Perhaps one of the worst cultural changes in recent years has been the celebritization of politics, with politicians becoming celebrities and celebrities becoming even more political. After all, who doesn’t love it when actors, musicians, and artists channel the caricatures in Team America and lecture us on how the world really ought to work?Dua Lipa is not only a perfect example of this political celebrity but, thanks to her foray into the world of free speech, a perfect example of its hypocrisy and ignorance.
Apparently bored of condemning “Israeli genocide” and accusing the Israeli military of “burning children alive” after dating the son of virulent anti-Semite Mohamed Hadid, Dua Lipa is now being celebrated for opening her “Manifesto Library” as a “shrine” to banned books in Portugal’s historic Livraria Lello Bookshop.“This library is a shrine to books that have disappeared, to authors whose courage unmasks structures of power and control and to readers who refuse to be told what book they’re allowed,” Lipa wrote on Instagram, with the library adding that her collection “stems from the belief that much more than a story is lost when a book is censored.”“Reading the world brings us closer — but sadly, not everyone is in favor of that,” Lipa announced in a press release. “Here you will find one hundred books that ask questions, or have been questioned. Some have been banned by school districts for themes of race or sexuality. Others, written for LGBTQIA+ readers, have been restricted from display. In some cases, the author has paid for their words with their life.”Except none of this is brave or courageous. Instead, it’s more of the same celebrity virtue-signaling in which millionaires masquerade as culture warriors from within the safety of their own cultural bubbles. FILE – Dua Lipa attends the Clooney Foundation for Justice Albie Awards at The New York Public Library on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in New York. Albania’s president has granted citizenship to British pop star of Albanian origin Dua Lipa. President Bajram Begaj on Sunday, Nov, 27 said Lipa received citizenship ahead of Albania’s 110th anniversary of independence from the Ottoman Empire. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, file)
