In this op-ed writer, Angie Jaime explores the general sentiment of Americans this voting cycle and how celebrities' civic engagement is often futile.
In a corner of the internet, Lady Gaga is beefing with Donald Trump. Or rather, Donald Trump spent the day bullying her on Twitter for some baseless claim about (checks notes... fracking?) and she responded with a cool yet passionate endorsement for Biden in the final hours before Election Day. Photographs of her towering heels, singing a rendition of “Shallow” and a folksy “You and I” for the beleaguered people of Pennsylvania captured the internet’s attention for a few moments. Soon, the collective hive mind turned its all-seeing eye to other fleeting celebrity moments like Lil Pump endorsing Trump, only to have the president call him “Little Pimp” and Lizzo bearing a half-nude body draped in an American flag in a vague gesture toward getting out the vote.
What seems like a parallel universe away from the kind of surreal events we would have just four years ago never have imagined, non-celebrity Americans face a much different reality as Election Day comes to a close. For most of us, a few stark truths ring out. Firstly, no one actually knows if the election will be decided tonight or even tomorrow morning, and secondly, regardless of the results, it is Black folks, Indigenous peoples, immigrants, queer people, people of trans experience, and every intersection of otherwise marginalized people that are going to have to deal with the repercussions and live with the aftermath either way.
In the midst of the chaos of an unprecedented year, it has never been more clear: Celebrities, for all their halfhearted attempts at stirring votes and inspiring civic engagement in the everyday person, are very much a universe away from the real lived experiences of most Americans, most young people they claim to represent or hold sway over. When the votes are in and counted, when the world’s attention turns back to the global pandemic, a planet ravaged by climate change, and mounting social unrest, celebrities will not be among those feeling the brunt of the impact. The death, the loss of way of life, the displacement from homes, and livelihoods will by and large not affect the privileged.
Currently, the number of lives lost to coronavirus climbs past 231,000 in the U.S. alone, especially ravaging the Navajo nation despite a fraction of the population and density. In terms of job loss and housing insecurity, about one in four U.S. adults say they or someone in their household was laid off or lost their job because of the coronavirus outbreak. And recent U.S. Census data shows that 8.3 million Americans have reported being behind on rent as of mid-September, with 3.8 million reporting that they were likely to be evicted within the next two months. In California alone, over 4.1 million acres of the state have burned in wildfires, displacing more than 53,000 from their homes.
While the ultra-rich share their last-minute endorsements with the begrudging energy of Rihanna throwing cash at a hapless Stephen Hill, cities across the country are boarding up their storefronts in preparation for what is anticipated to be a night filled with violence from either end of the political spectrum. Speculations of stolen elections, even a presidential coup are an undercurrent to the day’s events which, for many represent a once in a lifetime kind of dread — the knowledge that things can, and might, get a lot worse, fast.
It isn’t celebrities that are spearheading most of the real, on the ground efforts to survive the elections and the days, weeks, months, and years beyond it. Whether it’s cobbling together self-care plans for Election Day, to navigating the intensity of any potential election outcome with an eye toward rebuilding systems in the years to come, it is everyday people that will lead the charge, spark revolutions and create lasting change. Truth be told, historically, grassroots organizations have wielded serious change in at-risk, underserved communities.
As for celebrities, their role and whether or not the very concept of celebrity and its cult will survive, is as uncertain as anything.
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November 04, 2020 at 01:43AM
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Election 2020 Found Celebrities More Out of Touch - Teen Vogue
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