Flaming Nibs Blog

Poor old Samantha Brick

In case you haven’t heard, she’s emitted a superb example of the trolling article, a classic of the genre. (I’m not encouraging them by linking, you are free to Google it)

Here’s a summary: ‘I’m beautiful, therefore men are excessively nice to me. As a result, I’m bullied by jealous women who find me threatening.”

Taking disingenuousness to a new level, she’s called open season on the conservative, twinset-and-pearled anti-feminism in which the Daily Mail specialises – and the citizens of the internet have duly waded in.

How many ways can one person offend? Men are bristling at their implied shallowness, and women find the stereotyping of female relations frustrating. And both men and women are heartily naysaying the whole ‘beauty’ thing, at varying degrees of nastiness, all over the web.

But Samantha Brick’s real offence isn’t her poorly disguised bragging, her ingratitude, or the threat her beauty may or may not pose to the anyone’s self-esteem, self-image or marriage.

The word I’m seeing the most in the conversations about her, alongside the insults and the Brick puns, is ‘deluded’. The thing that’s so distasteful to her haters is the fact that her assessment of herself and others is just… wrong. Which is why her second article, published online today, saying that the wave of hate ‘proves her point’ (again, just Google it), set off another digital howl of derision.

A lot of the women, and men, I know would rather eat their own faces than come within a whisper of Samantha Brick; both in behaviour and notoriety. That fear holds them back from talking about their business, their skills, or their achievements. And that’s a shame, because these things are not a problem.

Genuine humility is not about pretending you’re rubbish or holding your light under a bushel. It’s about having a clear picture of your good bits and bad bits, held in an upfront spirit of cheeriness. Truly humble people are determined to give as good value as they possibly can, whatever that entails, in everything they do.

The truth is, no-one really gives a stuff how beautiful we are – or accomplished, or talented, for that matter. What they do give a stuff about is wildly misjudged assumptions about their intentions that are made about them, on their behalf, without their consent. And, in my experience, most people respond well to being respected, thanked, helped and heard, by both the ugly ones and the beautiful ones.

So if you’re receiving special treatment and random acts of kindness, or you’re being passed over for promotion or bridesmaid duties – look at yourself closely, very closely. The reasons might not be as obvious as mere appearances suggest.

Posted in Humble Marketing