Splashed across the headlines of every newspaper recently is the story of the Beckham fallout. The eldest son of the footballer and pop star power couple has broken the internet with his Instagram story revelations about his family, his wedding, and particularly his mother, Victoria.
Brooklyn, the firstborn of Victoria and David’s four children, is been reported to have been estranged from his family for some time. The statement followed months of media speculation, finally confirming that the rumours were true. But in a world where climate change is growing ever more dire, there are genocides ongoing in several countries, and ICE is enforcing American immigration policies with an iron fist, why do we care?
It is understandable that where we constantly live in fear of the next headline, we would be apt to find a more light-hearted, family drama story to take our minds off the grim realities of the society we live in. But just because a story about Palestine, or carbon waste, makes us uncomfortable, does not mean that we should simply cover our ears and shut it out. The fact that we are able to do that, instead of facing a situation head on, is already a privilege.
Still worrying is the notion that we are so invested in the lives of the rich. Nicola Peltz-Beckham is the daughter of Nelson Peltz, a Zionist billionaire who wields a powerful position in Unilever. The Beckhams have an estimated net worth of half a billion. These people don’t have to worry about the price of the next food shop, and yet, we are allowing their drama to infiltrate our lives. It is an interesting case study of human nature, to say the least. But it makes one wonder why we are so concerned about their family problems, rather than drawing attention to the ethical problems they contribute to.
The Beckhams, for example, are one of the most regularly criticised famous families for their private jet emissions. Instead of maintaining our parasocial relationships with celebrities who do not know we exist, we should be acquainting ourselves with ways in which we can boycott the very things that give the mega rich so much power.
Issues such as using Firefox instead of Google, deleting your “finsta” account and keeping your social media presence to the minimum, shopping local when you can, are seldom, if at all, discussed. Hopefully, these issues will soon come to the forefront. But for now, the world is prioritising cheap gossip stories over human interest angles that could help make the world a better place.