VANITY FAIR: SELECTIVE EMPATHY AND DOUBLE STANDARDS

Elena Prigova / New York

And now a few words about cinema—with its “vanity fair” and moral posturing. I held back for a long time, but eventually couldn’t resist commenting on the most recent Golden Globe Awards.

Celebrities walk the red carpet glittering with diamonds and rehearsed smiles, wearing small black-and-white pins on their lapels, their faces carefully arranged into expressions of public grief. “BE GOOD.” “ICE OUT.” All in memory of a single individual, Rene Nicole Good, an American woman—her tragic death turned into a symbolic gesture and a publicity tool, despite the complex circumstances surrounding the case in Minneapolis. From there, interpretations multiply, often detached from factual context. What stands out most, however, is the level of cynicism.

Hollywood has never lacked causes. In recent years alone, there has been no shortage of tearful speeches and symbolic gestures—whether for MeToo, racial inequality, George Floyd, Gaza, Maduro, or the fate of millions of undocumented migrants. A cause can always be found.

▪️Here, however, it is one life. One tragedy. And suddenly there are tears on live television, speeches about systemic violence, hashtags spreading faster than champagne at after-parties. Mark Ruffalo, Natasha Lyonne, Jean Smart, Ariana Grande—all visibly engaged. Cameras capture every reaction. Applause follows. Social media responds with likes and reposts. The message is clear: they are on the “right side.”

▪️Now consider a different scale—not one life, but thousands. Ongoing bloodshed in 2026, unfolding in plain sight. And yet: no pins, no speeches, no mentions. Because these tragedies are inconvenient. Because they do not fit neatly into a familiar narrative in which America is cast as the primary villain and Hollywood as the moral conscience. Because genuine empathy carries risk, while symbolic gestures do not.

✔️Take Iran. Thousands killed in recent months. Teenage girls shot for refusing to wear the hijab. Young men publicly executed for participating in protests. Mothers forced to bury their children under armed supervision. Internet blackouts, public executions, bodies burned, dissent suppressed. “Woman. Life. Freedom.” is not a slogan here—it is a lived reality. A reality that challenges the idea that the world’s most repressive regime resides in Washington rather than Tehran. Yet there are no pins, no statements. Supporting Iranians would be politically inconvenient, and that cost appears too high.

✔️Then Africa. Islamist groups such as ISIS, Boko Haram, and the ADF are responsible for widespread violence against Christian communities. In Nigeria alone, more than 7,000 Christians were killed during the first 220 days of 2025.

✔️In February 2025, 70 Christians were beheaded inside a church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

✔️In Mozambique and Burkina Faso, churches have been burned, pastors abducted, villages destroyed. The region faces mass displacement, sexual violence, and famine. In December 2025, U.S. airstrikes targeted ISIS-linked militants in Nigeria in an attempt to halt the violence.

And Hollywood? Silence… No “Save African Christians” pins. No speeches addressing Islamist terrorism. These victims do not fit a preferred framework. Acknowledging their suffering risks challenging dominant narratives and offending powerful interests. Silence, once again, proves safer.

📌 Finally, Ukraine—a continuing war at the heart of Europe. In 2025 alone, more than 2,500 civilians were killed and 12,000 injured by Russian missile attacks.

Children have died in hospitals such as Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt. Schools, kindergartens, and residential buildings lie in ruins. July 2025 was the deadliest month since 2022, with 286 killed and 1,388 wounded.

Critical infrastructure has been systematically targeted, leaving millions without electricity, heat, or water. These attacks on civilians are not accidents, but part of a broader strategy.

But in Hollywood? There are no “STAND WITH UKRAINE” pins. No references to Putin as an executioner. Why? Because a war in Europe is considered “complicated.” It is easier to mourn one symbolic victim than thousands in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Odesa, or Poltava.

▪️This is what naked, deeply unsettling double standards look like. One American life brings pins, tears, and protests. Thousands killed in Iran, Africa, or Ukraine receive nothing—no attention, no empathy, no action. This is not forgetfulness. It is a deliberate, calculated choice: deciding whose suffering is safe to amplify for social approval, and whose pain must be pushed out of frame to preserve comfort.

▪️Rene Good has become an icon because her story fits a familiar narrative of “bad America.” Iranian girls, African Christians, Ukrainian children do not. They are reduced to statistics—background noise, inconvenient truths that challenge conscience and clarity.

❗️This is not empathy. It is self-indulgent moral performance. Public displays of virtue—pins on lapels, tears for the camera—while the world continues to bleed. Real grief belongs to parents burying children in Africa. Real anger belongs to those hiding in bomb shelters in Ukraine. Real humanity requires leaving one’s comfort zone, naming perpetrators plainly, and accepting the consequences. Hollywood, however, avoids risk. It performs “goodness”. It performs “justice”. It performs “concern”.

“BE GOOD”? Spare us—and get lost! When there are pins for every person executed in Iran, every civilian beheaded in Africa, and every child killed by a missile in Ukraine, then the conversation might be worth having. Until then, these tears are an insult to the dead. These symbols are an affront to the survivors. And this so-called ‘empathy’ is little more than a hollow imitation.