Is there anything worse than celebrities lecturing us on Brexit? Tourists that walk slowly along Oxford Street, you say, or people who don’t get their money ready in a queue. Both reasonable contenders.
Still, it’s tough to beat snivelling, sanctimonious stars. And haven’t we had a lot of them as 23 June draws closer. They love telling us what to do, whether it’s voting remain – or remain.
Today’s latest offenders are Vivienne – frack off – Westwood, Lily Cole and Keira Knightley. They’ve launched a campaign aimed at young people, called #DontFuckMyFuture (because if there’s swearing involved, young people will definitely listen).
Each of them takes part in a short video. In Cole’s she holds her leg in the air, saying: ‘It only takes me five seconds to stretch my legs, and it only takes five seconds to mark an X in a ballot box.’ Yes, yes, we get it, ladies: it’s easy to vote.
The façade of this is that it’s not really about the importance of voting, but getting young people to vote – who are much more likely to opt for ‘Remain’ in the upcoming referendum.
Unfortunately for the Remainers, young people are lazy. Statistics suggest that only 50 per cent of under-35s are predicted to turn up to polling stations next Thursday.
And so we’re seeing more and more of these ‘edgy’ A-list campaigns, designed to get youths off Whatsapp and into the polling stations. This one is perhaps one of the lamest efforts so far – thinly-veiled propaganda for intergenerational politics. ‘Don’t fuck our future,’ says Cole at one point, presumably cautioning against big, bad old people (who are far more likely to vote Out). And what’s Westwood doing lecturing young people on the future? Irony alert: she’s 75!
I will never understand why politicians and celebrities alike are so intent on motivating the indifferent. It doesn’t seem particularly impressive to win off the back of people who lack passion and conviction – and knowledge – about the future of the EU. Why let the uncertain make certain our future?
But Westwood and friends (and there are a lot of friends) will not relinquish their efforts. In doing so, they not only look desperate, but also like terrible busy bodies. From Cumberbatch to Bonham Carter to Tracey Emin, some of our most creative (and supposedly free-thinking) individuals have been the most zealous in trying to police others into activism. In doing this, they have overestimated their own importance and entitlement to counsel others.
They should let people do as they please: whether in, or out, or still on Whatsapp.
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