It has been a full week since Meryl Streep delivered her powerful speech as the recipient of the Cecil B. deMille Award at the 74th Golden Globe Awards, and the world is still retweeting, quoting, and sharing the viral video. I applaud Streep for stepping back from the glitz and glamor of the award ceremony to speak about politics and voice her reservations about the nation's President-elect.
Now, to those of you who think Meryl Streep should've kept her mouth shut and stayed out of politics because she's a celebrity, know that I don't agree with you and I'm not writing this to change your minds. However, I may make you mad, and I sincerely hope that I make you think.
First, the fact that Streep's voice was all but gone, and she still made this speech made every word out of her mouth that much more iconic. Meryl Streep did not set out to attack anyone in her speech. She addressed a room of like-minded people: "All of us in this room, really, belong to the most vilified segments of American society right now. Think about it: Hollywood, foreigners, and the press."
Who could argue with Streep's statement here?
The backlash from her speech alone can corroborate her statement when it comes to Hollywood. As for foreigners, in the last year, there have been talks of a Muslim registry (and a ban), police brutality killings against black people, and building a wall between Mexico and the U.S. There have been reports of hate crimes nationwide, and government refusal to allow Syrian refugees into the country.
And the press? Donald Trump has tweeted many a time about how he feels about the press. Often, instead of taking responsibility for things he has said or done, he blames media outlets for reporting on them.
Speaking of the press, Streep mentioned next a performance that "stunned" her. "It was that moment when a person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. Someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back." This quote, I feel sums up her whole speech, and how I feel we should all approach it, perfectly.
Meryl Streep herself outranks people in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back, and she is using it to speak out. Also, it is a hallmark example of how little President-elect Trump thinks before he speaks, and how little he cares about being offensive. Further, in the aftermath of Meryl's speech, Trump took to Twitter to defend himself (while also insulting Streep, Hillary Clinton, and the "dishonest media").
In giving this speech, Meryl was attempting to "safeguard the truth" and remind not only actors but viewers of the "privilege and the responsibility of the act of empathy." I wholeheartedly disagree that celebrities should stay out of politics. On the contrary, I feel that celebrities have a duty to voice the views they feel passionate about, even if I disagree with them. In the world we live in, we give celebrities so much power.
We buy the things they endorse, we watch their movies with unrelenting fervor, we give them accolades when they donate to children in third world countries, so why shouldn't we listen when they voice their political opinions? We put celebrities on so high a pedestal that we forget that, while they are people we envy, they are still people. Why not, as a celebrity, give your voice to a cause you believe in? Especially if you speak as eloquently as Meryl did that night.
Finally, if anything is impressed upon you from her speech or this article, let it be these words: "Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose."
