Mural to incentivize athletes or celebrities to support public protests and uprisings
Image credit: unsplash.com (Alex Paganelli)
Miloš StankovićDec 06, 2021
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Why:
Recently I saw quite a few questions about how to incentivize celebrities to back the people in public protests.
Obviously, their words of support would mean a lot in climates where the regime holds the mass media, it could also get the limelight on the problem from outside of the country.
Solution:
Celebs, particularly athletes often get honoured by murals, so I thought of an art piece that would shame celebs into action.
To avoid the real-life mess that inspired me and keep it theoretical, let's say the Irish are protesting pollution and have been beaten by the police and masked hooligans paid by the regime.
So the mural would have a big Conor McGregor figure getting uplifted by the people, praised, adored as he was in his rise to fame. Particularly relevant for his success, yet there is the audience/people element in every major athlete's career, be it by the sheer numbers for their social media presence that they sell to marketers, or by actual live game support and buying their merchandise. It applies similarly to actors and singers.
As the big lavish McGregor figure is being adored by the crowd, rows of smaller-drawn humans, with them wearing his shirts, tweeting at him, yelling support. The rows in the back are getting darker and darker in colour. The last rows are suffocating in pollution, coughing while getting beaten by the police and masked hooligans with bats.
Somewhat similar in concept to this, albeit more horizontal.
Playing the devil's advocate, a few thoughts come to mind:
They might not want to get involved
They might not agree with the protesters
They can't hide in the masses and would feel the full wrath of the govt. they would be rising against
Dragging them in with a mural is not unlike what cancel culture does. "Either you are with us or we will point fingers at you which will take a toll on your social status."
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Miloš Stanković2 years ago
- Well the mural is there to show why they should care and to spur their desire to get involved. Not just of the individual in the mural, but of other celebs.
A great artist could find a way to fuse multiple celeb faces together, or even to leave the face space empty, and use elements like a basketball ball or football or microphone to showcase the professions of typical celebs. In order not to get too personal or specific that might make one person the scapegoat and the other slide from responsibility.
- It's hard imagining a person that doesn't agree with pollution protests, aside from fossil-fuel moguls. Although I can imagine some divisive protests. In that case, the mural can at least make them be a part of the public discourse.
The most important aspect of my post was the police and paid masked hooligans beating civilians on government orders. If a public figure is ok with that, it's better to be known and they should lose support. I don't think it's close to cancelling someone over a joke from five years ago.
- The main reason the government can inexcusably go at the common man is that he is voiceless. Superstar celebrities are not. They often live abroad, have millions, and could muster the help of the broader public and their massive organisations like the NBA to put pressure on the government. Several of them doing it combined - that would be a massive compound effect.
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NFTs with a powerful message
jnikolaDec 10, 2021
I like the idea of a mural because it's an everyday thing that "lives" within the community. But, at the same time, it only affects people that see it. Also, people passing by it every day could feel the impact of their community "hero", but could also get very used to it. I am not saying it couldn't work, but even if it ends up in popular magazines, it's a message with limited coverage and it will probably "fade" over time.
Maybe a current trend, NFTs, could help. If an artist creates powerful digital art showing the same thing as a mural, it's more likely to go viral and affect much more people!
I know that some problems are meant to stay local, but it's just a suggestion for those things that affect everyone.
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Miloš Stanković2 years ago
I thought of a mural because athletes often get honoured with them and usually end up posing in front of them for photos. Or they at least retweet or post the photo of a mural on their Instagram. So they do usually end up finding out about them on social media alone after they go viral.
I don't think NFTs are on most athletes and regular celebrities radar as of yet. Although, certainly, those can help spread the message further.
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jnikola2 years ago
Miloš Stanković I like the Adesanya tweet :)
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Miloš Stanković2 years ago
Juranium I'm literally wearing a Whittaker shirt today, but Adesanya popped up first and it is a great mural.
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But do they agree with the protesters?
Contrived _voiceFeb 22, 2022
I think this is a question of free will as Dragan Otasevic mentioned up there. Let's say you were a Celebrity and your hometown was protesting, say a new bill in parliament. It would not be ethical for them to drag you into it or rope you as a symbol for their cause unless you willingly wanted to support it.
Might be just me but it doesn't exactly feel right to use someone's position in society to strong-arm them to do something, Especially athletes. They dedicate a lot of time and effort honing their craft, it wouldn't be fair for them to come home and find murals depicting them as villains for not supporting the causes some people want them to.
It just feels underhanded, It would be simpler to just ask them their views first and if they agree, then you could use their agreement as part of your body of proof that you're right.
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Miloš Stanković2 years ago
I think I stated in the response to Dragan as well, there are matters that are beyond personal beliefs. Like the police brutalizing citizens who are protesting and have the right to protest.
Matters like police brutality, air pollution for profit, rich and powerful being above the law.
Obviously, no one is going to make an effort to include athletes in protests about a new stop sign in a small town, or a bill about fines for jaywalking. But for major stuff, sure.
There needs to be consensus around extreme situations. Whoever thinks that behaviour like the one in the linked clip is ok, should be accountable to the masses that in a way pay for their sponsorships and merchandise.
A simple question will be skipped by athletes who have received media training and have PR teams usually monitoring interviews. Also, oftentimes journalists can't "afford" to ask these questions. Anonymous street artists can.
A piece of art has the emotional weight that will spur a reaction, a more honest response.
It's more unethical to keep quiet when you have a loud voice than it is to state what is true in essence. The fans/people pay for the tickets, pay for the jerseys, pay for the merchandise, building up the celebrity. So when they are in jeopardy, shouldn't the celeb pay the support back with the voice the people have amplified?
If the celeb doesn't agree with the protest, let them say it. Then he will lose some of its following. A fair trade.
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Contrived _voice2 years ago
Miloš Stanković but why involve them if they don't want to be involved? Being an athlete or celebrity doesn't mean you have to speak out against these things. Isn't that just making them take the fall for something they have no control over? making a mural attacking Usain Bolt or Eluid Kipchoge for not speaking out against pollution doesn't achieve anything other than making them feel bad about it.
The better option would be making art and murals directed at the people actually responsible for it. Political leaders that pass bills allowing factories to pollute the environment, Heads of police who order their men to use brutal force, CEO's of companies who are major carbon emitters. These are the people that should be punished by the court of public opinion. The public doesn't even know their names, Isn't the purpose of art to enlighten the public? Then let them know who is to blame.
You can't force people to fight the same battles that you're driven toward. Some athletes actually do a lot of good already, opening gyms or donating to gyms to get the youth away from things like selling drugs, education initiatives, and Sports programs. They are already doing something to fix the problems that they are invested in. Why vilify them for not being able to fix everything?
Punishing athletes and robbing them of their supporters isn't fair if they did not contribute to the problem. Athletes serve to inspire people. I don't see why you're dead set on tying them down to a sinking ship they did not choose to board.
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Miloš Stanković2 years ago
Contrived _voice I mean I already gave you the answer to your first question in detail. It's a relationship between the fans/people and the celebrity. The latter can't exist without the first. If the celeb doesn't care about the basic well-being of the people, then the people have the right to know and act accordingly.
To put it differently: if you were that guy getting beaten by a squadron of police even though you are not resisting, and the celebrity you like the most is cool with it, would you still continue liking/supporting him?
No one is making an argument that there aren't a lot of celebs who are doing the right things.
What the mural aims to achieve is making the quiet ones speak on it and make pressure on the decision-makers. On the media.
For the people actually responsible for atrocities, any criticism is water off a duck's back. They know what is going on. So do the people who are criticizing them.
Celebrities can support the people who have their voices taken from them and to notify the broader public. How many people would've known about the oppression happening in Turkey without the NBA player Enes Kanter speaking on it?
Miloš Stanković Dec 06, 2021
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