Unfortunately, the Fourth of July has become an increasingly contentious and controversial holiday as revisionist fan-fiction becomes more acceptable in the public education system. Not surprisingly, when civic identity takes a back seat to things like “diversity”, ideology, or any other divergent wedge issue, the word United in the name United States starts to sound a bit dated. Those with large followings on social media super-charge this division even further.
Porn Actress Mia Khalifa was one such less than patriotic voice.
Mia Khalifa, 28, can be considered something of an American success story – depending on your opinion of how she got to where she is.
Khalifa fled with her family from Lebanon to Maryland in the early 2000s. Growing up in a catholic household, her life was fairly ordinary by American standards, but perhaps quite fortunate by Lebanese standards. In 2014 the internet was cracked in half and set aflame when she starred in her now-legendary video with Sean Lawless and Juliana Vega – wherein she and Vega both perform in a hijab. This video rocketed Khalifa to stardom nearly overnight, and she quickly found herself both the most beloved and reviled actress in the industry. While well-received in the United States, more traditional societies in the middle east were enraged by her actions. Even her own parents have since disowned her.
However, stardom has a way of making you act before you think. Having now decided to alienate a massive swath of her fanbase by making derogatory comments about the country that facilitated her statues rather than stoned her for it. She is, naturally, as free as anyone to express such views – as is the purpose of the 1st Amendment – and much of her scorn seems to stem not precisely at America itself, but rather its foreign policies.
As the Israel/Palestine subject has risen in clicks in recent weeks as global tensions mount, Khalifa made it known to her followers and critics alike that the underlying source of her discontent with the US was its partnership with and payments to the Jewish state. The destabilization of her home country of Lebanon being one such incident she places directly at Israel’s feet.
But at the end of the day, do the passive musings of a porn star amount to much more than another grain in the heap? Are these opinions even genuine, or just a gambit for attention since her retirement from porn? With celebrities, it’s hard to tell. Khalifa’s self-described “second class citizen” of life looks much more lavish than most of the “first-class” citizens we probably know.