Alternative thoughts on the same old story: Heather Mills-McCartney  speaks out...

It was interesting to see Heather Mills-McCartney commenting on the old ‘personal privacy’ verses ‘press freedom’ debate this morning. But it seems a great shame that these comments were immediately labeled as 'an outburst' or a 'rant'. It made me wonder what the difference really is between 'an outburst' and simply feeling passionate about something. I guess these days when everything is controlled by image and spin, genuine passion is something to be frowned upon.

Heather commented that her life was made a misery by alleged press intrusion and lies about aspects of her personal life - certainly something to feel passionate about ! Although, are we no longer allowed to feel real frustration and anger? Have we come to expect all media figures to behave like politicians with their subdued emotions and stock standard answers to every question?

The problem for Heather seemed to be that those who interviewed her appeared transfixed by the way she was expressing her opinions, rather than what she was actually trying to say. Although, in reality, perhaps there was actually no way for her to get her point across because had her approach been more measured or polished it would no doubt have been said she was cold and unemotional. After all, wasn’t this the way that the parents of Madeline Mcann were portrayed because they were a little more media savvy than Heather. Is it perhaps time that we allowed people to express their real views, to get angry, emotional, and passionate rather than the usual bland, robotic performances we are constantly subjected to…