I must have missed the part where someone twisted her arm and forced her onto the show. It was her decision. Having chosen to jump head-first into the public forum then she has to be ready to accept the comments, good and bad, that are directed towards her.
Yeah ok.
I consider people like you as gnats. Buzzing around annoying people and not really contributing anything.
The Palins seem to be normal, decent, honest people, just like the best neighbors I've ever had. Sarah clearly expected criticism when she accepted the VP nomination but had no idea how vicious and unfair it would be from the very start. Despite that obvious warning, I suspect that Bristol made the very same mistake, assuming that people with different views from her mother would behave decently despite those differences. There is a big difference between expecting the same intrusive treatment as everyone else in the public arena and being prepared for what the Palins get every time they are discussed.
True, when someone enters a more public life, they are bound to attract all sorts of feedback, positive and negative, gentle and crude. There are laws about defamation, and there are different rules for public figures. That's the law.
That being said, just because someone decides to participate on a TV show doesn't mean he/she should just take crap from anyone. She has a right to defend herself, of course, but he/she should do so wisely in appropriate ways and forums, as the responses are subject to public scrutiny and comment, also.