Monica Lewinsky gave a really, really important TED talk on bullying

Meanderer

Meanderer

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On March 19, 2015, Monica Lewinsky spoke at TED2015, breaking her silence and speaking up for survivors of online bullying and harassment. In this short clip, she says: "Anyone who is suffering from shame and public humiliation needs to know one thing: you can survive it. It may not be painless, quick or easy. But you can insist on a different ending to your story.".Watch for the full talk on TED.com and YouTube, March 20.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...really-really-important-ted-talk-on-bullying/
 

Definitely going to look up that video. Thanks for posting this 'trailer' Meanderer.

How many of us will be able to relate to some of what she probably will be talking about....young people making really bad decisions and then finally growing up and asking themselves, 'what was I thinking?'
 
I feel sorry for Monica.. and I think she deserves a chance to do something good with her life. Cyber bullying is a good cause.. However, am I the only one to find it suspicious that NOW is when she is out there promoting her cause? Could it have anything to do with Hillary running for President? Is she being bankrolled by any group in particular? hmmmmmmmmmmm one has to ponder..but if she is, it's not a real brain strain to figure out which group.
 

So Phil, have you listened to her talk at all or will you just dismiss anything she might have said because a man in authority over her, took advantage of a young woman who was 'barely grown' and the world chose to focus on her moral failings and call her every abusive name in the book? I looked at the link that Meanderer left in the OP and one of her comments says it all:Public humiliation as a blood sport has to stop. We need to return to a long-held value of compassion and empathy.

And at another point in her talk, her words were: “At the age of 22, I fell in love with my boss,” she says bluntly as she begins her talk on the TED2015 stage, her hands clasped in front of her. “At the age of 24, I learned the devastating consequences. “Lewinsky asks for a show of hands: “Who didn’t make a mistake at 22?”

This link will take you to the TED website where you can read the transcript of her talk. Very interesting in its own right and even more so in the light of an Internet that has made bullying a global possibility! http://blog.ted.com/imagine-walking-a-mile-in-someone-elses-headline-monica-lewinsky-speaks-at-ted2015/


 
Have absolutely no sympathy for ML. Believe she knew perfectly well what she was doing. It was a game to her. And yes, we all make mistakes at 22, mine, was marrying my first husband. Was I bullied into it. Certainly not. Neither was she.
 
For QuickSilver and anyone else who's asking the same question, she must have heard you:

'...Lewinsky says that there is one question she has gotten constantly about her re-emergence over the past year: why now? She stresses that her decision to step back out into the spotlight on her own terms is not politically motivated.“The top-note answer was and is: Because it’s time. Time to stop tiptoeing around my past … Time to take back my narrative,” she says. “Anyone who is suffering from shame and public humiliation needs to know one thing: you can survive it. I know it’s hard. It may not be painless, quick or easy, but you can insist on a different ending to your story......”
 
It's good that she's helping those who are being bullied, but like many others I have no sympathy for her. She was old enough to know better, and now she's been milking it for what it's worth regardless of who she's affecting. She's a media whore IMO, and has gained much financially for presenting herself as the poor victim.
 
It must be nice to look down from Ivory towers and not only condemn the past actions of someone who has admitted shame and guilt but seek denying them redemption. Further blaming the microphone (TED) for daring to give voice to the subject is like boycotting a newspaper for daring to print a story you don't like. The real shame is upon those who can cast all their stones without breaking any glass. Sorry but that's the way I see it. On the lighter side I couldn't help but notice she's wearing a blue dress.
 
Temperance said:
Have absolutely no sympathy for ML. Believe she knew perfectly well what she was doing. It was a game to her. And yes, we all make mistakes at 22, mine, was marrying my first husband. Was I bullied into it. Certainly not. Neither was she.
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Weren't you lucky that your 'mistake' wasn't broadcast to the world so that they could judge you forever after on that one mistake?

Personally, I find it very hard to hold grudges against people and I'm always willing to give second chances especially if the original bad-act occurred when that person was very young and I get the impression that they are trying to make up for it, move past it, be better than they were then. I only have to think back on some of the decisions that I made in my young-adult years to be reminded about how easy it is to make that poor decision sometimes. Besides, where is the merit in despising someone forever? Who benefits from it?
 
SeaBreeze said:
It's good that she's helping those who are being bullied, but like many others I have no sympathy for her. She was old enough to know better, and now she's been milking it for what it's worth regardless of who she's affecting. She's a media whore IMO, and has gained much financially for presenting herself as the poor victim.
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Not everyone matures at the same rate. 22 for some is 22, for others it's the equivalent of 36 and for some unfortunates it's the equivalent of 17.

As for her finances, after doing some more reading about her other than the first link and the one I found, I don't get the impression that she's rolling in cash. Loads of legal expenses apparently as a result of the whole situation. Besides, does any of this at all, warrant continued abuse and bullying? Good ole Bill is celebrated and invited to speak for hundreds of thousands of dollar and he was the other half of that story. Maybe to keep it fair here, everyone could indulge in some bullying and harshness for him? Who wants to go first?
 
There are many thinngs I did before and after the age of 22 that, when I think of them, make me cringe and ask myself "what was I thinking"?

The Clintons (specifically Bill) have moved on and been successful. Monica will always (in the minds of some) be the tramp who embarrassed the President.

She hasn’t really had a long-term relationship (that I know of) and still – at age 41 - hasn’t been able to get a decent job, despite her efforts and considerable education.
 
Debby said:
So Phil, have you listened to her talk at all or will you just dismiss anything she might have said because a man in authority over her, took advantage of a young woman who was 'barely grown' and the world chose to focus on her moral failings and call her every abusive name in the book? I looked at the link that Meanderer left in the OP and one of her comments says it all:Public humiliation as a blood sport has to stop. We need to return to a long-held value of compassion and empathy.
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If you don't want to run the risk of public humiliation, it's all very simple: don't enter the public domain. If you don't want your name forever tied to a sleazy event, don't engage in that event. Even a 22-year-old should have enough sense to know that.
And at another point in her talk, her words were: “At the age of 22, I fell in love with my boss,” she says bluntly as she begins her talk on the TED2015 stage, her hands clasped in front of her. “At the age of 24, I learned the devastating consequences. “Lewinsky asks for a show of hands: “Who didn’t make a mistake at 22?”
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Please - she's still pandering, still trying to sway the crowds.

This link will take you to the TED website where you can read the transcript of her talk. Very interesting in its own right and even more so in the light of an Internet that has made bullying a global possibility!
Click to expand...
http://blog.ted.com/imagine-walking...s-headline-monica-lewinsky-speaks-at-ted2015/
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In general I object to the use of the term "bullying" in such instances. I went through real, physical bullying in my youth, and I became determined to stop it - by myself, with my own powers. I didn't go crying to the world about it, I didn't blame anyone but myself for allowing it to happen. Guess what? I learned to make it stop and I was never bullied again in my life, without having to get on a stage and dab at my eyes with a tissue.

Sorry - no empathy here. She made her bed, literally and figuratively.


 
Nothing emboldens people like 'anonymity' (or at least perceived anonymity). It brings out the warrior in some people - and the monster in others ...

'Be sure your sins will find you out' ... This is the world we live in. If you do something you shouldn't of, the chances are it will be taking on a life of its own in cyberspace for an indeterminate time to come....
 
SifuPhil said:


If you don't want to run the risk of public humiliation, it's all very simple: don't enter the public domain. If you don't want your name forever tied to a sleazy event, don't engage in that event. Even a 22-year-old should have enough sense to know that.



Please - she's still pandering, still trying to sway the crowds.



In general I object to the use of the term "bullying" in such instances. I went through real, physical bullying in my youth, and I became determined to stop it - by myself, with my own powers. I didn't go crying to the world about it, I didn't blame anyone but myself for allowing it to happen. Guess what? I learned to make it stop and I was never bullied again in my life, without having to get on a stage and dab at my eyes with a tissue.

Sorry - no empathy here. She made her bed, literally and figuratively.


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Well ole fella, your bullying happened before instant communication with millions! Big difference. How does one go about 'duking it out' with millions of faceless, anonymous haters?

But if you don't want to forgive someone who never did anything to you personally and who has experienced years of humiliation and embarrassment over a situation that she has regretted for a couple decades now, well what can I say right? We each make our decisions based on what kind of person we aspire to be you know.
 
Debby said:
Weren't you lucky that your 'mistake' wasn't broadcast to the world so that they could judge you forever after on that one mistake?

Personally, I find it very hard to hold grudges against people and I'm always willing to give second chances especially if the original bad-act occurred when that person was very young and I get the impression that they are trying to make up for it, move past it, be better than they were then. I only have to think back on some of the decisions that I made in my young-adult years to be reminded about how easy it is to make that poor decision sometimes. Besides, where is the merit in despising someone forever? Who benefits from it?
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I partially agree about most make mistakes of some kind but...

For starters about how other's mistakes aren't broadcast to the world but that is the point. Because most others don't have a job where reporters & photographers were/are following one's boss and staff around everywhere they go. Lewinsky never heard the click of camera while working for the White House? Or never was in earshot or attending meetings on how they were going to deal with the press on various issues? To top it off to get a job at the White House let alone many other government jobs not only requires some smarts if not an academic resume but it requires some serious butt sucking. Here for the most inconsequential government job it's common knowledge that you go volunteer for a local or national politician of the party in power for one election cycle then you can ask for their name as a reference on a job application or someone will put in "a" good word official or unofficial for one to be hired.

I don't think she is naive as many think. Did she get put through the ringers unnecessarily absolutely. But just to get the job she had tells you something.
 
Wow, how incredibly intolerant, Phil. I also have been through physical violence, and there were no powers that would have been worth a tinker's darn. You bet I complained, good thing, otherwise I would be dead. You are not a woman and inhabit a different world. Read the stats. In your country and mine. It is becoming worse. Was it my fault, hardly. Monica was a kid. Blame the mature man here. Who knew better. When will women be treated seriously, and equally? Apparently not today. Men are studs, and women are sluts? Shame, shame.
 
Shalimar said:
Wow, how incredibly intolerant, Phil. I also have been through physical violence, and there were no powers that would have been worth a tinker's darn. You bet I complained, good thing, otherwise I would be dead. You are not a woman and inhabit a different world. Read the stats. In your country and mine. It is becoming worse. Was it my fault, hardly. Monica was a kid. Blame the mature man here. Who knew better. When will women be treated seriously, and equally? Apparently not today. Men are studs, and women are sluts? Shame, shame.
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I agree. A young girl in the area of influence of a powerful man can be putty. Give her a break she's paid for her "sins".
 
Phil, you believe the only bullying is physical? Words often cut deeper than any other wound. Half the trauma victims I have served were flattened by emotional damage brought about by verbal abuse in all it's wondrous forms. I am truly grateful that these individuals came to me for help, tissues in hand. Many of these people were/are men.
 
Debby said:
Not everyone matures at the same rate. 22 for some is 22, for others it's the equivalent of 36 and for some unfortunates it's the equivalent of 17.

As for her finances, after doing some more reading about her other than the first link and the one I found, I don't get the impression that she's rolling in cash. Loads of legal expenses apparently as a result of the whole situation. Besides, does any of this at all, warrant continued abuse and bullying? Good ole Bill is celebrated and invited to speak for hundreds of thousands of dollar and he was the other half of that story. Maybe to keep it fair here, everyone could indulge in some bullying and harshness for him? Who wants to go first?
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Honestly, I'm really tired of hearing about her and her story. She must not be too devastated over the whole thing because every time she takes the opportunity to be in the spotlight, she drags the story with her.

I don't fault her so much for the act(s) itself, but for her insisting on profiting from it and not letting it die, then crying about it. I think both of them are wrong for doing what they did, but at least he's keeping it in the past and letting it die. She's made a career out of the story, made 12 million bucks on her book deal and more money appearing on shows and interviews.

There are many people out there that will make excuses for her 'innocence', and she banks on that. I personally disagree, but don't force anyone to adopt my opinions. Even when I was 13, and not sexually active, I knew that having sex with a married man was wrong, and had enough intelligence to know that if I had an affair with someone who is so much in the public eye as the President of the United States, that I would be in the headline news.

In no way do I believe that she was so innocent or immature...they were both willing participants, and one shouldn't get any more sympathy (or criticism) than the other, IMO. I'd have more respect for her if she just faded into the woodwork where she came from after this. How can you feel sorry for someone who drags up their own dirt for dollar signs, and has no regard for others involved...I can't. She needs to get a life, and stop trying to destroy others.
 
SeaBreeze said:
Honestly, I'm really tired of hearing about her and her story. She must not be too devastated over the whole thing because every time she takes the opportunity to be in the spotlight, she drags the story with her.

I don't fault her so much for the act(s) itself, but for her insisting on profiting from it and not letting it die, then crying about it. I think both of them are wrong for doing what they did, but at least he's keeping it in the past and letting it die. She's made a career out of the story, made 12 million bucks on her book deal and more money appearing on shows and interviews.

There are many people out there that will make excuses for her 'innocence', and she banks on that. I personally disagree, but don't force anyone to adopt my opinions. Even when I was 13, and not sexually active, I knew that having sex with a married man was wrong, and had enough intelligence to know that if I had an affair with someone who is so much in the public eye as the President of the United States, that I would be in the headline news.

In no way do I believe that she was so innocent or immature...they were both willing participants, and one shouldn't get any more sympathy (or criticism) than the other, IMO. I'd have more respect for her if she just faded into the woodwork where she came from after this. How can you feel sorry for someone who drags up their own dirt for dollar signs, and has no regard for others involved...I can't. She needs to get a life, and stop trying to destroy others.
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I am surprised you feel as you do. You certainly have that right and it doesn't effect the way I enjoy you but it does surprise. I guess if we were talking about Kim Kardashian I would be on your side of this issue.
 
If it were me, I think I'd admit I made a mistake, deal with it, take the criticism that comes from it and be done with it. I wouldn't be the one to keep bringing it to the public and rehashing it for financial gain and camera time. I'm just being realistic, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise...I think we've all had enough of dragging it on already. No, not just a bit? :)
 

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