There were several things that really kind of... played on my mind watching the #FreeBritney documentary, and still do.

One is the complete entitlement to celebrity & the seeming belief that you know them, and somehow know them. 1/

I grew up with the internet in its infancy & I think that made it worse. But that entitlement to celebrity has only spread out as the idea of "celebrity" mutates; now the entitlement to a person's life & "i know them" applies to anyone well known, even through social media. 2/

There's a short story by Shirley Jackson called The Lottery. The TL;DR is that is about a village who, every year, pick a person to be sacrificed to purge themselves of the bad. It's an allegory for mob mentality & abandonment of rational thought & reason. 3/

There was something I remembered of that time when she was running around with Paris & Nicole that they didn't include - they used to try and take pictures up their skirts when they were getting in & out of cars. 4/

Something kind of ironic about the HoC struggling to make upskirting a crime for so long when the paparazzi made a staple feature of their trash fucking magazines for long enough. The message was always clear: "you know the kind of girls they are & they deserve this." 5/

Just like Tessie.

Two days ago I saw Gemma Collins was trending. I love Gemma; she's just so gleefully rubbish & happy to be a meme(y). There's no point to her fame. None! She's also not hurting me & just a dramatic meme(y) so I love her. 6/

Out of curiosity I clicked on her name & it was full of venom. Just pure venom & bile. I don't know how you can hold that much hatred for a woman who knows her dramatic overreeactions have become memes & laughs at herself too but alright enjoy your life. 7/

But you probably deserve this venom, even if I can't articulate a reason why, and I'm not even sure why I'm joining in. It just seems kind of cool, I guess? Everyone else is doing it and I don't want to stand out? 8/

There's a scene where Britney is just sat in her car just staring blankly at the paparazzi and she says something like "why are you swarming my car, why can't you just go" in this really small voice.

But why would they? It sold. 9/

You just need to look at how the media hungered for the idea that Miley Cyrus was going down a dysfunctional path; even the comments sections of any article on her is about what a 'fuckup' she is. The need to find a Tessie always exists for them. 10/

How exactly do you know she's a fuckup? Do you go to her house for a curry at the weekend? You don't know her, like you don't know the millions of people with an @. The entitlement that leads to this mob mentality is bizarre. 11/

The thing that really struck me was watching clips where her breaking was beginning to show more & more and it still never seemed to occur to anyone to simply back off and give her space.

The most obvious contemporary example is Jesy Nelson. 12/

Jesy quit Little Mix saying that her mental health couldn't cope with it (fair) and still periodically pops up on her social media posting pictures/videos. The only reason I know this is because the tabloids hang her out for the baying crowds to still slaughter in comments. 13/

I suppose the only way for Jesy to really be negatively affected by her experiences is to purge herself from any kind of internet existence (as a what, 20 something yo woman? okay), and they would still hunt her in their desperate need for a Tessie. 14/

And don't think this is some kind of romanticised flashback of that period; I equally remember Pink and her snotty little "Stupid Girls" video. Remember she was always one of the cool girls, y'know.

Cuz in 2009 it was still cool to mock them. 15/

Them being the Paris & Nicole types; the women seen as empty headed & vacuous, the epitome of everything wrong not just with society, but being a woman.

Even today you'll see the meme "in a world full of Kardashians..."

There is no male equivalent.

There never will be. 16/

I will be in my 50s, Twitter will be replaced by something else, and there will be some other 17yo young woman that they "count down until she's legal" on. Because nothing ever changes.

And however she revolts against it, she will be punished for it. 17/

Some woman makes a comment in that documentary about "most women get to a point where they just don't care" & it is impossible to win a game that is rigged. There's no point getting angry, getting upset. You find the loophole instead. 18/

Before I started watching this, I made a comment to my partner that I remembered them still filming her being sectioned (or whatever the US equivalent is). You would think humanity would prevail at that point & someone would have put the camera down. But no. 19/

Even the description of her clear mental distress being a "money shot" - mental illness isn't just something to be mocked & pointed at, it is profitable. Today it generates clicks & you can write blogs no one cares about because you should probably just leave the party alone. 20/

I remember when she shaved her head & they just thought it was funny. Like they'd got what they wanted. They had their Tessie. She wasn't a person, anyway. Probably. Once you're pixels on a screen you don't have emotions anymore. 21/

Do I think the media or much less anyone really learned from anything from Britney in that era? No, they all just carried on as they were and social media is just a colosseum. All that ever changes are the names. But they still want their Tessie. 22/

I don't even know why I have this rock with a hashtag in my hand. Everyone else is doing it? I just want to be popular so I guess I'd better throw it. 23/

TL;DR absolutely, 100% free Britney - but don't ever let them delude you that they aren't still hunting for their next sacrifice for no other reason than their own mirth & sales.

And that makes YOU just as fucking complicit in the same game. 24/24