I am a Trump supporter. However, I get annoyed with President Trump when he wastes his time on brainless celebrities that believe their own over-inflated sense of importance. Kim Kardashian knows as much about criminal justice reform as I know about, say, working on a space shuttle. But she went to the White House last May and spoke with the president about that very thing. She was also advocating for a pardon for Alice Marie Johnson, a woman serving a life sentence for a drug conviction. This act of actually listening to her and considering her points only solidified and emboldened her self-importance.
Now Kim is making waves again, calling for gun control after the tragedy that occurred in New Zealand. New Zealand moved quickly to “strengthen” gun laws in the wake of the shooting. Of course, Kim jumps on the bandwagon calling for our elected officials to do the same thing. Great idea, Kim. Maybe we should make lots of stuff illegal, so it won’t happen anymore. We should have thought of that sooner.
She also took time to get in the news by offering to pay for Matthew Charles’ rent in Tennessee. Mr. Charles spent the majority of his life in prison but President Trump’s First Step Act made his release possible. I have another idea, Kim: maybe he can come live with you instead of making headlines at his expense. You would find some way to extort him into some TV show where you make a lot of money and try to create a perception that you are soooo morally righteous. Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice gesture. The problem that gives it a disingenuous feel is that the gesture was shouted from Twitter’s mountaintop. There are more humble ways to do a good deed instead of screaming to the world, LOOK AT ME, I’m a GOOD PERSON!
Celebrities get too used to everyone sucking up to them, so they believe they’re smarter than they actually are. Everyone around them agrees with their opinions, and then we give them this platform, so they believe it is their voice that is going to change the world. Ashton Kutcher is on the opposite end of that spectrum. Instead of gaining notoriety on the backs of less fortunate people, he and Demi Moore founded Thorn. To this day, Thorn has done more to aid police and investigators in helping victims of human trafficking than any tweets Kim has ever posted. Ashton and Demi are doing this on a global level…and it’s working. People don’t realize how effective their technology is because they’re not telling everyone how great of a job they’ve done. I have worked with multiple agencies and investigators and Spotlight (a Thorn product) is the go-to at the onset of an investigation and in developing leads. This organization has saved thousands of victims of sex trafficking, particularly kids. Demi and Ashton have created a legitimate tool that is helping while not demanding praise. Amazing, isn’t it?
Kim, take a note from Ashton and Demi: f you want to make a real difference, how about start investing in law enforcement instead of grandstanding on what you perceive as a criminal justice mishap. Contrary to popular belief, you can do something good and not expect everyone to praise you for it. Like Kanye says, “Sometimes the prettiest people do the ugliest things.”
