Last year, after Donald Trump’s presidency was announced, Shia LaBeouf established an art project called “He Will Not Divide Us.” LaBeouf set up a camera for bystanders to voice their arguments for unity. LaBeouf’s actions speak for him, and his actions speak louder. Whatever side LaBeouf’s actions spoke for, it was his actions that spoke, and not his words alone.
Society is an amalgam of individuals who operate under an agreement. This agreement is an implicit cooperation born out of good will – against common evil and for common good. Citizens form protests, writings, treatises and social movements with the intention to make changes in society.
The entire concept of a social movement relies upon agreement, and a social movement is allowed to accomplish anything only if it has the aggregate of thousands of voices raising its banner. Without this hot force, the air quickly rushes out of a movement and is set along the wayside to shrivel and wait until society decides to take another look at it. Contributing to the lives of these ideas are society’s chosen heroes: celebrities.
Celebrities are like social movements. They are people chosen by society’s spotlight – people to whom the masses observe, read and listen. By virtue of society’s attention and admiration, they possess great strength in how they act. The relationship between celebrities and social movements is tricky. Anyone who strains too far against society’s goals becomes irrelevant. This phenomenon, however, could lead celebrities to false actions and words. If words are not backed by conviction and action, they become a cowardly lie.
We The Threefold Advocate then argue for conviction and its partner: action. If there is no action behind words, then words are nothing but sentiments – little more than imagination. Words carry weight, but if you give your support for a march or a cause without contributing your time and energy into that cause yourself, then you have wasted your breath.
Examining a person’s engagement in social issues and movements requires careful thought and deliberate investigation. If this is the case, then much of the consumption of celebrity messages and actions requires work on the part of the consumer.
We The Threefold Advocate speak now to the individual. This world is a clouded place. Truth hides behind a fog of motivations and manipulations; hearsay and shared Facebook articles do not constitute a holistic or comprehensive view of reality. Yes, it is difficult. The consumer has to push through the motivations of contrary agents, acting either passively or actively against the discerning thinker seeking the truth.
We The Threefold Advocate ask for truth, and that is the very purpose of this newspaper. The celebrity speech, the politician’s filibuster or the Buzzfeed article are set in society’s river, and each float in the misaim of ideas. The truth is there, though it may be hard to find. It will be hard, and it will be discouraging, but one can do nothing if one refuses the truth.