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It’s not just selfies showcasing new haircuts and post-training group photos that Al Rashid’s social media accounts are filled with, however. As any of her regular followers can tell you, one of her online signatures is the empty black square, posted once every so often in observance of a humanitarian tragedy, social struggles or the occasional natural disaster. And there are plenty of other socio-political posts that the average celebrity would never put up for the world to see. Then again, we’re not talking about an average celebrity here.
“The current political climate is changing,” she asserts passionately. “It’s changing, man!” she then lists off a number of landmark events that have, indeed, changed the geopolitical landscape of the world. “And all of this stuff is happening at the same time that social media is gaining ground, where everyone is becoming so egocentric,” Al Rashid continues before moving on to the main reason of her vocal stance on so many issues: “I can’t accept the
world for what it is; I can’t accept social media for what it is; so, I want to use my social media accounts to bring reality to people. I’d be really upset when my political posts get fewer likes than selfies.”
As expected, the response to posts like this has been divisive, to say the least, with the usual torrent of “You’re a celebrity, what do you know?” responses. “On the one hand, reading those can be upsetting,” she concedes. “On the other hand, all you can do is laugh and I’m happy that at least I’m getting you to talk about it.” Al Rashid has no illusions about the limits of what her posts can achieve, but she still feels that raising awareness is an attainable goal. and she seems to actually like the way her followers argue back and forth about the issues she raises. “At least I’m provoking you to defend something that you believe in,” she concludes. “Whether I agree with you or not doesn’t matter.”
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