Why the vilification of Amber Heard is both personal and political

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(Photo by Chris Kleponis/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images)

It’s been difficult not writing about the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp trial, because I am fuming. But I didn’t just want to pour a bunch of anger on a page and send it adrift; there’s enough anger in the air right now.

The people bashing Amber Heard are doing so with cheap one-liners and unsupportable “facts” (she smirked once at the trial, there’s no way she’s traumatized!), and have left absolutely no room for ambiguity: Not only is Heard guilty, she is a horrible person.

Masses of people have created memes mocking the actor. The crying-so-hard-they’re-laughing emojis are plastered all over them. But the mass “agreement” about the loathing of Heard does not excuse the individual. It merely serves to legitimize their hatred. The unabashed hoards remind me of men who commit gang rape (which I wrote about with Gloria Steinem here), during which a frenzied mob loses all sense of morality, and people risk their lives against their own self-interest as human beings.

The angry crowds posting about Heard have sought cover among others like them.

I’m inclined to think this gender-based frenzy is caused by people who are hurting deeply and refuse — or are unable — to look at the painful events in their own life. The violence of the words expressed by so many against Heard underscore how fearful or jealous or desperate for attention they are. Maybe that sounds generous, but I don’t see it as that. Instead, I am grasping at means to understand the motivations of people who go out of their way to express venom against someone who is clearly struggling.