Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

Abstract

it’s also equally important for us to remember that if we ain’t walking in those shoes, we ain’t got any right to be mean to those walking the walk.<blockquote id="4243">The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget. —Thomas Szasz</blockquote>Forgive but don’t forget. These celebrities, they might have delivered their message in a way that had offended many but they are humans.And humans make mistakes.<h1 id="8174">Remember, we made these people. We did this.</h1>I’ve heard some arguments on how unfair the distribution of wealth is. These celebrities have millions of dollars in their accounts while there are people struggling to feed their family out there.First of all, I agree. The distribution of wealth could have, should have been better.How could there be such a big gap between them and the rest of the world?I sat and gave it a good thought. The conclusion I’ve came to is this:We made these people.We did this.My fiancee and I had gone to the Formula 1 Grand Prix last year here in Singapore. It was a way for my fiancee to blow off steam and to reward himself for all his hard work (he’s been working like mad the past few years). He also bought me my ticket, a gift I’m very grateful for.We rarely indulge in this type of spending. We’re more of a backpacker explorer type of people.It was still a great experience though and I remember something I had thought of during the event.There were so many, so many people in that event. And the majority of them had paid 200 Singapore dollars, an amount equivalent to about 140 US dollars today, to watch the Grand Prix.<figure id="efa5"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*gE35mgHBWjqsrQaB-Ln4Ig.jpeg"><figcaption>This is just a small amount of what made up the whole F1 Grand Prix attendees. The number of these people multiply by $140. Do the math. ©Agnes Louis</figcaption></figure>I remember thinking, “Are we the master or the slave of entertainment? Have we been unknowingly enslaved by entertainment?”$ 140 to walk around the race track and watch car flash by. And where do you think all this money is going? Anywhere but the poor’s pockets. We are feeding the rich.It’s our hard-earned money and we have every right to spend it however, wherever we want.When we buy a movie ticket, when we buy tickets to events, to music concerts, we are making decision on how the wealth of the world is going to be distributed. We are making the decision.There’ll be no entertainment industry without our hard-earned money. And without the entertainment industry, there’ll be no rich celebrities. If we choose to give our money to the poor instead of paying to see a movie or a concert, how much do you think the celebrities will earn?It’s the simple law of supply and demand.We want entertainment and thus, we have indirectly helped create the rich celebrities. They work their asses off to get where they are and our choices, the choices we thought are small and inconsequential, have helped create the uneven wealth distribution we are now protesting.If right here right now, I ask you to distribute the money you’ve earned to those who earn less instead of using it to buy whatever you want to buy would you do it? “Those who want what I have/more should work harder” is the argument I hear all the time. Which is true. We get what we work for. Hard work betrays none and as bad as it sounds, many of us would rather line the pocket of the rich, buying stuff we could have done without, rather than giving it to those who earn less.So we have reached an impasse. We don’t want to share with those who earn less (not the less fortunates — I’m assuming we’re still donating and helping others here), we’re not happy with those who have what we think is way too much, but we still want our entertainment.The only way out I can think of is if the celebrities lower their salary. But then that also mean asking everyone to be paid pretty much the same regardless of their occupation, which means, there’ll be no ladder to climb, no mountain to scale. Everyone will just be paid the same, including you and me.Would you be okay with being paid the same regardless the level of your competence and skill?<h1 id="1e37">Of course they wanna keep it for themselves, wouldn’t you?</h1>What would you have the celebrities do? Say no to money? Would you say no to money?I heard a lot of “they should not take that much for themselves and think of us”. There’s one problem with that line of thinking. We forgot that these people have spouses and children.We all know that raising a kid is not cheap these days. And if we were to switch places with these celebrities, would we keep whatever we can get our hands on for ourselves, for the future of our own flesh and blood and for charity causes close to our hearts, or would we just give it away to those who are earning less than us?I’m a writer. I don’t have much money to my name but even I know the answer to that question. We are humans. We would do everything in our power to secure our own happiness and the happiness of those we love most.Can we really ask others t

Options

o do what we ourselves are not willing to do?Not everyone is like <a href="https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/celebrity/jackie-chans-son-130-million-fortune/">Jackie Chan, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates</a>.<h1 id="0422">Let’s focus on what they have done.</h1>Let’s not forget that not all celebrities are just sitting in their palaces, asking people to lock themselves in their homes while they do nothing.<a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/celebrities-donating-fundraising-coronavirus-relief">Many of the celebrities are doing their bit in helping financially</a>. Not all celebrities are selfish.Even one of the most criticized celebrities since the pandemic began is pledging $1 million towards COVID-19 relief efforts:<div id="7529" class="link-block"> <a href="https://techzimo.com/covid-19-arnold-schwarzenegger-donates-1m-towards-relief-efforts/"> <div> <div> <h2>Covid-19: Arnold Schwarzenegger donates$ 1M towards relief efforts - TechZimo</h2> <div><h3>IWMBuzz tells you ways Arnold Schwarzenegger donated 1, that’s already a million. And a million can feed a lot of mouths. <a href="https://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/world-population-2020-overview">There are 7.8 billion of us</a>. That’s 7.8 billion dollars if each person donates only $1.Forget about the celebrities. Stop judging. Stop criticizing. It’s tiring and we need all our energy reserve to help millions of people in needs out there.We are one big global family.Let’s each and every one of us do our best for us.</article></body>

What Do We Do With These Rich Celebrities Shouting From Their Castles, Telling Us To Stay Home?

I first stumbled upon an article on this subject here in Medium, when the death toll for COVID-19 was climbing sharply in the US and everyone was urged to do their bit in flattening the curve by staying home.

The title had caught my eyes and I clicked and read.

The article was mainly about celebrities urging people to stay home. It was also calling out celebrities who had undermined the severity of the pandemic, (which is not cool) and received massive backlash for their words (this is a topic for another day).

Now, plenty celebrities urged people to stay home. They realized they have the power to influence the mass and decided to use it for a good cause, to save lives.

If only they know the aftermath of the messages they’ve shared with good intention.

Setting out to inspire, they had inadvertently set themselves on fire.

It is not right to tell people of different classes and incomes to stay home via a video message while chilling in a hot tub smoking cigar. It’s also easier to encourage people to stay home through a song when you have plenty money in your bank account and a nice cozy home.

The message could have been delivered better I agree, but here are some points to remember before we criticize the rich celebrities telling us to stay home from the comfort of their castles.

They worked hard for it.

Some celebrities were born into money and fame, or scaled the obstacles without much difficulties. These celebrities are the exceptions, not the rules.

Many of the rich celebrities we know today had to go through many hardships to be where they are right now. Many of them was once us. Some of them even had it worse than us.

Though I cannot account for every celebrity criticized in the viral video, we’ve got to admit that many of them must have gone through a lot and made many smart financial moves to be where they are right now.

The pandemic has revealed to us the stark contrast between the rich, the middle class and the poor. Though we can do better than this in terms of wealth distribution, we must also remember that some of the rich had gone through hell to get to where they are now.

Everyone wants the prize, but not everyone is willing to participate in the race.

Some of the rich celebrities we are now criticizing for their wealth have beaten poverty by spending years and years honing their skills, doing everything in their power to make sure they end up on the top.

Their hard work is paying off.

Whatever work we put in, we get back.

They are where they are right now because what they do and what they’ve put up with for years.

They are human too.

All these years, we have put our celebrities high on a pedestal. They can speak no wrong, do no wrong. We admire them, some of us even worship them.

These people who are just humans like us, we worship them as if they’re beings higher than us.

It always amazes me how hard celebrities are condemned by people when they make mistakes. I’m talking about the type of mistakes that when normal people do it, they only get mild chastising. But when celebrities do it, oh oh oh, oh no you din’t.

Yes, they should have more severe consequences than us. Their words, due to their influence, carry more weight than ours. And they spread faster too. So yes, I’m 100% with those who think celebrities should think twice, thrice, 100x before they say or do something stupid. Because they have their own people and these people listen and copy.

It comes with the job and the money. Shitload of money comes with shitload of things attached to it. Some celebrities lose their privacy. Being hounded 24/7 by paparazzis ain’t a stroll in the park, folks. So yeah, of course they bear heavier consequences when they make mistakes.

But it doesn’t make them something akin to God. They are still humans, just like us. And the last time I checked, every human makes mistakes. While it is important for celebrities to understand the weight of their words and actions , it’s also equally important for us to remember that if we ain’t walking in those shoes, we ain’t got any right to be mean to those walking the walk.

The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget. —Thomas Szasz

Forgive but don’t forget. These celebrities, they might have delivered their message in a way that had offended many but they are humans.

And humans make mistakes.

Remember, we made these people. We did this.

I’ve heard some arguments on how unfair the distribution of wealth is. These celebrities have millions of dollars in their accounts while there are people struggling to feed their family out there.

First of all, I agree. The distribution of wealth could have, should have been better.

How could there be such a big gap between them and the rest of the world?

I sat and gave it a good thought. The conclusion I’ve came to is this:

We made these people.

We did this.

My fiancee and I had gone to the Formula 1 Grand Prix last year here in Singapore. It was a way for my fiancee to blow off steam and to reward himself for all his hard work (he’s been working like mad the past few years). He also bought me my ticket, a gift I’m very grateful for.

We rarely indulge in this type of spending. We’re more of a backpacker explorer type of people.

It was still a great experience though and I remember something I had thought of during the event.

There were so many, so many people in that event. And the majority of them had paid 200 Singapore dollars, an amount equivalent to about 140 US dollars today, to watch the Grand Prix.

This is just a small amount of what made up the whole F1 Grand Prix attendees. The number of these people multiply by $140. Do the math. ©Agnes Louis

I remember thinking, “Are we the master or the slave of entertainment? Have we been unknowingly enslaved by entertainment?” $140 to walk around the race track and watch car flash by. And where do you think all this money is going? Anywhere but the poor’s pockets. We are feeding the rich.

It’s our hard-earned money and we have every right to spend it however, wherever we want.

When we buy a movie ticket, when we buy tickets to events, to music concerts, we are making decision on how the wealth of the world is going to be distributed. We are making the decision.

There’ll be no entertainment industry without our hard-earned money. And without the entertainment industry, there’ll be no rich celebrities. If we choose to give our money to the poor instead of paying to see a movie or a concert, how much do you think the celebrities will earn?

It’s the simple law of supply and demand.

We want entertainment and thus, we have indirectly helped create the rich celebrities. They work their asses off to get where they are and our choices, the choices we thought are small and inconsequential, have helped create the uneven wealth distribution we are now protesting.

If right here right now, I ask you to distribute the money you’ve earned to those who earn less instead of using it to buy whatever you want to buy would you do it? “Those who want what I have/more should work harder” is the argument I hear all the time. Which is true. We get what we work for. Hard work betrays none and as bad as it sounds, many of us would rather line the pocket of the rich, buying stuff we could have done without, rather than giving it to those who earn less.

So we have reached an impasse. We don’t want to share with those who earn less (not the less fortunates — I’m assuming we’re still donating and helping others here), we’re not happy with those who have what we think is way too much, but we still want our entertainment.

The only way out I can think of is if the celebrities lower their salary. But then that also mean asking everyone to be paid pretty much the same regardless of their occupation, which means, there’ll be no ladder to climb, no mountain to scale. Everyone will just be paid the same, including you and me.

Would you be okay with being paid the same regardless the level of your competence and skill?

Of course they wanna keep it for themselves, wouldn’t you?

What would you have the celebrities do? Say no to money? Would you say no to money?

I heard a lot of “they should not take that much for themselves and think of us”. There’s one problem with that line of thinking. We forgot that these people have spouses and children.

We all know that raising a kid is not cheap these days. And if we were to switch places with these celebrities, would we keep whatever we can get our hands on for ourselves, for the future of our own flesh and blood and for charity causes close to our hearts, or would we just give it away to those who are earning less than us?

I’m a writer. I don’t have much money to my name but even I know the answer to that question. We are humans. We would do everything in our power to secure our own happiness and the happiness of those we love most.

Can we really ask others to do what we ourselves are not willing to do?

Not everyone is like Jackie Chan, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

Let’s focus on what they have done.

Let’s not forget that not all celebrities are just sitting in their palaces, asking people to lock themselves in their homes while they do nothing.

Many of the celebrities are doing their bit in helping financially. Not all celebrities are selfish.

Even one of the most criticized celebrities since the pandemic began is pledging $1 million towards COVID-19 relief efforts:

Covid-19: Arnold Schwarzenegger donates $1M towards relief efforts - TechZimo

IWMBuzz tells you ways Arnold Schwarzenegger donated $1M for aid efforts. Learn the story for extra particulars In…

techzimo.com

Yes, he shouldn’t have asked people to stay home while smoking a cigar in a hot tub. He wasn’t thinking straight I suppose.

He should have just told everyone to stay home with his Terminator character, in his Terminator costume.

We’re missing the point.

Forget about their celebrity status. Forget that they’re locked in a massive mansion with a swimming pool. Because we’re missing the point when we discuss about their wealth instead of the message they were trying to deliver.

We should all do our part in this crisis and that part is STAYING HOME.

We’re all in this together.

Whatever is being said and implied in the video messages, we should only hear and remember one thing loud and clear:

STAY THE HELL HOME.

We can talk social economic issue but the main focus should be on STAYING HOME, SAVING LIVES and DOING EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER, WHATEVER WE CAN, TO HELP.

Screw the celebrities and their money and their mansions. We don’t have time for that now. We have more urgent issues to attend to. Like how to keep covidiots from communing with the virus on the street. Or how to keep a certain Orange Individual from doing more damage to a great nation.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what your status in life is,

STAY AT HOME, SAVE LIVES is the only thing you need to be focusing on right now.

It’s not about them. It’s about US.

We can criticize the celebrities all we want but in the end, it’s not about them.

It’s about us.

As we have learned from many world leaders, difficult times reveal our true character.

Navigating a pandemic is a challenging task. None of us was prepared for this saved for the Doomsday Preppers. It’s time to reflect on ourselves, to make a decision on what kind of person we want to be. We have so many things to deal with and only so much attention span to spare. Which issue we choose to zone in on speaks volume about us.

We can discuss socio-economic disparity and celebrities lifestyle when this is all over. This is not the time to focus on the luxury the celebrities have in their possession. Every second we spend dissecting the lives of celebrities are the time we spend not talking about what matters the most:

what can we do to help?

Final words

Some people would probably hate me for writing this but I just cannot be silent. We need to remember that we are all in this together. I’ve read so many articles here from my fellow writers that there have never been before an event in such a scale that every individual in this planet is affected and that this is a call for unity. That’s absolutely right.

We are all in this together and we can only beat this virus if we do it together.

I hope the celebrities will do more to help. Many of them have done a lot but much much more can be done. We must also remember that we cannot rely only on rich people to help. We all can and should do our bit.

We might not be able to donate millions, but if a million people donate $1, that’s already a million. And a million can feed a lot of mouths. There are 7.8 billion of us. That’s 7.8 billion dollars if each person donates only $1.

Forget about the celebrities. Stop judging. Stop criticizing. It’s tiring and we need all our energy reserve to help millions of people in needs out there.

We are one big global family.

Let’s each and every one of us do our best for us.