Until the digital age, we were used, at least our parents were, to reading and following the news on TV, tuning in at a certain hour for Radio Shows, listening carefully to interviews so we could get a better insight to the subject of our interest. But then comes in Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and we’ve lost our mind. Especially in the beginning, bullying was THE top used method to interact online with other users. I honestly think it came from being suffocated by traditional media propaganda. Then once we’ve let out our inner mental crap online, we’ve realized as a society that it is not cool and it may hurt someone. So we started putting laws in place to actually punish bullies. Once we did that, other people started abusing that too. Now we’ve got a thousand boxes to put opinions in: extremists, radicalists, rebels, anarchists, terrorists, sexists, misogynists, homophobic folks, transphobic people, etc, etc, etc. The downside is that as a musician, YOU CAN NOT AFFORD LOSING FANS by expressing your personal opinions. I get that from time to time you will get pissed off and vent anyways, but please, never touch THESE 7 subjects.
7. Donald Trump
It became pretty mainstream to trash the President of the United States, but please don’t do it. The same people liking your comments might be the same ones that secretly support him and his ideas, and helped him become the 45th president. Stay neutral. And stay away from the temptation of sharing news and articles alike that express a very categoric view on him. You never know when your actual employer or the next one will do a background check on you and see that your opinions are too radical. And not to mention, there’s A LOT OF FAKE NEWS. Best to stay away from this stuff. Take care of your civic duty and go to vote but don’t be all in your feelings about it on your social media pages. You will be the one hurting in the end.
6. Vegans
They are very mainstream too. And high in numbers. Don’t set your social media on fire and turn your vegan fans into haters, cause usually a neutral relationship can not be achieved with a person who feels very very strong about a certain matter. Live and let live.
5. Women Rights
A kick in the gut for the female followers of this website but… ladies… we’re here to make money and increase our fan bases, not to complain. Show your beliefs through your actions and life choices. Talking or lamenting behind a keyboard doesn’t do much. Go on petition websites if you want to feel like you’re making a difference from your laptop.
4. Wars And 3rd World Countries
You think you know, but trust me, you don’t. Having been born in a 3rd world country myself, I strangled a lot of people imaginary when I heard the BS coming out their mouth when hearing where I’m from. For example, when I was on tour in 2007 in France, some dumb kid asked me ”why are you white? Isn’t your country like… in Africa or something?” NO. Moldova is in Eastern Europe, thank you, next. And you’re offending more than you’re helping when adding your 2 cents to discussions about countries you’ve never been in. Unless you’re a citizen of that country, DON’T SAY JACK.
3. Someone Else’s Children
I don’t think it is necessary to elaborate on this topic, but I will as recently I had to cancel an interview with an artist as a result of his opinions on Dwyane Wade’s son. For those unfamiliar with the background story of this hot topic, basically he has a son that identifies as a woman and wants to be called ‘she’ instead of ‘he’. I don’t care and neither should you. In the sense that every parent has the right to educate their child as they please. That child is not your responsibility, you’re not paying for his/her school and you literally got NOTHING to do with that family. And even if you did, WHY would you alienate potential admirers of your music just because you can’t wrap your mind around SOMEONE ELSE’s education style? Get a diary, a real life one, not a digital one, and write your thoughts in it. There, I just saved you an hour of therapy that would cost you anywhere from $50 to $200.
2. Unverified News
Recently on Facebook, there was a huge hoax circulating around that said that Jackie Chan fell prey to the Coronavirus and died soon after. Turns out, after tens of thousands of retweets and reposts, Jackie had to clarify himself the rumors and tell the world he is fine and alive. Now… let’s say that you reposted things like that having your heart in the right place. But do it more than once and… you lose your overall credibility. People will end up thinking that 1. you’re ignorant as you keep reposting fake news 2. you’re naive as you believe this stuff enough to share it with your followers 3. you got nothing better to do. None of the 3 is worth those 2 seconds of sharing the sensational news. Because unfortunately, sensationalism is often fiction.
1. Religion
Just don’t. I’m hesitant to even explain to you the implications of ranting about religious views. Let me put it in numbers: in 2015, 31.2% of the world’s population were Christians, that’s over 2.3 billion people, while over 1.8 billion are adherent to Islam, which is over 24% of the world’s population. Shall I continue? 15% of the population practice Hinduism (over 1.1 billion people), and a whole 1.2 billion people don’t believe in any God at all. Support Christianity and you get the other groups against you. Support Islam and you get put in a box and ignored socially. Support atheists and you get considered a soulless person as most prefer that you at least believe in something greater than yourself.
Make a mental checklist before you post a status on your social media profiles and save yourself the headache, arguments, angry fans, lost money and dislikes on YouTube because of a simple opinion. You can only change the things around you through your actions.
Blue Rhymez Entertainment 