As we all know,
Donald Trump is now the 45th president of the United States. Mr. Trump
definitely has not hesitated to pick up his pen and sign multiple executive orders
as if there is no
tomorrow. Within the last 10 days he’s been in office, he’s
signed exactly 7 executive orders that have not just enraged the U.S, but the
entire world. The most controversial executive order was barring citizens of 7
Muslim majority countries from entering the U.S for the next 90 days and Syrian refugees for the next 120 days. This just happened to be on Holocaust Remembrance
Day (smooth Donald, real smooth). However, our opinions and emotions are
controlled by what we surround ourselves with. For many of us, we turn to social
media. So, social media today is where a majority of people gets their news.
Based on the way Facebook has its algorithms setup, the things we are likely to
see in our feed is based on past "likes" therefore, overtime, we've
all entered what is known as "echo chambers." For example, if your
super liberal friend keeps posting super liberal stuff and you've liked all her
posts, than her posts are going to show up on your feed more often. Therefore, you stop seeing different viewpoints, and begin to think that everyone around
you thinks like you do. We can also call this a "bubble." Most
articles use some type of rhetoric to persuade the reader to agree with its
viewpoint. But the problem over time is that articles are now extremely
enflamed with mostly divisive rhetoric. A lot of that can be seen coming from
partisan news outlets, or from entirely fake news from fake websites. Although,
celebrities have started a whole new ball game when it comes to political
rhetoric. Depending on the pages and people we have liked and followed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, there is a likely chance we have come across
a celebrity on there that has opposed Donald Trumps views.
Celebrities
initially came out to the 2017 Screen Actors Guild Awards to celebrate the
amazing performances television and film had to offer this year. But,
thankfully, they ended up using the stage to spread a message of hope in a time
of sorrow.
(To the left) Actor Simon Helberg from The Big Bang Theory and wife Jocelyn Towne.
Ashton Kutcher opened the show with a pro-immigration message that had the crowd roaring. His famous line in the speech said, “You are a part of the fabric of who we are. And we love you and we welcome you.”
Kim Kardashian,
who has Armenian roots, even posted a photo that shows
the number of
Americans killed each year by various means. According to those statistics, Americans are much
more likely to die after being shot by another American, by falling out of bed or by an “armed
toddler” than by an Islamic jihadist immigrant.
Americans killed each year by various means. According to those statistics, Americans are much
more likely to die after being shot by another American, by falling out of bed or by an “armed
toddler” than by an Islamic jihadist immigrant.
Meryl Streep criticized Trump on live TV for mocking a reporter with a physical disability in her Golden Globes speech on January 8th, 2017. Streep was referring to Trump's speech at a South Carolina rally in 2015 when he flailed his arms and slurred while speaking about New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski. Trump fired back on Twitter, denying the accusations and calling Streep overrated.
Many people also took to the streets and airports to protest the immigration ban. Celebrities such as Gigi and Bella Hadid walked with other protesters who shouted, “No hate, no fear, immigrants are
welcome here.”
It’s nice to see celebrities using their voices to speak against what’s happening in America right now. Because we live in the age of information, and click-bait news is coming at us from all angles, it's important that we as citizens choose credible sources from multiple perspectives when obtaining our daily dosage of news. It's our civic duty to do our due diligence and be informed, but more importantly, correctly informed.
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