During an era in which cancel culture and public opinion reigns over the lives of your favorite celebrities and influencers, the possibility to separate the art from the artists arises for those who may have enjoyed the content created by these individuals.
The words and actions of those beloved by many hold power. They can wield their fan base as a weapon for destruction or can help them join together for a certain cause.
This behavior is inherently problematic in itself, as abuse of one’s power can form, shielding the artist in a false sense of security. Consequently, they are deluded into believing that they are intangible and sheltered from the eyes of outsiders.
The prominence of social media and its effects on the minds of society is a daunting concept. As our time spent on social media applications increases our judgement becomes obscured.
Social media influencers continuously appear on the feed of mindless scrollers and spew their opinions on today’s hot new product. Nonetheless, these suggestions on how to revitalize one’s life are not without malice as crypto scams, pyramid schemes, and false fundraisers have been on the rise.
So called small business influencers run an entire sphere on the application TikTok, their shop selection has been flooded with money hungry individuals passing off cheap factory made products as “handmade” and “artisanal”.
Many disregard the fact that artists directly benefit from your engagement even if it is just a small amount of money from a single interaction. Think about how many times you listen to that certain artist in a day or how many times you visit their social media page. You would still be putting money in the pockets of pretentious bigots who will use that money to gain more power and influence.
Perhaps the artist may go to the extent of using the money from your streams to create a merch line displaying extremist symbols or the influencers may exploit their fanbase into endorsing a get rich quick scheme . Keep these things in mind the next time you use the products of your favorite unproblematic celebrity.
