Social responsibility: Does it mean lending your voice or vote for the sake of it? Or does it mean taking the time and effort to be socially aware, and to know what you’re talking about before you risk supporting the wrong cause? Politics is complicated, and I admit to being often baffled or thoroughly frustrated.
Maybe one political party speaks loudly about an issue dear to my heart, but upon research I find out they also support things I don’t agree with. Or maybe it’s hard to dredge up enough idealism about a political figure when I know things are never as perfect as they seem.
Either way, it’s important to be involved. As everyone is telling you, vote, vote, vote! Take a stand! Make your voice heard! But for a moment, will you just question what happens after you do that?
We’ve seen more celebrities campaigning this year than ever before. That can be a great thing, but it’s also dangerous. Some public figures have happily jumped on to the political bandwagon this year, running for office at the drop of a hat, and causing me to question their motives.
A few days ago, there was an article in this newspaper about an actress who said that she didn’t know what she was campaigning for, but that she just went because she was a friend of a party member. I was completely outraged. Is this a fashion show where you go just because it’s fun to show up? Did you just want to be written about as active, because it’s the new in-thing in Bollywood?
When voting privately, a public figure has the same amount of responsibility as any other citizen, no more, no less, to be well-informed about what he or she is voting for. But the second one uses their celebrity to campaign for votes, that responsibility increases exponentially. I mean, isn’t that obvious?
People look up to you, people are influenced by you, and when you’re using that to tell them how to shape the country rather than what movie to watch, you have no right to abuse that! You can really impact people, and to do that without due research, knowledge or care is a disgrace......
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