UNITED STATES—I have to point out something that recently has started to annoy me. For some reason we live in a world right now where the political climate is so tense, just the mere mention of politics, candidates or a political affiliation can lead to all-out war. I read a story that apparently made national waves, when in reality I don’t think it should have. Let’s keep it short and sweet people, musician Taylor Swift decided to be courageous and announce that she would not endorse or vote for a candidate because of their beliefs and prior voting record in the upcoming election.
Cue the backlash because social media went to work overtime to detest Swift for deciding to have a voice, even President Donald Trump jumped in on the drama. Look I’m not a Taylor Swift fan, but I respect her having the courage to speak her mind. Let me make this crystal clear, so many people think celebrities should just be quite and not let their voices be heard. I’m not an advocate of that. Why? They are human beings just like the rest of us; they have a right to be heard and to villainize or to diminish their ability to let their voice to be heard because of their status is utterly ridiculous.
So have we reached a point where only the American who don’t have a status of a certain caliber can speak about politics? Um, that is not going to float and people need to take a step back and think before they speak. We already know politics and religion are two of the topics that create more ire than any other topic possible. However, here is the catch: politics will never disappear. Until this world no longer exists politics will always be part of our lives. Open your eyes America and acknowledge the truth: you need to learn how to have conversations with others and not get into a tizzy because they have opposing viewpoints that you disagree with.
No one person is correct, while the other is 200 percent wrong. As they say time and time ago there are 3 sides to any story, their side, your side and in the middle lies the truth. That’s the thing about the truth; sometimes it will never transpire the way we want it to. This is where social media becomes a thorn in so many situations. People get on that computer, creating anonymous accounts and fake accounts to hide their profile, their true identity, so they can deliver a scathing comment or statement because they will not be confronted face-to-face with the message they delivered.
I wonder how many people would be willing to put their home address, their phone number and their email address to their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other social media accounts to be held accountable for the things they post and say. Oh, we know the number is not grand to say the least because it forces them to be held accountable for their actions. My point in this entire saga is we have the First Amendment for a reason, people are allowed to speak their mind. Yes, we could have a conversation for months about what constitutes free speech and what doesn’t. The point is we all have a voice, and how we use it is up to us, I would hope people would use it for the power of good, but there are those out there who are reckless, ignorant, dumb, uniformed and just annoying to a point that I don’t care to spend any more time discussing it.
I don’t want to hear another person tell a celebrity to shut up and not let their voice be heard. The day people stop speaking their truth is the day that we become a country that is ruled by a dictatorship instead of a democracy.
Written By Kelsey Thomas
