It started years ago. When Kanye swiftly pops up on stage without warning during Taylor Swift’s VMA award moment to say “I'll let you finish, but Beyoncé has one of the best videos of all time,” my initial response was to feel bad. And then when he apologized time later, I was like, “good, let’s move on.” People say crazy stuff without truly thinking sometimes; at least he said sorry. With time, that'll all be old news.
And now here we are in a time where Generation Y and Z are rolling out of bed and facing some issues that we’re hidden and never talked about for decades. People knew things weren’t right but couldn’t find solutions. And those who roam planet earth today weren’t ready to face that. Nobody is. How do you teach others to love all when the generations above you grew up completely different? How do you find solutions when no one can agree on a common idea?
Better yet, it’s 2016 and the top trending topic is not the social issues that creep in the dark corners and follow us; the same issues that we feel we aren’t helping, but are only making worse. The top trending topic seems to be something much more glam and drama involved. For fighting over who won this battle of Kimye vs. Swift is grabbing much more attention than people who put their lives on the line for our freedom all combined ever could.
The world has turned into a reality television show with entertainment being the main concern with every blink. Nothing else exists when Kim Kardashian tweets. I mean, obviously.
She’s done so much for us. What a hero. She and Kanye and Taylor should be so proud of themselves.
The world is calling it the “greatest social media celeb battle of the century” and we’re tuning in like no tomorrow. Every arts and entertainment section is puking out everything they can about it like it was the greatest thing they’ve ever consumed. It’s wrapped around every story in snapchat and is trending on the daily on twitter. And every celebrity around is jumping in to be a part of the action. I mean, why not? People do whatever they can for those few seconds of fame. It seems addicting. They’ll go to all depths to back stab each other and be immature because that’s what makes the front page.
I’m not you so I can’t tell you to let the topic go like I am. Go do whatever your crazy heart desires. But if I was you, I’d tune into something that’ll actually matter to you in the next five years. If this great celeb battle has changed your life, you need to go step outside and see what’s really tearing us apart.
Sooner or later, Kanye and Kim and Taylor and every other celebrity getting “dragged” on twitter by each other recklessly are just going to continuously find ways to squeeze into headlines because that’s what matters.
People care more about who is writing a song or cheating on who in Hollywood than equal rights and teaching the young to grow up confident and feeling unstoppable. And it’s disgusting.
[According to the World Health Organization] did you know that around 350 million people worldwide suffer fromdepression? Kim, Kanye and Taylor Swift aren’t going to tell you about that nor are they going to try to change that but we can.
Divided, we’re nothing but average Joe’s. United, we’re nothing but teammates, neighbors, life changers and that’s something to talk about.
I know what you’re going to say to me. “I don’t see you preaching about how lives matter or how everyone should be equal.”
You’re right. I don’t go off on twitter about it….nor do I Instagram it up with hashtags that’ll make you comment the high-five emoji that’s actually used as “yes, preach.”
Thirty years ago, twitter and Instagram didn’t exist and thirty years from now, every issue we have will because we aren’t focused.
We’ve been taught to push them aside for the next generation and watch celebrities make millions from all the attention they’re stealing from us.
You won’t catch me telling you every opinion on everything I care and think about online or every social issue being addressed on the streets or in the courthouses.
Once you walk out into the real world, you realize that a 140 character tweet will grab attention but it won’t grab the recognition you need to actually get a point across. It takes something bigger than social media to be heard.
To change those around you, you must understand them. You must throw yourself into their shoes and walk around a little bit. Hear what things are like from their point of view.
Welcome to 2016. Congratulations.
I refuse to give up on you. Don’t let this media monster of a story consume you. It’s all a fake act to gain attention. We have stuff more life changing to worry about for our kids. The world is in our hands. Don’t drop it because some famous people want to drag each other on twitter about song lyrics.
Now, let’s get down to the actual business because quite frankly, I’ll let you finish but we got some work to do.
