As New Zealand experiences one of their worst tragedies, celebrities rushed to express an outpour of support.
March 15, 2019 saw one of the deadliest massacres to ever occur on New Zealand soils. Fifty are confirmed dead, another forty-nine are left injured after a terrorist burst into numerous mosques across Christchurch and opened fire on unsuspecting Muslim worshippers.
The incident has been described as “one of New Zealand’s darkest days” by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who immediately denounced the shooter – describing him as a terrorist, criminal and extremist who has no place in her country or the wider world.
The horrific event saw an outpour of support from people around the world with vigils and protests being held across Australia and New Zealand. The public came together in support of the Muslim community who had been scared and heartbroken after the shocking attack.
A tremendous amount of love was spread on social media by celebrities who spoke out and raised awareness about the important issues of Islamophobia and white-extremism that lie amidst the incident.
It isn’t exactly shocking to see celebrities show support and compassion when tragedies such as this occur. However, the outpour of love this particular tragedy received from celebrities was extremely overwhelming and surprising, to say the least.
It seems a lot of the public weren’t expecting so much public support from high-public entertainment figures since the victims belonged to a minority.
The reality is that the majority of this group are victims to tragedies such as these continuously in their war-ridden countries however, the normalisation of such incidents due to the condition of their nations leads to somewhat unwavering reactions.
However, regardless of the fact that the community affected in this particular tragedy were the Muslim community, condolences came from every direction.
John Legend, Russel Crowe, Mark Ruffalo and Kylie Jenner were just some of the celebrities that expressed their sympathies in the wake of this horrific tragedy.
Australian Journalist Waleed Aly gave an extremely moving plea on The Project about the Christchurch terrorist attack that perfectly sums up the Muslim community’s emotions surrounding the incident.
It’s extremely important to speak out about all the tragedies that unfold in our world regardless of the victims’ race, religion or background.
Although these celebrity reactions would be the least of the concerns of those affected, it is important to acknowledge the positive impacts such awareness can have.
Having such influencing figures raise awareness about such significant issues is extremely important in our contemporary society where social media plays such a substantial role in our everyday lives.
It isn’t about placing importance on a comment a celeb has made, more so the millions of people who will see that one post and investigate and research about those affected in these tragedies. Such large exposure can bring us closer to a more educated and well-informed society and thus, hopefully, a more compassionate and kinder world.
Let us know your thoughts on the reactions following the Christchurch shooting in the comment below.