Lady Gaga is a good role model

First of all, seeing how you don't know me, your condescending attitude towards my age is not only rude, but completely unneeded. My age is irrelevant to this debate. Though I am very opinionated and have strong views on everything, I have no problem admitting when I'm wrong or admitting that someone else has a better argument than me. I am not a teenage die-hard Lady Gaga fan. I actually don't even really like or listen to her music (I'm more of a 70s girl). I just think that she stands for a lot of good things but often times gets a bad rap from people who have only seen bits and pieces of her story. role model: a person looked to by others as an example to be imitated. (didn't think I'd have to define that. Seems pretty straight forward to me) Now lets get back to the debate. Is Lady Gaga perfect? No. Should people aspire to be exactly like her? Of course not. That would defeat the point of her message. She is all about embracing who you are no matter what other people think. Everything she does from the infamous meat dress to the lyrics in her songs, is for a strong and important reason. After many were offended by her meat dress fashion statement at the VMA's, Gaga said in an interview that she did not mean it to be a message against animal rights. Gaga explained in the interview that the meat dress was tied to her protest against the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and was a statement against the governmental restrictions placed on the rights of gay soldiers. She then stated that the message she meant for her dress was that "If we don't stand up for what we believe in, if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones.' " The fact that she went to those extremes to represent something that she really cares about is very admirable in my opinion. And while we are on the topic of her standing up and representing something that is important to her, lets look at her activism and charitable nature. She helped raise over a million dollars to help and support Japan after a tsunami hit in 2011 She donated one million dollars to the American Red Cross in support of Hurricane Sandy victims She contributes in the fight against HIV and AIDS, focusing on educating young women about the risks of the disease In 2012, she launched the Born This Way Foundation which focuses on youth empowerment and issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring, and career development. She is a strong and active advocate for LGBT rights and the list goes on and on. It seems to me that she clearly represents a lot more than sex, money, and drugs Now lets look at her music career. To any appreciator of music, she is obviously very talented. She was accepted to Julliard when she was only 11, but decided that it wasn't for her and went to a different college. She is an incredible vocalist, dancer, and musician, and is also very humble which is rare nowadays. Her lyrics are also very good and powerful. If you take away the music and just analyze the lyrics, they have good meanings and messages that could very well help and inspire people. She also uses her past and her hardships and turns them into positive things for herself and her career. She has stated in several interviews that she was bullied as a child and never really fit in. She said in an interview: "I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn"t fit in, and I felt like a freak." She was ashamed of her natural personality and appearance in school, so she tried to hide at the time, but now that she is an adult and a prominent figure in society, she uses this platform to embrace and enhance her eccentric side rather than feeling like she has to hide and be ashamed of who she really is. In today's society, girls especially feel the pressure from society to act and dress in different ways to please others. You're either too provocative or not provocative enough or not skinny enough or too skinny or too tall or too short or too flamboyant or too goofy or too controversial. Because she once felt the pressure to fill society's views of the ideal girl, she challenges it by taking what she was made fun of as a kid and blew it up and made it ten times bigger because it is who she is and she is trying to teach young girls across the nation to embrace their true colors and be who they really are. It doesn't mean everyone is going to have a big eccentric image, but she wants everyone to take what makes them who they are and be proud of it, not ashamed. In the complex and dynamic society we live in today, nothing is ever good enough. You're either a slut or a prude. Everything is superficial and skin-deep in today's society. People like you look at someone's outward or physical appearance and start making generalizations and assumptions of them rather than taking the time to figure out what's behind all of that. People look at lady gaga and see just another pop star who is weird and eccentric and provocative, but they never care to see all the good things. They don't acknowledge her talent or dedication or hard work or her very strong and moral reasons for why she does what she does. I'm guilty of it too. I didn't like lady gaga at first because I just saw her as another part of this new pop-star culture and that because she was another pop star, that she must be untalented and not very special. Just another cookie-cutter pop star, but I was proved wrong when I started actually looking at her life and lyrics. and to your last comment: "If these qualities (controversial, honest, doing what feels good) are what made someone a role model, then every serial killer who has every plead guilty to their charges could be considered as such." What makes a good role model is being someone who is worth emulating and being the type of person who encourages others to be the best possible versions of themselves. Someone who is steadfast and determined and confident and humble. Controversial can be very good. Society isn't always right. Having the courage to stand up for things that are important and moral regardless of the pressures around you and the judgement you will face is a very good quality indeed. And what I meant by "doing what feels good" is that she does something that makes her happy which I think is a good model in itself because we should all find something that makes us happy and then proceed to doing it. You should live your life for yourself. I'm not saying do whatever you want like become a serial killer, but you shouldn't do things for the sole reason of appeasing those around you. Here are some of her quotes that I think should be taken into consideration: "Every bit of me is devoted to love and art. And I aspire to try to be a teacher to my young fans who feel just like I felt when I was younger. I just felt like a freak. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm trying to liberate them, I want to free them of their fears and make them feel that they can make their own space in the world." "I think tolerance and acceptance and love is something that feeds every community." "Born this Way' is about being yourself, and loving who you are and being proud." "I don't want to make money; I want to make a difference." "I actually don't want a throne at all, because I don't view myself as a queen; I view myself as one of my fans" Now I don't want to wear a meat dress or wear 16 inch heels because that doesn't represent who I am, but her humility and courage and tolerance and acceptance and her charitable attitude and her willingness to be steadfast and bold are characteristics that I would absolutely love to have and emulate. Though you may not agree, Lady Gaga has most assuredly become one of my role models. Good arguments for your first round and thank you for challenging my debate. It is my first one, so I chose something not too intense. Good luck in the next round.