Hey guys!
So for this month's topic, I want to talk about something new. This loosely correlates with labor rights but I still think it's relevant and important to discuss.
I was browsing through YouTube and saw something interesting. I saw a video about how much money public figures, namely celebrities, make. For one song produced and sold, for every movie made, celebrities make millions. And once they release these projects, a slew of companies hire them as spokespeople for their companies. Models and actors are paid an upward into the millions.
Now, I'm not hating on these celebrities. I'm a fan of a good number of celebrities and love listening to music and watching movies. I definitely think that artistic talent should be awarded accordingly and my post here today isn't necessarily meant to be cynical commentary on their profession as a whole, but rather a criticism of the wage disparity that is evident between celebrities and essential workers.
Essential workers are the backbone of this country, and I'm not just talking about the doctors, lawyers and mechanical engineers. I'm talking about our teachers, our janitors, our waiters. I'm talking about the people who work in the grocery store or volunteer to clean up the park. Small business owners. The people who park our cars when we go to a fancy hotel--our valets. There are people with 'less glamorous' jobs than these celebrities who perform work that we wouldn't be able to live without. If every person in the world was modeling for the cover of vogue, how would our society function?
Then, given the integral role our essential workers have, why shouldn't they be compensated as such? I know there are billionaires in the world who came from poor backgrounds and worked their way up the social ladder. Once again, I'm not bashing on any rich people. I'm not bashing on celebrities either. It just seems unfair that a lot of people work hard and do meaningful work, but is disregarded monetarily. I don't think any celebrity should amass millions of dollars while millions of people work several jobs just to make ends meet. I don't think it's fair that some kids have to give up their education to work. I don't think billionaires should exist at all--I mean, these people can say they are 'self made', but really, are they? Tell me one billionaire who hasn't had help from some essential worker. Would Amazon really be the company it is today without the thousands of workers who are working in the factories, packing up all the orders?
The video has really made me think about the wage disparity in America. What do you guys think? Do you think people are compensated for their work properly? Or do you think that income disparity is an issue that needs to be addressed seriously? Let me know.
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