Now why are you all (journalists) behaving like toddlers? We had a toddler visit us and I forgot what it was like. I accidently sat on Mickey (t
Now why are you all (journalists) behaving like toddlers?
We had a toddler visit us and I forgot what it was like.
I accidently sat on Mickey (the stuffed animal) and she acted like I killed him dead.
I turned the channel because I wasn’t used to her being there so I picked up my remote and turned to my channel and she went off.
We were in the car. No Wifi in some spots. No Youtube videos. Another tantrum.
Sing her song when she doesn’t want you to sing it. Tantrum.
But those are babies. They just got here. You give them love, snacks, a nap, time alone, or a juice box and they reset.
We should be embarrassed as a country that words of kindness are a “breaking viral news” moment. Thankfully, women like Lynn Jones are a standard in my culture. Wind beneath our weary wings.
As it so happens this conversation grabbed me. My bachelors degree is in Organizational Management and Development-it is a degree that helps businesses to see people are every businesses greatest asset. For all the complaints about AI, what Lynn Jones did is what no machine can do without the aid of a human being.
She read the room. She read the person. She was human. She was humane.
We’ve all seen these “journalists” being intentionally cruel. Who was that that asked the player who just lost his parent or grandparent where he was spending Thanksgiving knowing full well he just lost them? The player immediately zoned out.
Not only did Coach Liam Coen need that, the country needed that. The calls against “unprofessional” behavior are telling on “professionalism”. You’re telling us that it was never meant to be humane. That it is simply a gatekeeper against human beings and their natural human behavior. Exposed.
And to the women journalists….but for women like Lynn Jones daring to step across lines that never made sense in first place, none of you would be where you are nor wearing what you get to wear.
If you can only perform your job exactly as you were “trained” and “taught”, you are easily replaceable.
-Tonya GJ Prince
In many spaces, “professionalism” is spoken of as virtue.
Calm.
Controlled.
Polished.
Contained.
But Survivors learn something early:
Sometimes professionalism is not about care.
It is about distance.
It can become a shield people use to avoid:
- sitting with pain
- acknowledging harm
- witnessing truth
- or feeling what has already cost someone dearly to survive
And this lands hardest on the same people again and again:
- Black women, women across the Black diaspora, women from many Asian cultures, and other women whose cultures taught them to carry pain quietly, where emotional restraint is often mistaken for strength and silence is mistaken for maturity
- neurodivergent people
- Survivors who still have a living nervous system
- Survivors who dare to feel out loud
When we speak plainly.
When our voices carry memory.
When our bodies respond honestly.
When our emotions do not arrive in tidy paragraphs.
We are told:
“Tone it down.”
“Be more professional.”
“Be objective.”
“Be easier to digest.”
But what they often mean is:
Make your humanity smaller so others can stay comfortable.
Even in Survivor spaces.
Especially there.
And that can cut deeper than silence.
Because healing was never meant to require emotional erasure.
Safety was never meant to demand numbness.
Truth was never meant to be filtered through someone else’s tolerance.
So here is your reminder:
Your feelings are not a flaw.
Your nervous system is not an inconvenience.
Your honesty is not unprofessional.
You do not have to sand down your soul to be taken seriously.
You do not have to become quiet to be worthy of care.
You do not have to perform calm to deserve safety.
Some people use “professionalism” to hide from their own unfinished healing.
You are not required to join them there.
You are allowed to be whole.
You are allowed to be seen.
You are allowed to feel — even in rooms that forgot how.
And you are still dignified.
Still wise.
Still credible.
Still sacred.
**And some of these critics have zero empathy of women being punched in the face by men declaring themselves to women, no regard for girls losing to boys or men. So empathy and courage is not their strong muscle. This opens a much needed conversation about how cruel journalists have been to players. Serena, Venus, and others. Empathy and compassion has been lacking for a very long time.
**Speaking of Venus and Serena, they have been telling us the name of the game in sports journalism is to be cruel to athletes since they were children (through their father). Lynn Jones broke that toy and now you see tantrums that outrank toddlers by far.