By: Alexis Higgins
Online discourse on the Israel-Palestine conflict is creating a narrative of picking sides instead of attempting to achieve a better understanding of the situation and its history. One story on Instagram that does a good job of tackling this conflict is the statement of singer and entrepreneur Selena Gomez. In this statement, she wrote, “I wish I could change the world. But a post won’t,” acknowledging that social media is not the place to discuss such a complex issue with many ethical gray areas. Social media influencers cannot solve this problem with empty words. Selena Gomez is not the type of person people look to for political advice and opinions; she’s who you look to for a pigmented blush or shimmering highlighter. Kylie Jenner is also a founder of a makeup company, much like Selena, and she is not the type of person people look to for political advice and opinions. Kylie, however, did not understand this fact. She shared a post from a nonprofit group captioned “Now and always, we stand with the people of Israel!” with a picture of the Israeli flag. Non-political influencers and celebrities should convey absolute opinions on complex issues like this. They have a strong influence over their audience, and they should not be inducing their own bias over this audience built from non-political success.
