Katy Perry did a good thing.

Then she did a fearful thing.

Yesterday, Katy Perry tweeted that her prayers were with the people of Israel.  According to Perry, the tweet was in response to a request by a follower on Twitter to pray for Israel.  Perry gave what appeared to be an innocent and seemingly heartfelt response to the request.

That was the good thing.

Following Perry’s tweet, she was barraged in her Twitter account with hateful and threatening tweets by other followers who clearly took offense at her offering up a prayer for the wellbeing of Israelis.  So, the pop artist quickly sought to undo what she had said by explaining that her tweet was merely in response to a request and that she opposes violence everywhere.

That was the bad thing.

Not that opposing violence everywhere could be wrong, in fact it’s commendable.  What was wrong was for her to be so intimidated, either for her physical safety or for a potential decrease in her fan base, that she retreated and sought to distance herself from her original comments.

We are moving out of a world where the “powers that be” have ruled by the use of intimidation and fear for thousands of years.  We will only succeed in that effort by refusing to be manipulated by fear any longer. It is only by knowing, with certainty, what we value and then being willing to stand for those values no matter who or what opposes them, can we hope to make the real and lasting change we desire in moving toward a more humane, compassionate and peace-filled world

Whether or not I am a fan of Katy Perry’s music (my teenage daughter is although I have, on occasion, deleted songs from her mp3 based upon Perry’s lyrics) Perry is none-the-less a role model by nature of her fame and demographic.  Therefore, how tragic that what she has exemplified by her backpedaling is cowardice and expediency rather than courage and principles.

My understanding is that Katy Perry comes from a traditional Christian home.  If that is in fact the case, she needs to return to the founding principles of that faith and stand fast in them. That will surely bring her more lasting success than either her lyrics or fan base ever will.

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