On December 2nd, Jeremy Corbyn posted a message on Facebook and Twitter that said: “Parliament has just voted to launch airstrikes in Syria. I am reminded of the messages I have received in recent days from my constituents who have expressed deep concern for family in Syria. I also think of our armed forces whose lives will be put in danger. The fact of the matter is, David Cameron’s case was not convincing, lacking either credible ground troops or a plan for a diplomatic settlement. Since he first made his case for airstrikes in Syria, last Thursday, opposition has mounted; in the country, in parliament and in the Labour Party. It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Prime Minister realised opposition to his ill thought-out rush to war was growing – and he needed to hold the vote before it slipped from his hands. I have argued, and will continue to do so, that we should re-double our efforts to secure a diplomatic and political end to the conflict in Syria. British service men and women will now be in harm’s way and the loss of innocent lives is sadly almost inevitable.”
When the news came out that the Parliament voted to bomb Syria, Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall took to Twitter to post her opinion about the whole thing. She replied back to Jeremy’s post on Twitter and said: “Truly saddened and ashamed by the vote tonight. So, so sorry to the innocent people of Syria xxjadexx”. After posting her tweet, she received a lot of criticism from a lot of different people. There were people telling her to stick to making ‘bad’ music, to stop being soft, asking her who cares what she thinks, and calling her clueless all because of her opinion.
That same day, user @kissyourtears replied to one of Jade’s tweets and said: “#1 you’re smart, Jade. you’re always standing up for your girls and empowering woman, speaking your mind and always debating”. Jade replied and said: “thank you, even when men try to mock me for having musical/sports/political opinion. Don’t let them belittle you!”
Over the next few days, there were articles being posted about Jade and her opinion about the UK bombing Syria. The Telegraph posted an article titled ‘Pop stars do politics: Little Mix criticised for having opinion on Syria airstrikes.’ Jade responded to the article and said: “Sure it’s not the first time a young woman has been mocked for having political opinion. Men from my own party too. Shameful”. A couple of days later, Jade had a chat with the Daily Star and she revealed that she is glad that spoke out about it. She said: “I’m glad I did [speak about it]. I put my opinion on Twitter and I don’t regret it but I don’t need to say anymore about it.”
There were two comments below the Daily Star article that said: “They should stick with being eye candy and stay out of politics” and “These girls all have one thing in common, from the neck down they are all ok`ish’.” Why should Little Mix have to stay out of politics just because their opinion is different from yours? What do their looks and what they do for a living have anything to do with their opinion or what they think is right or not?
At the BBC Music Awards on December 10th, Little Mix spoke to Loaded and said that everyone should be allowed to have an opinion, no matter who they are. Jade said: ‘Pop stars should have opinions. Just because we’re pop stars, that doesn’t mean we don’t have a brain.’ Leigh-Anne Pinnock added: ‘We’ll have opinions about anything. We’re humans like anybody else.’ Jade added, ‘Does being a pop star make us any less as people? Are we thick just because we’re pop stars?’
Why isn’t Little Mix’s opinion (a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge) not valid because they are young women who sing pop songs? Why do people think that women shouldn’t be able to talk about politics just because they are women? Everyone should be able to have an opinion without being criticized because of who they are.
In your opinion, do you believe that pop stars aren’t taken as seriously just because of the music they make? Leave a comment below or tweet us at @CelebMix!