Love or loathe? Is this the only choice?

Jennifer Lawrence, the American actress, used to be really popular on social media.

Now suddenly she’s really unpopular.

She’s still the same person she always was, but the pendulum has swung and some people who loved her now loathe her.

(And you perhaps know how she feels.)

We have sleep-walked into a more binary world.

Mentally escorted by the blind guides of social media and the internet, everyone has to have a slant, positive or negative.

Stirred by unchecked opinion on Twitter or Facebook, we either love or loathe our celebrities or politicians.

‘They’re great! They’re awful!’

And perhaps this ‘love or loathe’ practice spills into our work and private lives as well, with a list of goodies and baddies.

‘You’re in! You’re out!’

Though there is a third way…’Love, Loathe – or See.’

Both loving and loathing are deliberately blinkered, selective with the truth.

So instead of loving me or loathing me, I’d prefer you simply to see me…both my gifts and my fracture.

Just see me as I am, rather like you – both decent and damaged.

I’m done with your passion, either for or against me; I’d just like some accuracy.

As Jennifer Lawrence might say…