What a brilliant time to publish a cover about being online.
I’ve spent the past few weeks scrolling past posts equating plastic gems to whimsy, reading endless commentary about a Sydney Sweeney sports betting ad, and being grateful that I’m too lazy for Hyrox.
The cherry on top is Ed Sheeran, who has lost all of his original opening acts after Macklemore was removed from his tour for making pro-Palestinian comments on stage.
It raises the question: Who gets to choose silence and who gets forced into silence?
In the age of social media, the answer has changed.
An attempt to silence pro-Palestinian speech has further amplified it, and an attempt to remain silent has forced Sheeran to acknowledge the situation – with a post and a teleprompter statement that have only stoked further backlash for attempting to maintain a “neutral” position.
For many of us on social media, the challenge is standing out amid the noise – for celebrities with millions of followers, silence often stands out more clearly. Today, it is easier than ever to reach an audience. There are obstacles – censorship, moderation, the algorithm – but reaching millions of people is still possible.
That means a bigger stage than most of us are used to (even Ed Sheeran), and more eyes scrutinising silence when the moment demands taking a position. There may have been a time when staying silent on politics was the prudent business decision for an artist’s brand – but that time appears to have passed.
Even as I write this I’m aware that this is a snowflake sitting on the tip of the iceberg. Celebrities may take on financial and business risks for sharing their views, but they pale in comparison to the real risks taken by ordinary people on the ground trying to share a glimpse into the horrors that they experience every day.
As a journalist, I come face-to-face with those risks through my interviews. I remember learning about the great lengths that Iranians go to in order to get a single video clip out into the world, risking execution.
I often revisit my February interview with award-winning Palestinian journalist and author Plestia Alaqad, who risked her safety to document life in Gaza.
In Alaqad’s words: “Injustice is super loud. Justice needs to be louder.”
