The Current | Vol. 31 Issue 9

October 6, 2020 | nsucurrent.nova.edu 10 Opinions Biden is barely liberal, let alone a socialist Republicans love throwing around the word socialist like they know what it means. To be completely honest, I have lost count of how many times my extremely conservative father has called me a socialist for thinking that people should not die because they cannot afford health care. Is not letting people die from reasons that are, in most cases, easily fixed by modern medicine really that radical of an idea? Does being a caring and empathic human being really make you a scary far-left radical? If you answered yes to either of those questions, I have one more question to ask you…Are you okay? Really, are you? There is not a socialist revolution happening in the U.S. What we do have is an increasingly authoritarian and radicalizing conservative regime. Those on the right praise and try to normalize white supremacists and Nazis while the politicians they claim are socialists are barely left of the center of the political spectrum. In addition, the ones that are far left radicals — such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — their policies are more in line with moderate liberal ideals. Remember that Gen Z started #SettleForBiden. We can go a lot further left. Can the Republicans go further then nationalism and overt racism? I’d like to hope not, but in 2020, hope is a scarce commodity. By: Alexander Martinie Opinions Editor Celebrities don’t need to be on every platform By: Sofia Gallus Arts & Entertainment Editor Everyone wants to stay on trend, including the trendsetters. The addition of celebrities brings any platform a huge influx of users, and the celebrity gets a whole new platform to advertise from. Celebrities have been exploring new ways to reach their fans now more than ever, as many of this year’s social gatherings have been cancelled or postponed. Using new platforms that rose to fame during quarantine are easy ways to maintain relevance and rake in a little cash along the PHOTO OBATAINED BY F. SHABAN Brie Larson’s Youtube channel way. It’s a seemingly good deal for both the celebrities and the platform developers, but what about the content creators who were already on that platform? Brie Larson, the actress who portrayed Captain Marvel, made a YouTube channel. The three-month-old account has only 12 total videos thus far, but boasts a 426,000 subscriber count. Kelsey Impicciche, a YouTuber whose account is seven years old and makes similar content, has 100,000 less followers than Larson. While YouTube isn’t necessarily a very competitive platform, live-streaming and pay-for-view platforms tell a different story. You can only watch one streamer on the live-streaming platform Twitch, and while the streamer is live, many people can donate money for shoutouts or a simple acknowledgement from the streamer. Celebrities such Brendon Urie, Snoop Dogg, and even Terry Crews, all livestream on the platform from time to time. When it comes down to it, how are fans going to spend their money? Donating to an independent content creator or donating for a chance at being recognized by a celebrity? Celebrities taking over spaces made for smaller content creators are harming creators who may be relying on their view count, subscribers or donations for their income. While it may be a sweet deal for the brand and the celebrity, the overall changes to the platform made to support celebrities who may be bringing in large quantities of fans has the ability to hurt content creators as well. Many application algorithms promote accounts that have larger followings and celebrities may be willing to pay more money to promote their accounts, drowning out smaller content creators. Over the last year, people have begun flocking to platforms such as TikTok and OnlyFans, both originally created in 2016. It didn’t take long for celebrities to invade these spaces either. Popular users on TikTok can pay to make sponsored posts to promote themselves. Seeing as young people especially have begun using TikTok on a daily basis, using the popular platform would be an easy way for already known and loved celebrities to gain larger followings and more cash influxes. OnlyFans offers a personal connection between content creators and their fans, offering a monthly subscription service to view content and interact with creators. However, celebrities, such as singer Cardi B and reality television star Dorinda Medley, have already hopped on the bandwagon. According to OnlyFans’ own earnings calculator, if only 1-5% of 1 million of Cardi B’s followers subscribed to her OnlyFans, she would make between $49,900 to $249,000 a month on that platform alone. Both platforms are heavily used by independent artists, musicians and other content creators to share their work and garner support and new customers. Celebrities joining these platforms not only hurt smaller content creators by taking attention away from their profiles, but continues to add wealth to celebrities that don’t really need it. Celebrities need to learn how to share the spotlight, share their platforms and share their wealth.