In our digital age, celebrities and other prominent figures now have more power than ever to facilitate valuable conversation or start social movements. Through the use of platforms like Twitter or Instagram, celebrities often make statements on politics or current events that receive thousands of reposts from their followers who align with the same point of view.
The time of wondering what a celebrity's viewpoint is on a particular topic is over, because now it is usually readily available to see on their various social profiles. Famous people posting their unfiltered thoughts online rather than expressing them through publicists or formal interviews have given way for movements like #MeToo or #TimesUp to flourish. In contrast, it has allowed other celebrities, like most recently Kanye West, to spread false information to large audiences.
It is not a new development that Kanye West is problematic. From interrupting Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009 to showing images of Rihanna and her abusive ex-boyfriend Chris Brown in his music video for "Famous", there has been a repetitive nature of West doing outrageous things.
In the past few weeks, Kanye has been at it again, tweeting out long and sometimes incoherent Twitter rants about politics, his clothing brand, and his own personal "philosophy". Anger erupted on Twitter when the rapper came out in support of President Donald Trump. This anger intensified even more when Kanye made comments stating that he believed "slavery was a choice."
For all the people still listening to Kanye West like he has anything important to say, the time is now to reconsider.
Like anyone else, Kanye has the freedom to support Donald Trump and believe what he wishes. The problem with his support of the current US president is that it dramatically goes against anything Kanye has stood for politically in the past.
This is the same guy who called out former President George W. Bush on national television, making the statement "George Bush doesn't care about black people" in reaction to Bush's heavily criticized response to Hurricane Katrina. Now in support of Donald Trump, Kanye is aligning himself with the political party he once believed did not support black individuals like him.
Kanye saying he believes "slavery was a choice" takes his viewpoints to a new extreme that is both factually incorrect and completely undermines the horrific struggles millions of individuals went through for a vast amount of history.
By making the statement that "slavery was a choice," Kanye essentially holds slaves themselves responsible for the torture, pain, and degradation they had to endure throughout their lives. Any rational person knows that slavery was not a choice, and the fact that a figure as powerful as Kanye West would use his platform to make a statement like that shows his irresponsibility and ignorance.
Despite all of these things, Kanye still receives thousands of retweets and favorites on his twitter, with followers believing him to be endowing us with some sort of divine wisdom.
Kanye West is not wise. Kanye West is not some sort of modern prophet. He is a person who says and does controversial things without any regard for consequence.
The continued support for the rapper shows that we are still falling short in holding public figures responsible for their actions.
Kanye West is completely at will to speak his mind on Twitter, even if most reasonable people would disagree with him. However, he should not continue to play the victim for what he says or does. People have grown tired of his antics, and should begin to hold him accountable.
The Kanye West cycle of outrage followed by forgiveness has gone on for too long, and frankly, I'm tired of it. It is now clear that Kanye will not change his ways, and should deal with the implications of his actions.
