Well, this could all get a bit meta if any of you leave comments that are in any way negative on this post, but—here goes! Last night, Gwyneth Paltrow—Goop Overlord, Conscious Uncoupler—made a surprise appearance at the inaugural Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, alongside the likes of Sergey Brin and Satya Nadella. (The conference is co-run by Vanity Fair contributing editor Kara Swisher.)
Paltrow has had great success with her weekly Goop newsletter (its “open rate”—that is, the percentage of subscribers who actually open her missives—is, according to Paltrow, “more than double the industry average”), and her e-commerce business is currently turning a profit. But while Paltrow sees the great opportunities available thanks to the Internet, and has clearly reaped the benefit of such, she told Re/code, the tech-news site hosting the conference, that she was also keenly aware of the Internet’s dark underbelly: comment threads.
“The Internet is an amazing opportunity, socially. We have this opportunity to mature and learn, which is the essence of being on Earth—to being the closest person we can be to our actual, real, truest self,” she said. “But the Internet also allows us the opportunity to project outward our hatred, our jealousy. It’s culturally acceptable to be an anonymous commenter. It’s culturally acceptable to say, ‘I’m just going to take all of my internal pain and externalize it anonymously.’”
Does this mean Gwyneth actually reads the thousands of posts written about her each week? Gwyn, are you reading this right now!??!? (If so, hi! Uh, that “Gwyneth Responds to Chris Martin Lyrics” post from last week was all in good fun! Also, want to meet up for some bruschetta and white wine? You can pick the place and time. Do you eat bruschetta?! Is bruschetta healthy?! We know you won’t answer these questions in the comments, clearly, but e-mail us, maybe?)
Paltrow went on to say that she has become somewhat immune to the onslaught of comments.
“It’s taken me a long time to get to the point where I can see these things and not take it as a personal affront and a hurt. I see myself as a chalkboard or a whiteboard or a screen, and someone is just putting up their own projection on it,” she said. “It has nothing to do with me. They have an internal object, and they’re putting it on me. I kind of look at it as, ‘Wow this is an interesting social experiment.’ You’re talking about a blind stranger having feelings about you. It can only be projection.”
The experience of reading about herself online over the years is analogous to what it’s like for veterans of war, she reportedly said.
“You come across [online comments] about yourself and about your friends, and it’s a very dehumanizing thing. It’s almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing, and then something is defined out of it,” she said. “My hope is, as we get out of it, we’ll reach the next level of conscience.”
So, the next time you’re about to leave an anonymous, caps-lock comment on a Kim Kardashian photo post, imagine a mini-Gwyneth on your shoulder, drinking a mini-kale smoothie, shaking her head. We’ll all be on that next level of conscience in no time.