the young Olympian. To some of the world, it seemed strange that Gabby was causing such outcry over social media, being a sort of "old news" character next to Rio Olympic sweetheart, Simone Biles. Simone Biles is making waves at the 2016 Games, bringing with her a crowd full of love and encouragement. Aside from the team's success, Douglas was being discouraged for her hair, for her actions during the National Anthem, and her supposed lack of support for her teammates.
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I looked at these pictures and I read these stories, and I saw the world pick this successful Olympian apart like she was Donald Trump on a giant highway billboard. I didn't understand the public disregard for her triumph. I'm not here to judge, and I do not know Gabby personally to be a judge of her character. I felt the pictures and articles all had a similar ring, "What do you think of Gabby Douglas?"
It was all too similar to watching the Miss America pageant and nitpicking the women the audience adored and those they were less than sorrowed with by their loses. With all this aside, there is a particular issue I have with Gabby's sudden negativity under the media microscope: Why isn't anyone pointing the camera at Ryan Lochte?
What makes it OK to focus all our social media engagement on someone's pictures and our opinions of what we make them out to be, but we turn a blind eye to Ryan Lochte's raging scandal regarding the Rio police? I'm not one for politically sour articles, but I find something very disturbing that we, as a socially obsessed culture, can so narrowly focus on something seemingly "old news," and ignore an elephant- sized developing story. I personally found the Ryan Lochte scandal amusing, and I have been following it to see how it plays out. But for Gabby Douglas, I felt a sort of redemption was in order.
