Kylie Jenner vs. Malala Yousafzai? Is there even a competition?

              When Kylie and Kendal Jenner landed on Times “2014’s 25 Most Influential Teens,” people began to wonder what type of identity America was portraying. Yes, Kylie and her sister have jobs outside of their reality show, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” but they were compared to Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai, who was, in October 2012, shot in the face by the Taliban for speaking out about her life in Pakistan. Malala is also the youngest person, at 17, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Twitter users did not shy away from expressing their anger towards Time Magazine and their “Most Influential Teens” list. Twitter user, Sarcastic Honey (2014), posted “@Time Are you out of your minds? You think the Jenner sisters are as influential as a Nobel Peace Prize winner! FOR WHAT! Being rich?” This list begs a very important question. What does American culture and identity look like? When other countries look at America and what media portrays, do they only see the Kardashians?

Just recently social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, ect., have been buzzing with news about Kylie Jenner’s birthday bash and what she received as her gift, a brand new Ferrari. Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson (2015) wrote about Jenner’s birthday party explaining, “Much like me, Jenner did go to Québec, so we’ve got that in common. But instead of piling six people into one room at the Holiday Inn and going to some dumpy downtown nightclub in frigid October, Kyle spent her Sunday at Beachclub, a massive outdoor club that hosted an 18th-birthday party for Jenner and a few hundred screaming fans.” Lawson went on to explain that she was actually paid to show up to her own party.

          While Kylie was celebrating her 18^th birthday party, which in American culture is known as a big milestone in a person’s life, on Malala’s 18^th birthday, she opened up a school for Syrian Refugees. NBC’s online writer, Reuters (2015), wrote about Malala saying, “The Malala Fund, a non-profit organization that supports local education projects, paid for the school in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. It can welcome up to 200 girls aged 14 to 18.” While Kylie was posting pictures with her boyfriend and her cake, Malala’s contribution to the world went relatively unnoticed here in the states. While hundreds sang “Happy Birthday” to Kylie, Malala spoke at the opening of the school saying, “Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world's children, I demand of leaders we must invest in books instead of bullets" (NBC). Kylie’s extravagant birthday party and over the top gift may have been the hot topic for awhile on social media, but then people began to take a hard look at American culture and what mass media portrays to everyone as American identity, and people began to realize that there is something more important to talk about.

        People began to compare Malala and Kylie, specifically how the two celebrated their 18^th birthdays. On Facebook, people began commenting on American culture and where we place our values according to how Kylie celebrated her birthday compared to Malala. Unfortunately, there is some validity in this concern. News outlets report on what people want to hear about. If Kylie Jenner’s birthday bash will create more foot traffic to a certain website, then that news outlet is going to be all over the story. This means that other important, amazing, inspirational stories like Malala’s are not as prevalent. A majority of the American culture is more concerned with what Kylie got from her boyfriend than how Malala opened up this school. Luckily, some people began to realize that Kylie’s 18^th birthday party was not something they wanted to hear about or admire. Memes were created and shared all over Facebook about the two girls. Many referred to American Culture in their posts and how American values had changed.

         So, where do we go from here? When Kylie turns 19 next year, will she instead of throwing a big party, open a school for inner city kids? Will social media share a story like Malala’s before there is any mention of a celebrity’s inevitable large party? When people from other countries look at the United States, will they still see the Kardashian family as representing American culture? Or will social workers, nurses, teachers, or another one of the countless selfless individuals that truly display American culture be represented in media?