What Good is All That Power?
By Mikayla Spitse
If you asked someone to state a fact about one of the Kardashians, even if they weren't a fan, more likely than not they would have a few things to say. If you asked someone to state a fact about animal rights, unless they were an advocate for these rights, you’d probably receive a few glazed stares. We live in a culture where it is more common to see headlines about the latest celebrity scandal than an actual news story. We can’t escape it, whether we are in line at the grocery store or even reading a newspaper. Celebrities are everywhere. They are held in high regard, and clearly have a lot of power over people- but what good is it?
We have many people of great influence, whether they deserve it or not. Using their power to promote themselves further rather than making real strides to benefitting and bettering our world. Why? We have seen that it’s not impossible for people in this position to use it for good.
Take Harry Potter star Emma Watson for example. She has spoken up about women’s rights time and time again. She has taken a clear stance that it is time for women to have equality, and many have people listened. Even this past week, comedian and former host of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart and wife, Tracey McShane, opened an animal sanctuary to raise awareness about the mistreatment of farm animals. These are two very famous people standing up for important causes; the same causes we stand up for.
Why is it so important for celebrities to stand up for a cause? Well, the only real difference between the average person and a celebrity speaking out about an issue is this: People will more likely listen to the latter. Ridiculous but, it’s the truth. If people see their favourite celebrities getting passionate about a cause, they will most likely join that same cause. If people are willing to spend hundreds of dollars copying the look of their favourite actor or actress, why wouldn’t they take that money to help fund a cause that same celebrity endorses? If more celebrities advocated for important rights and issues, more people in society would follow suit. Everyone cares about something, so why all the magazines filled with petty celebrity conflict? If people cared half as much about human rights as they did about which celebrity was cheating on who, we would quickly start to see a real change in the world.
We often think that we live in an ever changing, quickly advancing world but that is only true in a materialistic sense. More people are busy creating the new iPhone, or new app, or new clothing line. If people spent more time and energy starting up charities, or endorsing the ones that already exist, we’d all be better for it.
So celebrities, it’s time to use all that fame of yours to make this world a better place. As Uncle Ben from Spiderman would say, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Photo Credit: Pikawil
MIKAYLA SPITSE
Mikayla is a Professional Writing student who makes bad jokes and expects people to laugh. She aims to work with Vice one day.