For some reason in America, we put celebrities on a much higher pedestal than ourselves. When they state their opinion, whether it’s informed or not, we listen. I’m not going to say we should ban celebs from talking about current issues, I say we the people are to blame, for making their opinions more important than our own.
Celebrities making their political opinions known and advocating for candidates has not been a recent trend. It goes back to the election of JFK, with Frank Sinatra showing his support for him, long before Meryl Streep’s advocacy for Hillary Clinton last year.
The problem comes when people blindly follow what a celebrity says. Or worse, they oppose something just because a celebrity they hate supports it.
I think this “celebrity worship” is part of the reason Donald Trump sits in the oval office today.
A factor in this debate comes from the idea that Hollywood, the recording industry, and the primary news media itself is leaned to the left.
That is why nobody on stage at the Grammy’s voiced their support of Trump. There were those like Jon Voight, Ted Nugent and Hulk Hogan who made their pro-Trump stance clear during the election, but there wasn’t a lot of coverage of that, was there?
Another potential problem with celebrity involvement in politics is the fact that they can be bought or forced to support a particular stance. Also, most statements made by celebrities are vague, and aren’t specific enough to tell the whole story.
With all of this evidence we should just start a campaign to boycott politics from award shows and press conferences right? Wrong.
While I may not agree with what celebrities say at these events, or the causes they promote, it is their first amendment right to speak their mind. We have that same right as well, and we’re free to voice our displeasure of them.
However, there is something more productive we can do. When Paris Jackson mentions the need to stop the DAPL, or Ashton Kutcher brings up his foundation at a Senate hearing, we have magical rectangles in our pocket that can be used to do some research on the subject.
One of the positives of celebrities’ activism is that they can bring issues to the forefront of conversation, and can inspire people to learn more about them. Yet, that requires action on our part to do the research.
We shouldn’t be getting up in arms about what celebrities have to say, because our opinions are just as important as theirs, and our opinions should be formed by researching the topic and making informed decisions, not by whatever Queen Bey says.
Henry Wolski
Reporter