I am by no means a “politically correct” person. I do not care to get involved in what is happening in politics and while I should probably care who is running for the Republican or democrat sides in office, or even what Republicans or Democrats stand for, I, unfortunately, do not really.

While I did take it upon myself to register to vote this year (completely on accident, someone cornered me on my way to class), I usually do not invest myself in the candidates because I believe that whatever the government wants to happen will unfortunately happen. I am a big conspiracy podcast listener and although many are completely absurd, I do think that the government is hiding more than they should from the citizens of the United States.

Now I know that there are many world issues that the government is working to solve (or so they say) and I know that every issue that comes up in our country can not and will not take top priority of our nation’s leaders. However, I did read an article on Snap Chat that just rubbed me completely wrong and although I know I do not have a voice to change much, the Odyssey does give me a platform to talk about what I feel needs to be discussed or ranted about. Well, here is my rant.

Many of you may or may not know who Bella Thorne is. There’s really no reason to know her. She appeared for a short time on Disney Channel as a young and dedicated dancer before dropping off of the face of the earth. She came back a completely changed person, as stars often do, saying it is because she could never show her “true self” on Disney Channel. She may or may not still be doing things in the film industry, I’m not too sure because I don’t have any interest in her life.

But the publicity she does get is over her social media posts of her daring see-through outfits and of her very public hook-ups. And these posts that America dedicated their attention to? Well, according to the article I read, Thorne gets paid $65,000 for EACH ONE. Imagine getting paid a whole year’s worth of income for many families in the United States for posting one picture of yourself that, quite honestly, should never be posted or admired in the first place.

I’m just saying that with all of the homelessness and poverty I see on a regular basis, whether it be right outside of my college campus or in downtown Indy where the people sitting on boxes on the street corners are abundant. With all of the single parents out there working multiple jobs to secure a decent lifestyle for their kids. With all of the starving children in the world. It absolutely shocks me when I read articles like that.

How did the government, the nation’s leaders, the people we vote for and put our trust in, let the country get this way? Many of us do not think about this issue due to the sole fact that it does not directly affect us. But I think that when a Grammy host announces the price of a celebrity’s designer dress and it costs more money than you’ll see in your life, people should start talking.

I learned in my sociology class this past semester that the top 10% of the wealthiest people hold approximately 76% of income, while the bottom 50% of wealthiest people hold 1% of the nation’s income. I was also learned that children that are born into one of those bottom quintiles of low wealth only have about a 30% chance of moving at all in social class, therefore the pattern will repeat once they have children.

Once again, I don’t know much about the government. I’m not sure who decides where money goes in the world and who gets to say that an Instagram post can be worth $65k when there are many money-related issues that our country has created and cannot seem to fix. But I do know it is an issue, and one that I felt the urge to write about today.

Rant over.