On Wednesday 25th of March, at exactly 4:30pm, the One Direction Facebook page announced Zayn Malik’s decision to leave the band after five years together.

And the internet exploded.

Thousands of comments appeared on the Facebook post within seconds. As of two hours after the post had been published, over a quarter million Facebook users had liked it.

 

The tragedy also started trending on Twitter with hashtags like “#ByeZayn” and “#AlwaysInOurHeartsZaynMalik”. So far, 6.5 million posts have been made under the hashtag. The singer’s name “#ZaynMalik” became the website’s most talked-about topic in less than a couple of minutes. Distraught and sometimes even hysterical, devoted fans took to the social-networking site to grieve over their heart-breaking loss, often tweeting in all-capitals to exhibit their passion. One fan tweeted that Zayn’s decision meant that their “life lost its meaning” while others declared that “this band is my life and this is affecting me so much” and that their “heart broke into a million pieces”.

 

Some posted videos to other places such as Vine, showing themselves sobbing in despair at the very prospect of One Direction without Zayn Malik. Vine user kimmyofficial said she wanted “to press the button so hard to rewind to three years ago when they [One Direction] were prime” whereas another fan choked back tears, whispering “Zayn, no, Zayn” repeatedly in her devastation.

 

However, it is interesting how there was significantly less weeping brought on by the crashed U49525 Germanwings plane on the 24th of March. The One Direction catastrophe proved much more exciting than a mere loss of one hundred and fifty lives.

It seems that we are far more concerned with a member of a boy-band than we are with a disastrous plane crash that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. Sixteen students returning from an exchange visit died, including two teachers. All of these people had their whole lives ahead of them, but had been ripped away from them. But for Zayn, his leaving the band means that he can truly live his life. It is his decision; he wants “to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight”. He is doing what makes him happy and yet his fans are in excruciating pain. Should they not save their crying for a slightly more reasonable cause? Yes, the boy-band has inspired and helped people all over the world, yet Zayn is all right and One Direction remains mostly intact. On the other hand, not a single passenger of the 4U9525 flight has been said to have survived.

 

As a society, we should really think about our priorities. We fail to pay enough attention to matters of importance because we obsess over pop culture and celebrities. We are being selfish. Zayn does not want us to make him feel guilty about leaving One Direction. He does not need us to show him how utterly distraught we are by the life choices he makes in order to build a better life for himself.

Instead, we should focus on directing our support at the suffering families and friends of those who died in the plane crash. 

 

 

By Klaudia Zaporowska, St Mark's Catholic Secondary School