Making history at the Grammys

by Katie Johnson

Living with nearly 20 women can sometimes dictate what television shows that we watch. That means when last Sunday night arrived, there was a mad dash for the TV room, and choice was between the Bachelor’s Wedding and the 56th Grammy Awards. I was fortunate to get to the TV first, therefore I decide which program we would watch. This was a great privilege, however, I couldn’t decide between just one show. The logical decision was to flip between both programs and, luckily, we did not miss Macklemore and Ryan Lewis performing “Same Love” at the Grammys. This was a performance that would go down in history, according to some entertainment reporters.

An unprecedented event

 After a few moments, Macklemore and Lewis were joined on stage by Queen Latifah and Madonna. Nothing like this performance had ever been done in Grammy history; maybe even television history. As the “Same Love” song concluded, Queen Latifah acted as an officiate for 33 gay and straight couples who married. Once Latifah pronounced them newlyweds, Madonna began singing one of her earlier hits, “Open Your Heart.” At this time, the couples were shown dancing and crying with each other.

Social media backlash

Gays and lesbians have been allowed to marry in California since 2008, with 17 other states legalizing gay marriage. This didn’t stop the anti-gay comments from blowing up social media during the show. People opposed to gay marriage will continue to share their opinions about the performance, wedding, and the Grammys as a whole. For a show that lasted for three and a half hours and had a two-hour red carpet event before it began, it was still halted by the anti-gay social media feedback, simply for one performance. On one hand, it is great that technology has evolved so much so that people are able to submit their reactions about events as they occur. However, some people lose their voice when it comes to the comments published on social media. Unfortunately, when my friends were watching the Macklemore performance they immediately turned to Twitter to see the reactions before they shared their own opinions.

Critical thinking?

Twitter and other social platforms have a real influence on the way we perceive current events. Many of the tweets were negative, focusing on people’s opinions that gay marriage is an insult to God and the Church. When these opinions are shared, people take them at face value and can’t think critically to form their own opinions. People should understand the limitations of twitter and not rely simply on tweets by other individuals as their sole source of information.

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