June 24, 2012 7:46 AM

When bad luck turns to good luck and changes the equation

[I]n taking the money she’s inviting an obnoxious level of scrutiny for the rest of what will surely be a very dull life. When Ted Williams, the homeless man with the golden voice, was arrested for fighting with his daughter after he rose to viral stardom, it became a national news story. Viral stars are even more owned by the public than traditional ones, since they owe their fame completely to a mass of faceless internet users. Turning the money down would give Klein a stronger case for privacy. And privacy, as anyone who has lost it can tell you, is priceless.

A few days ago, Karen Klein was an anonymous (at least outside her home town) bus monitor in Greece, New York. Then she was bullied mercilessly by a group of out-of-control teenagers. Once upon a time, this would be a matter handled by local school district authorities. Shortly thereafter, things would return to something resembling normal. This being the age of da Interwebs, Klein’s 10-minute beatdown was captured on video (who would tape something like this without intervening?) and then uploaded to YouTube. Before you know it, Karen Klein was an internet meme for all the wrong reasons.

Predictably, Klein has been all over the media as everyone wants a piece of her while she’s hot…and that’s not all. A campaign was started on a crowd-sourcing site for those wanting to donate to Klein, not that she’d asked for it. As of last night, the campaign had collected $631,427 in three days. Most people would look at that and think that Klein probably deserves it after what she’s been through, and that’s certainly one way of looking at it. There’s another side to Klein’s windfall that probably deserves a good, long look.

Taking the money would make Karen Klein rich, but it would also transform her from blameless victim to effectively the most highly-paid reality television star in history….

Money, for all the good things that it can and does do, changes things. If Klein accepts the money, she’s no longer the sweet little bus monitor lady; she becomes just another reality star who will feed America’s short attention span for however long her story still has legs. I’m not saying that Klein should reject the money (how many of us would turn down more than $600,000?), but it will certainly rob her of her innocence.

It’s human nature to feel sorry for someone who’s been oppressed, and it’s laudable that so many want to feel as if they’re doing something to help. In donating money to Klein, though, are they ultimately doing it in order to feel better about themselves? I can’t presume to answer that question, of course, but when it becomes about the money, the equation changes. Yes, what Klein endured was horrific and uncalled for. Any decent human being would feel for her…but does (or should) giving money ipso facto end a person’s involvement? Do donations merely treat the symptom and not the problem? Is it acceptable to donate money and be done with it…or would a truly decent human being recognize the underlying problem AND the need to do something to address said problem?

I can’t presume to tell Ms. Klein what she should do, because I’m not certain I could turn down more than $630,000. Still, it’s difficult to deny that accepting that money will change the character of her story and her relationship to it. I don’t necessarily know that such a change would be a bad thing, but at the very least the money will strip her of her innocence…and who knows? Perhaps she deserves it. Since I don’t know her live story, perhaps the $630,000+ will ease her latter years, and I certainly can’t sit on my pedestal and say that’s a bad thing.

I can’t help but wonder, though; what good will the money bring? Will it change anything? Or will it merely reduce Karen Klein to the status of an unwitting actress in our long-running national reality show? We’ll never know, of course, because by the time Klein makes her decision about the money, the media will have long since moved on to the next heart-wrenching/warming story.

In the end, we’re all Snooki….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on June 24, 2012 7:46 AM.

The Holy Bible, Paul Ryan edition was the previous entry in this blog.

If Jerry Sandusky had been tried by the Catholic Church is the next entry in this blog.

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