As someone who is a perfectly normal person, I consume entertainment media and have certain celebrities, influencers and stars whom I follow consistently and love to watch. However, I think that we as people often hold those with a following to a higher standard than we hold our ordinary peers. 

At times I think this is warranted; for example, many of us would turn a blind eye to seeing a classmate cheating on an exam because we don’t want to make a scene, but if we saw Miley Cyrus doing something less than savory, well it’s all over the news.

But oftentimes, I find that when people have a screen and random username to hide behind, we expect more out of our idols than we ourselves could give. 

I really noticed this when a lot of the details of Israel’s War in Gaza were first coming to light. Obviously, the events of this war are incredibly controversial, and many people have strong opinions on what stances are morally right and wrong. However, let’s just be honest with ourselves for a second. 

I can count on one hand the number of my peers who are regularly posting well-thought-out social or political opinions on social media, and I bet that if I were to walk up to the average student on campus and ask them to give a thoughtful interview for The Colonnade of their take on the war, most of you would decline to make a statement.

From my experience, the biggest reasons that students wouldn’t want to attach their name permanently to a hot-button issue—whether it be a war, the recent election, abortion or any other issue that presents social, moral and for many, political arguments—are because they don’t want to become a target by those who disagree, attacked because they say something wrong or uninformed or make a mistake because they truly just don’t keep up with world events and aren’t informed. 

Though I bet many of you would agree with me when I say that being well-informed is important, it does take some actual effort and regular research that many people just don’t do. Fortunately, as ordinary people, if we’re stopped on the street to give a take on a polarizing issue, we can decline, and no harm is done. But for an influencer, this is much more difficult.

I specifically recall seeing comment sections of comedians and people who just make goofy TikToks filled with calls to “use your platform” and make a statement and promote action on both foreign and domestic events and issues. However, just because these people have a platform built on humor and jokes does not make them any more well-informed on policy or international relations than the average person, yet they are treated as though they are. 

Influencers are expected to take a stand, then demonized if they don’t, demonized if anything they do say is incorrect or ages poorly and demonized by anyone who disagrees with what they have to say. There is no right answer, no way to please everybody and no way to politely decline to speak on account of not being a political scientist.

Brittany Broski, for example, is an influencer and comedian with podcasts, YouTube channels, merch and a pretty big following. Like many others, she got her start by blowing up on TikTok and continuing to grow because she is creative and just funny. However, she became subject to attack in her comment sections when she had yet to publicize her stance on the conflict in Gaza, as hundreds of thousands of her followers demanded to hear from her.

Let’s pause and remember that influencers are real people, and many have secondary jobs. These people still have to go about everyday life but are forced to wear all of their political, social and potentially even controversial opinions on their chest. Influencers aren’t the Taylor Swifts and Elton Johns of the world who can go about life every day and avoid having to interact with angry followers. 

What if making a dramatic stand online has repercussions in their everyday job? Between working full time, making internet content and then also just having a life, how do you want them to go about conducting serious and balanced research? It’s far from impossible, but we all just need to remember that having a following and making comedy, cooking videos, arts and crafts, doing hair or any other creative media does not make anyone obligated to express and cement opinion on anything, especially if doing so has the chance to jeopardize their ability to lead a good life off the internet. Essentially, being funny doesn’t make you an expert on social issues.

I encourage people to think and remember to have empathy. Though influencers making a stance or encouraging people to involve themselves in politics can be applauded, it shouldn’t be expected of them or warrant attack if they choose not to. Remember that we normal people don’t walk around every day wearing our personal opinions on our chest, and holding others to an unreasonable higher standard that could actually make their life more difficult is hypocritical.