I sometimes ask myself what Carrie Fisher would be tweeting about during the 2020 election cycle—maybe because I know how much she hated Donald Trump. Part of me thinks she would have liked Elizabeth Warren, maybe even Bernie Sanders, but who’s to know? He probably doesn’t like her because she beat him out for a Grammy, but that’s neither here nor there.
But … thinking about Carrie Fisher is hard for me. I know it’s silly, but she’s been my hero for as long as I can remember. Before I knew who Carrie Fisher was, it was Princess Leia I looked up to, and the more I read about Carrie, the more I realized that I’m very much the writer who likes to make jokes about herself and the world.
But now, when our world is a constant cycle of conversation about misogyny and male privilege, I wonder what she’d think—what she’d have to say about it all.
Carrie was the kind of person who would say something like, “It’s a man’s world and show business is a man’s meal, with women generously sprinkled through it like overqualified spice” and move on from it as if she hadn’t just called out the entire issue with Hollywood (and the patriarchy in general) because she wanted people to see how awful it all sounded.
She was brutal, fearless, and the kind of woman I look up to—someone I think about because her opinions and how she felt about things mattered to me, as they did to many. She was vocal about people shitting on her body as if it was theirs to comment on, she fought against stigma, and she made it clear that she wanted to be the best person she could be and with stuff like everything going on with Trump and this administration. I want to know how she’d feel about it all now.
Wasn’t Trump supposed the anti political Candidate??He’s now furiously pleading,warning,reiterating-Speech Making 🅰️ 🅿️🅾️🕒ℹ✝️ℹ🅾️♑️
— Carrie Fisher (@carrieffisher) November 8, 2016
I hope there isn’t a single day when I don’t ask myself what Carrie would have tweeted about something. I hope I constantly think about her and what she stood for and what she wrote. I’ll never forget the day that our Kaila Hale-Stern told me that my writing reminded her of Carrie’s and what that little comment meant to me, because I know what Carrie’s writing means to me and how I wish I could read her thoughts on the world now more than anything else.
While Carrie Fisher was referring to those with mental illness going after their dreams (a topic that Carrie talked about frequently and was very open about), I think about this quote a lot, especially right now, because I know that Carrie Fisher would be proud she’s the face of an entire movement against Trump—that she drives so many of us to fight against these injustices in this world.
“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.”
I strangely miss Carrie Fisher every day, but I’m glad she’s someone who we can all turn to now and ask, “What Would Carrie Do?”
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