( CNN ) ESPN 's Britt McHenry this week found herself in the news , rather than reporting on it , after a video surfaced showing her berating and belittling an employee of a tow company in Arlington , Virginia . Among the highlights , as caught on tape and eventually uploaded to LiveLeak : `` I 'm on television and you 're in a f**king trailer , honey , '' and `` I would n't work at a scumbag place like this . Makes my skin crawl even being here . '' And , finally , `` Lose some weight , baby girl . '' It 's pretty cringe-worthy stuff that seems difficult , if not impossible , to defend . McHenry quickly issued an apology , blaming the incident on a moment of intense frustration but admitting her mistake and accepting responsibility . It was , however , too late : the # firebrittmchenry hashtag was already trending on Twitter , where she was called everything from classist , class-less , and `` ugly on the inside '' to a `` sad , self-hating coward . '' ESPN , meanwhile , announced that McHenry would be suspended for a week . Certainly McHenry should have known better than to have used such words , even if that 's what she was thinking , least of all because in our YouTube age , such missteps always come to light . But while McHenry 's reaction could very well have been a result of an overblown sense of entitlement , evidence of a mean girl who never left high school , what 's also troubling is how quickly and gleefully the rest of us issued blame on McHenry without fully knowing -- or , it seems , caring about -- the other side of the story . The video that was released -- by the tow company -- was heavily edited and included only McHenry 's responses , not the comments of the employee who may have provoked her and contributed to an argument that clearly escalates as the video goes on . McHenry knew she was being taped ; at one point , she looks directly at the camera . The employee even threatens to make the video public . Did McHenry keep going because she has that much of a self-destructive streak ? Or because she truly could not help herself ? Or was she confident that any video evidence would show that there were two people playing this particular game ? How Britt McHenry could have responded . These days , there 's nothing we love more than an example of a celebrity fall from grace , whether it 's Lindsay Lohan or Brian Williams or Britt McHenry , who was judged not on the facts but on what we take particular joy in believing : that the over-privileged and semi-famous do not necessarily deserve a fair trial . The high price of public shaming online . Sure , McHenry probably feels entitled , but that 's our doing , too . We 're a society obsessed with putting celebrities on a pedestal -- celebrating them , compensating them . And yet when , in a moment of frustration and stress , McHenry lets the entitlement bestowed on her win out over taking a deep breath and walking away , we 're right there to demand to know what gives her the nerve . You know what gives her the nerve ? We do . ( Be honest : When is the last time you had a warm and fuzzy experience at the tow lot ? ) But we 're really no better than she is . The problem with social media , and our dependence on it , is that it allows people to present and receive whatever angle they want , biased or not , fair or not . It 's the `` power of the press '' without the objectivity or accountability demanded of the actual press . And it has enabled a dangerous vigilantism that makes those who use that power no different from the ones they are supposedly rallying against . Think about it . Who was worse : McHenry or the people who made that video public , and who did so without owning up to their part in the conversation ? Who is worse : Britt McHenry for childishly mocking a confrontational tow employee 's bad teeth , or the Twitter masses who call for justice and `` the return of class '' -- who express views like , `` Part of me feels bad for Britt McHenry . Poor thing actually believes she was hired for 'brains ' and 'education ' ? Should n't they question whether , in fact , McHenry could have actually been standing up for herself ? Sorry to break it to you , but these days , we 're all bullies . At least Britt McHenry owns up to it .
Video investigative investigative reporter Britt McHenry berating and belittling a tow company employee . Drexler : She was wrong to react that way , but are n't we too quick to react without seeing full potential ?