Sarah Durham Wilson, creator of MIELE, discusses her journey from celebrity-led white feminist to collective liberator — and how she went from being ten thousand spoons to what the world really needs.
Not that he was ever a good person, but I was a HUGE Seinfeld fan for more than 20 years. The first cats I adopted as an adult were named George Cat-stanza and Jerry. Now I can't hear his voice without my skin crawling. Outright support for genocide aside, almost no artists I love have been truly vocal, so this year has totally changed my view of celebrities and their selective activism and feminism. (Ahem, Lizzo, Taylor Swift, etc.)
Ooooh THIS. In my case it was the healing arts teachers who stayed and are still staying silent. And most of the yoga teachers, self-proclaimed shamans and « goddesses ». I feel like, almost a year after witnessing every day on our phones the slaughter of children and seeing women around me I considered as guides turn away from the horrors being done to the children of the world… I don’t know what I feel. Betrayal. Horror. It’s a rude awakening, and one that is necessary in this world where ecoside and genocide and being hushed under the pretense of « self-care » and « joy ». But I do know that love, real love, is FIERCE and RISES in these times. Thank you for this.
There are some practical things we can do to help Palestinians. Donate to charities like Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, UNRWA, Zakat, and Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Boycott companies like Starbucks, McDonald's, Puma, Hewlett Packard (HP), AirBnb, Expedia, L'Oreal, Burger King, Nestle, Amazon...Also download the NoThanks app to scan products and see what's safe to buy.
If you are really brave you can do things like withhold taxes, block entrances to military buildings, and sabotage arms manufacturers and artillery operations. Sadly, these are usually the only things that will actually make a change, because of the willful evil and stubbornness of the powerful people involved.
Vote for third party candidates like Jill Stein. Threaten to and actually withhold votes from candidates until they actually do practical, tangible work to stop the genocide (Biden could literally stop Israel from doing all this with one ten minute phone call and hasn't done so).
Talk about the issue with everyone you can, hand out pamphlets and hang up posters, join protests and action groups, and do what you can to lighten people's load on other fronts as well so we all have more energy and time to free Palestine.
Great article. Unpopular take, but I think celebrities, like everyone else, should be honest about who they really are. A lot of complaints about "parasocial relationships" are just the celebrity not wanting to deal with the mess that happens when they lie about who they are.
A lot of gaslighting also goes into expecting fans to magically read who the person really is (“you should have expected he’d cheat, he’s an actor,” “of course he’s really a thief in real life, he plays a hero onscreen and EVERYONE lies!!,” blah blah blah)
If you lie about who you are to ten people- say, your family and friends- your counselor says you’re unhealthy and should be more honest. If you do it to ten million people, well then that’s just fine!
This piece means so much to me. I felt the same way about Alanis. I especially idolized her as a young woman/ teen because she was a fellow-Canadian. It made her seem that much more relatable. However, I couldn't find her less relatable now. Radiohead is another disappointment.
Grateful for the BDS movement and for the No Thanks app for making it easy to bin all these "artists" and companies with the rest of the useless spoons.
Whoo…. This article packs a punch. Lots of things to ponder.
There’s honestly too many people who have platforms, celebrities to us “little people”, who have done nothing and disappointed. We all have a voice, few seem to be using it.
The biggest heartbreak for me has been Bryan Stevenson. But also PINK.
Love this piece
Not that he was ever a good person, but I was a HUGE Seinfeld fan for more than 20 years. The first cats I adopted as an adult were named George Cat-stanza and Jerry. Now I can't hear his voice without my skin crawling. Outright support for genocide aside, almost no artists I love have been truly vocal, so this year has totally changed my view of celebrities and their selective activism and feminism. (Ahem, Lizzo, Taylor Swift, etc.)
P!NK and Imagine Dragons were it for me. Childhood faves, thought I was gonna be a fan forever. Turns out that wasn't the case.
The disappointments are endless. From the people closest to me to just about every celebrity.
Ooooh THIS. In my case it was the healing arts teachers who stayed and are still staying silent. And most of the yoga teachers, self-proclaimed shamans and « goddesses ». I feel like, almost a year after witnessing every day on our phones the slaughter of children and seeing women around me I considered as guides turn away from the horrors being done to the children of the world… I don’t know what I feel. Betrayal. Horror. It’s a rude awakening, and one that is necessary in this world where ecoside and genocide and being hushed under the pretense of « self-care » and « joy ». But I do know that love, real love, is FIERCE and RISES in these times. Thank you for this.
There are some practical things we can do to help Palestinians. Donate to charities like Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, UNRWA, Zakat, and Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Boycott companies like Starbucks, McDonald's, Puma, Hewlett Packard (HP), AirBnb, Expedia, L'Oreal, Burger King, Nestle, Amazon...Also download the NoThanks app to scan products and see what's safe to buy.
If you are really brave you can do things like withhold taxes, block entrances to military buildings, and sabotage arms manufacturers and artillery operations. Sadly, these are usually the only things that will actually make a change, because of the willful evil and stubbornness of the powerful people involved.
Vote for third party candidates like Jill Stein. Threaten to and actually withhold votes from candidates until they actually do practical, tangible work to stop the genocide (Biden could literally stop Israel from doing all this with one ten minute phone call and hasn't done so).
Talk about the issue with everyone you can, hand out pamphlets and hang up posters, join protests and action groups, and do what you can to lighten people's load on other fronts as well so we all have more energy and time to free Palestine.
<3
Love this - I was in college when JLP dropped and definitely started the block party…too many to name! I feel so much in this piece, thank you!
Great article. Unpopular take, but I think celebrities, like everyone else, should be honest about who they really are. A lot of complaints about "parasocial relationships" are just the celebrity not wanting to deal with the mess that happens when they lie about who they are.
A lot of gaslighting also goes into expecting fans to magically read who the person really is (“you should have expected he’d cheat, he’s an actor,” “of course he’s really a thief in real life, he plays a hero onscreen and EVERYONE lies!!,” blah blah blah)
If you lie about who you are to ten people- say, your family and friends- your counselor says you’re unhealthy and should be more honest. If you do it to ten million people, well then that’s just fine!
This piece means so much to me. I felt the same way about Alanis. I especially idolized her as a young woman/ teen because she was a fellow-Canadian. It made her seem that much more relatable. However, I couldn't find her less relatable now. Radiohead is another disappointment.
Grateful for the BDS movement and for the No Thanks app for making it easy to bin all these "artists" and companies with the rest of the useless spoons.
Whoo…. This article packs a punch. Lots of things to ponder.
There’s honestly too many people who have platforms, celebrities to us “little people”, who have done nothing and disappointed. We all have a voice, few seem to be using it.
Pamela Adlon. I love Better Things.