‘Why aren't we talking about this?’
Two weeks ago, this tweet from pop singer Rihanna, voicing her support to the farmers’ on-going agitation in India, immediately grabbed a million eyeballs on Twitter. She was joined by climate activist Greta Thunberg, who tweeted that she supported the Indian farmers’ peaceful protest.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs immediately swung into action and thundered at the Caribbean pop singer and the Swedish teenager to mind their own business—calling their comments sensationalist, irresponsible and inaccurate. Actress Susan Sarandon and TV talk show host Trevor Noah didn’t like this reaction, and expressed indignation and sorrow at the state of affairs in India, supporting the two ladies. Indian celebrities jumped on the bandwagon in defence of their country; actors and sportsmen quivered with moral indignation and posted near-identical tweets calling it propaganda by external forces. Sachin Tendulkar, Lata Mangeshkar, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suneil Shetty, Karan Johar and several others—all had something to say in the defence of their country against the pop star and the environmentalist, under common hashtags. Kangana Ranaut, not to be left behind, called Rihanna a ‘dummy’ and a ‘fool’ and the farmers ’terrorists’ on Twitter. (I heard Twitter later deleted the tweet, though I haven’t checked.)
The patriotism is touching.
I am not here to judge who is right and who is wrong, who is weak and who is strong, who’s being pressurized and who’s being bribed, who’s seeking attention and just along for the ride. My point is—must you?
Must you deliver your ‘invaluable’ comments on something you know very little about? I am asking this of all the celebrities involved in the abovementioned imbroglio, and of all celebrities in general of the past, present and future. Good looks and/or fat bank balances don’t necessarily make you experts on world issues. Do we really want to know what you think of the Middle East conflict, the hole in the ozone layer, curing cancer or feeding the hungry? Given the scale & complexity of these problems, do we think that they will be solved by people like you, whose excess of ego & hair gel is equalled only by your lack of knowledge of geo-politics?
Let us go back a little in time. Remember Jane Fonda, the two-time Oscar winning actress? Decades ago, when she was hot & young, she was known as ‘Hanoi Jane’, after being photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun on a 1972 visit to Hanoi. Much later, she demonstrated against President Bush’s war in Iraq in a much publicized protest march in Washington D.C. I am not so sure whether these were publicity stunts or not. That’s the problem with celebrities—one can never really be sure.
Then we had musician Sting talking of the rain forests, singer-songwriter K.D. Lang about vegetarianism and actor Richard Gere on Buddhism. Not to forget Bianca Jagger, whose chief claim to fame is being the ex-wife of rock star Mick Jagger, holding forth on the revolution in Nicaragua, death squads in El Salvador & rape in Bosnia.
Taylor Swift, for example, is a highly successful American singer-songwriter, but I doubt if she has gone through the years of education that would make her qualified to speak on topics such as healthcare, the trade deficit, China or global warming. Rapper Kanye West announced his 2020 United States presidential election campaign through Twitter on Independence Day last year. We all know how that went.
Am I sounding too harsh? What I mean is that most celebrities are not educated on the issues involving world politics to be credible commentators. Most actors, musicians, sportsmen, models and public figures are popular because they are good at what they do and entertain us immensely with their talents. But many of them didn’t go to university, and if they did, they usually majored in drama or a BA Pass Course or something like that. So inevitably, it all comes down to a question of why. Why should we put so much stock in their opinions on world affairs?
Dear celebrities, we admire you for your talents. But good voices, good looks and fat bank balances don’t necessarily make you experts on world issues. Hitting a high note, looking gorgeous and executing a glorious cover drive does not necessarily mean grand insight.
A counter argument to the above would be that every individual has the right to express his or her political views, and no one should grudge them that. True, but must they?
Perhaps if the celebrities are writers, poets, dramatists, filmmakers or even stand-up comics, they could be considered social commentators and conscience-keepers. Their views on world politics etc. could be taken seriously. After all, these people are probably well educated and are deep thinkers—otherwise they could not have created the body of work they did. However, in my opinion, the same does not apply to sportspersons, actors, musicians, and entertainers in general. No way!
There was a time when actors, rock stars & sportspersons knew their place. They got rich, famous, fat & drunk. They got laid, they got stoned, they made inane quotes to the media, they were happy. But not anymore. They now need to educate the masses on their political awareness!
Oh, pleez…just shut up, all of you. Give us a break. Just stick to what you do best.
Beetashok Chatterjee is the author of ‘Driftwood’, a collection of stories about Life at Sea, and ‘The People Tree’, another collection of stories about ordinary people with extraordinary lives. A retired merchant ship’s captain by profession, he lives in New Delhi with his memories of living more than 40 years on the waves.
His book is available on Amazon. Click here.
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