Why Do We Care About Influencers' Politics?
For most of us, it is impossible to not care about politics.
We care about who our dads vote for. We care about who our neighbors who seem totally cool but are actually Trumpers vote for. We care about who the PTA president votes for.
But we also care about who influencers vote for.
Recently, both the Smiths (Nara and Lucky Blue) and the Neelemans (Mr. and Mrs. Ballerina Farm) were outed as being alleged Trump voters, which surprised and dismayed some and served to confirm what others had assumed for years.
But either way, many of us CARE. I cared enough to write not one, but TWO essays about the BF/Evie collaboration, which more or less served as proof of the Neelemans’ MAGA political leanings.
While the politics of our neighbors, family members, and other community members have meaningful ramifications for our individual daily lives, influencers’ voting habits really don’t. At least, not in the same way.
This doesn’t mean that influencers’ politics don’t matter though. I’m just struggling to work out WHY. And maybe the why differs according to who you ask.
I think I care because of the ideas of boycotting and divesting. If I'm buying a product from someone who supports Trump, then that money in my head goes towards that cause. Especially with a small business, it feels like I'm saying yes you can have those beliefs, and I will still give you money. That feels icky to me.
Yesterday I got an ad on Instagram for something that looked cool and I was curious to see how much it was, so I went to the site, and when I got there a banner popped up that said "Flash sale ends in:" with a countdown timer that was all 0s for a moment, then turned into 2 minutes and 39 seconds. I was like, I am not going to buy this thing in the next 2:39, but I feel like this is a random number generator and you're just trying to pressure me, so let's wait and see what happens when the timer runs out. The timer ran out. Flash sale over. Bummer! The sale price didn't immediately change, though. I refreshed the page. The exact same banner popped up, all 0s for a moment, then turned into 32 minutes and 12 seconds.
My point is that we're all being we're all being lied to constantly. 75% of my incoming phone calls are scams. Corporations say and do anything to get us to sign up for things then make it impossible to cancel. Republicans lie and lie and lie and the major TV networks and newspapers just nod along and agree with every single lie, no matter how brazen, no matter if the lie is the opposite of the lie they agreed with last week.
I am angry at everyone who contributes to this culture of mistrust, and that includes every single influencer that hems and haws about "what even is a feminist? politics? what's that? I just really like living this way and my choices are made in a vacuum and have absolutely nothing to do with any religion or worldview that wants to oppress everyone" is the same g-damn problem as "alternative facts" and "minimum national standard".
Kelly Havens Stickle doesn't have nearly the reach of Ballerina Farm, and that's 100% because she's not lying about why she lives the way she does. And I really hate KHS's worldview, but at least she's fucking honest about it! It's morally reprehensible to me the way Ballerina Farm (and others) present this vision of life as completely neutral and and politics-free.
And somehow, as a society, we've all just decided that it's not even the influencers' fault! (Not here, obviously, we know what's going on (https://sarapetersen.substack.com/p/the-warrior-moms-who-elected-trump). But there are so many people out there who will just brush it all off, like "well, you should just think about what you consume more! it's your fault if you fell for the sophisticated and coordinated propaganda" and give a pass to every single person who spends their life lying to us.