Lorde is not in jail. We feel it’s important to make this clear up front before you, like so many others, begin to sob quietly into your hands wondering what happened to the New Zealand pop star in the time since she was last in the public eye. No, as often as you may see #FreeLORDE on social media today and in the days to come, Lorde is, for now at the very least, neither in jail or in any immediate danger of being arrested.
That’s the good news. The bad news, however, is that people are talking about Lorde being in jail because New Zealand’s opposition party has considered a policy that would fine the parents of those who, like Lorde, stopped attending school before the age of 16 without lining up a job or other form of education. As reported by The Guardian’s Eleanor Ainge Roy, this hasn’t happened and is generally an idea that’s been heavily criticized. Of course, it would probably work out just fine for Lorde anyway, seeing as she’s a wealthy celebrity.
Just the same, look on social media and you can see for yourself how a bad policy proposal not even officially put forth by a country’s opposition party has led…to this sort of thing…
Lorde fans, mixing their own knowledge that this is a joke with the general public not understanding what’s going on, have created the #FreeLORDE hashtag to make Twitter, not for the first time, a place where fantasy and reality have become indistinguishable. As always, Lorde’s diehard fans are extremely committed to her life and music and the rest of us can only look on in wonderment.
Still, as completely ridiculous as this whole thing is, it actually sets a fine precedent for anyone wanting to use celebrities to raise awareness about policies that might affect everyday people. Lorde, having left school early, has done just fine and, even if fined, would be okay. Other New Zealanders, though, could end up in a bad spot due to the proposed policy. In other words, yeah, keep #FreeLORDE trending we guess.
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13 Comments
#REASONABLYPRICEDLANADELREY
#EXORBITANTFLORENCEWELCH
To be fair, such law is not against poor parents, but those who consciously don’t give minors the education they are entitled to get. It is like giving fines to parents that refuse to vaccinate their children, and I am all in for this kind of law.
I’m going the opposite on this #IMPRISONLorde
Wait, why is it a bad policy? It’s a good idea! Any 16 YO kid is obviously going to say “eh, I don’t like school anymore, I won’t go” but it’s the parents responsability to ensure they go anyway.
Slow news day, every day.
I saw her on South Park last night
Yah yah yah!
Pretty sure that was Billie Eilish. Most pop stars are Randy Marsh these days, it’s hard to tell.
Love the chick in the final 2 seconds of this riding by while getting a selfie:
Isn’t school compulsory in most municipalities in the US? I mean, you can home school, but the child is still required to be taught and (I think) pass standardized tests.In Illinois, kids have to be in school from age 7 till 16 (with a few exceptions) and the penalty is up to a $500 fine or 30 days in jail.https://statelaws.findlaw.com/illinois-law/illinois-compulsory-education-laws.htmlIn any event, instead of just saying “this one person dropped out and is rich,” it should be easy to show what happens to people who stay in till they are 17 as opposed to those who do not. It already has been done and it doesn’t show that most of them end up like Richard Branson.https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/by-the-numbers-dropping-out-of-high-school/
Of course she’s not in jail. We just watched her celebrate having $300,000 last night. Come on, people.
…I feel like she has a job.