#Create: Celebrities The Modern Day Saints
Growing up in a Catholic school system, I was taught to pray to specific Saints for specific reasons. These Saints were chosen by God to teach, go on a journey,or fight a bight battle to create and bring about change in their time. Today, in 2018 through various social media platforms Celebrities, who are already idolized and worshipped by millions of people have been using their talents and social media to enlighten us with their wisdom.
Like the Stone Tablets gifted to Moses,Twitter has given the power to Celebrities to share their words with the entire world in a matter of seconds. (As long as it is 140 characters). There is the actor Leonardo Dicaprio who is the Saint of Environmental Activism. There is the singer/songwriter Taylor Swift who is the Saint of Women Empowerment. There is the rapper/singer Drake who is the Saint of “Being in Your Feels” and the city of Toronto. These are just a few examples of Celebrities who have used their wealth,status and platforms to shape the public opinions on topics ranging in severity.
Celebrities even have disciple like groups that follow their every move. Beyonce as her “Beyhives”, Taylor Swift as the community of fans called “Swifties” and there is the infamous “Beliebers” the cult like group who worship Justin Bieber. These fans are constantly up to date with not only the social media of these stars but also their actual whereabouts. They buy all their albums, go see every concert, and most importantly will come to the defence of these celebrities by writing death threats or attacking people on social media.
In recent news the cleansing of Hollywood’s “Horrible Men” has taken place due to brave Celebrity women sharing their stories of abuse and harassment on platforms such as social media. Many women have simply tweeted #MeToo which indicates that they too have been abused and this has caused a powerful impact not just in Hollywood but across the globe. Men wore black suits at the Golden Globes this year in order to show that they stand in solidarity with their female colleagues. Kesha who was blacklisted by her powerful abuser was given time on stage at the 2018 Grammy’s and was joined on stage by other female singers. Something as seemingly simple as a # can stir up an entire industry especially with celebrity endorsement.
This phenomenon of the Power of the Celebrity is nothing new. Bands such as the Beatles and politcians such as Pierre Truduea had millions of screaming fans and they had a massive impact on society (that was in th 1960's). The diffrence is that through these virtual communties such as Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, celebrities have an almost instant and very direct contact with not only their own fans but the entire world. This kind of power can and has changed the world. (Not trying to throw shade but did y’all see the 2016 U.S Elections)
The great thing about Social Media is that us, regular folk can participate also. Of course follow your favourite celebrities but we must also hold them accountable for the things they do and say. Just like the Saints I learned about in church, celebrities are also only human. Maybe they do have some awesome talents and maybe they do support really great causes however, we give them that wealth,status and power. So next time do your own research and ask questions before you become super Vegan becuase Leo said so or start rocking Ivy Park because Beyonce posted the new line on Insta.
Alexandria Montague
