Sorry, But Selena Gomez Is Wrong On This One
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I don’t usually do public callouts of celebrities. It’s not my thing. But Selena Gomez said that posting won’t do anything, so I have to call bullshit.
Listen. It’s one thing to stay silent, to back into a garden hedge Homer-Simpson style and disappear. But to tell your 430 MILLION followers that you’ve been silent because a post won’t “change the world” is cynical and disingenuous.
No one is being asked to change the world. We are being asked to speak out against genocide.
I remember not long ago when Selena thought a post would make a difference when she wanted people to buy her latest single. She thinks posts make a difference when every new beauty product is released by her brand. She thinks posts make a difference when it comes to mental health awareness.
Also? It was just a few months ago that her BFF, Taylor Swift, posted an Instagram story inviting her 272 million followers to register to vote, resulting in more than 35,000 sign-ups.
Some might argue that Selena is a celebrity, an actor and singer and beauty brand – it’s not her responsibility to speak out about human rights. But Selena has a history of doing just that. In 2009, Selena became an ambassador for UNICEF, advocating for the world’s most vulnerable children. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Selena posted about it, calling it “horrifying and senseless” before adding that she had donated to UNICEF and providing a link for others to do the same.
In this case, Selena could have posted that UNICEF is calling for an immediate ceasefire, and unrestricted humanitarian access, and even has people on the ground in Gaza risking their lives to help. She could have even done that while remaining neutral, which she seems intent on doing.
Telling her 430 million followers that social media posts and hashtags aren’t enough is irresponsible, especially when the Palestinian people have been asking us to keep posting, keep sharing their stories, and keep talking about the injustices they are facing.
So many people on social media are posting about Palestine, people with a lot less followers than Selena Gomez, and it’s working. If it wasn’t, they wouldn’t be getting shadowbanned.
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