Sir Rodney

Singer Rod Stewart is in trouble these days.   He is in Abu Dhabi on a working holiday.  He and his wife, along with their crew, went into the dessert and had some fun.   They ended up acting out scenes from their favorite movies and tv shows.  One of the scenes was from Game of Thrones.  Because he is Rod Stewart, he was recorded on somebody's cell phone and posted.   It looks remarkably similar to the video of the beheadings of Jihadi John.  The video is in extraordinary poor taste and very offensive.

The offensive video was removed after one day but the damage has been done.  A daughter of one of Jihadi John's execution victim has seen it and it has retriggered her trauma.  No one is accepting Rod Stewart's apology or explanation.  Protesters are actively engaging Buckingham Palace to have the Queen remove his Knighting.  

This is pretty serious stuff.  Hate is a serious problem in the world.  We need people to come together and not have expressions of hate.  

Unfortunately, this is not hate.  By all accounts, Rod Stewart is a very nice genuine man who has been using his celebrity for good throughout his life.  That is why he was Knighted by the Queen.  On balance, he has contributed positively to our society.  There are actual real haters out there.  This is not one of them.  This is a waste of energy trying to make a scandal out of a momentary lapse in judgment, if that.  Presumably, he had no believe of how this would look on tape.  He also did not agree to be taped.   It was one of those things that just happened.   What this incident proves is that celebrities are also human.  They make inadvertent mistakes, just as we do every day of our lives.  

I am quite certain that the victim's daughter in this case did experience trauma after watching the video.  However, it wasn't Rod Stewart that caused her trauma.  She would not even know about the video unless the media showed it to her and put a microphone in her face and asked for her comment.  She should be very upset at the insensitivity shown to her by the media.  

Regardless, basic common sense tells us that putting any energy into having Rod Stewart deknighted is a waste of time and energy.  The energy would be so much better served by doing something to build bridges rather than just continuing to damage.  We can't change the past anyway and as a society we need all of our energy to take on what lies ahead for us.  

Real social change only occurs when we are "for: something rather than being "against" something. Haters do not change when they are in a crowd of other haters.  Chose to be what we know is the tried and true method to move a society.  Be a lover and not a fighter.


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