She's Coming To Harvest Souls! Or Not.

So Lady Gaga is coming to South Africa at the end of the year. Yay, Nay, I don't really care what you think of her music, and it doesn't matter what I think of it either - the matter I wish to address here transcends music and comes to rest in the very fabric of humanity. 

Upon announcement of the tour, many people took to social media to voice their opinions. And good for them, opinions are what social media is all about, right? Well, up to a point...

The comments from the public were a sight to see indeed. Occasionally, someone made a remark along the lines of "Ah hells yea, I'm gonna be first in line for tickets, rocking my over-the-top outfit and crazy hair-do, bring on December!" However, the general response was overwhelmingly negative. Comment such as "She's awful, she's destroying music" are fine and were to be expected, but what on Earth gives any human being, under any circumstance, the right to label another human being as a 'Satanist' without having having met said person in their life? It is simply not on. Yes, she's odd, yes, her videos are more than a little strange, but devil-worship? Really? I'd heard such things before but I had no idea of the magnitude of these stories. People seemed genuinely scared: "Please don't let her in the country" said one. Are we about to take a leaf out of Jakarta's book, and not allow the woman to perform? Have we not moved past this? 

If you are impressionable enough to be influenced into worshipping the 'devil' because of a song or music video, then you have some serious problems in your life. I like to think that most people are able to distinguish reality from fantasy, but perhaps I'm simply forgetting the uproar Harry Potter caused years ago, when it allegedly glamourised witchcraft.  

A couple of centuries ago, someone may have been sentenced to death for allegations of witchcraft of devil-worpship...would everyone still be carrying on like this if it meant putting someone to death? Have they thought about that?

"She's coming to harvest souls for the devil!" Read another online comment. Um, forgive me for my ignorance, but if the devil wanted some souls, wouldn't he just harvest his own damned souls (excuse the pun)? Does he really need a popstar to do it for him?

The Illuminati were also not left out of the storm of backlash. '"Have you never heard of the Illuminati? She's evil." Yeah, I've heard of the Illuminati, buddy, but are you sure you have? Social media users unable to string a sentence together without resorting to SMS speak - "plz guyz y u let ha cm in dis country, she evil plz she da devil" - are going to be hard-pressed to convince me that they have enough knowledge of the Illuminati to pass a valid opinion. 

Perhaps these people think that they can say whatever they want because so-called 'celebrities' are so far removed from them that they cannot be affected by their hurtful and hateful comments - trust me, these people are wrong. Perhaps they don't see celebrities as people - trust me, they are people just like you and I (excuse the pun).

Anyway, I'm a firm believer that music can save or change lives (I won't go into the story of how my becoming a fan of The Killers changed the very course of my life), and if even one person in this world's life has been improved even marginally by this woman, who are you to call her evil? If a smile has been put on one face, surely that's enough of an achievement? Think about it. 

I think it's great that everyone has opinions, but I suggest you think before you pass comments about other human beings. Before you call someone else 'evil', take a minute to consider how 'evil' it is to judge someone you don't even know.