No, you shut up and ...
Last night Meryl Streep used the platform she has earned through years of dedication to her craft to speak her mind. Today, as usual, people took to the internet to tell her to “shut up and act.”
Shut up and act, shut up and sing, however you want to phrase it, is a crappy thing to say to ANYONE. It’s 2017 and entertainers are not your servants. Yes, they make things for your pleasure, but since you’re supposed to PAY for what they make, you don’t own them. You have NO RIGHT to silence them. It is a shameful thing to do and, unfortunately, makes YOU less of a person.
We are not defined by our jobs, even though society keeps trying to ram that outdated (and yes, LIMITING) thought down our throats. If you are defined by your job, that’s okay, like I said, this idea has been crammed down our throats for quite some time. Use whatever you’re feeling to be more than your job.
The other thing you need to realize is that the entertainers who speak their minds do the most interesting work. While I think they are really at good at what they do, the reason I continue to watch or listen to Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, Jesse Williams, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson, Harry Connick Jr, Cyndi Lauper, Ellen Degeneres, Shemar Moore, Elizabeth Banks, Sara Ramirez, Sara Bareilles, and so on, is because they live full, inspired lives and they use their voices for good.
Try adding yours. As Kid President says, “If you can’t say something nice, you’re probably not thinking hard enough.”
