Ashton Kutcher recently gave a speech in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing about child sex trafficking. We all know Kutcher as an A-list celebrity, but what many of us don’t know is he is the chairman and co-founder of Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children. This organization builds software to help find and rescue those involved in human trafficking. Kutcher spoke for 15 minutes about his experiences: “It’s working,” he said. “In six months, with 25% of our users reporting, we’ve identified over 6,000 trafficking victims, 2,000 of which are minors. This tool has enhanced 4,000 law enforcement officials in 900 agencies. And we’re reducing the investigation time by 60%.” During his speech, he held back emotion and spoke of seeing horrific scenes from being on raids with the FBI.
I would like to think that people would see Ashton Kutcher as more than a ‘celebrity’ after doing work like this. But, for some reason, if you’re known for anything other than public service, especially if you’re a celebrity, you aren’t allowed to do other things without being destroyed by (mostly) right-winged conservatives. They use their positions to stick up for what they see is wrong. Some argue that ‘elites’ use their stage to preach unfounded political views. My argument is, so what?
People, such as, Tomi Lahren, are constantly speaking against celebrities who don’t share conservative views. “The star-studded elites will take any opportunity and use any award show to demonstrate how much they truly care about the poor, the environment and, of course, refugees, “she rants. “A little hypocritical when they fly around on private jets, rake in millions of dollars for memorizing lines or, my personal favorite nugget of hypocrisy, live in multi-million dollar compounds in the Hollywood Hills surrounded by gates, guards and private security.” She said this about Kutcher after he spoke up against Trump’s ‘Muslim ban.’ But, inexplicably, she has no problem with a celebrity as our president. In fact, in her eyes, he can do no wrong.
Tomi has recently become a popular spokesperson for conservatism. She gets millions of views and social media has made her famous. I’m curious to know how a 24-year-old ‘commentator’ has any room to speak about a person who works daily to save human trafficking victims? I bring up this example because Kutcher represents everything good about a celebrity. He worked as a dishwasher before he made it big and uses his privilege to help other people. Even then, he’s scrutinized and labeled as an “elitist liberal.”
Everywhere you go, someone else will have a different opinion of you. All celebrities are people, and people tend to have opinions. They all have things they care about, political or not. The only difference is they have more ears willing to listen. The solution to celebrity opinion-giving is easy: if you don’t like their opinions, don’t listen to them.
When did we start caring about who cares? The argument that celebrities shouldn’t do anything but perform for audiences is ridiculous. If you don’t want to see them because they’re vocal in their opinions, don’t watch their shows or movies or award shows. Don’t listen to their music. Don’t consume their performances. Simple as that.