One World: Together at Home (also known as Together at Home) was a propaganda concert that was organized by Global Citizen of New York City and curated by singer Lady Gaga, in support of the World Health Organization. The special was intended to promote the practice of social distancing while staying together during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 18, 2020, a six-hour pre-show was streamed online immediately prior to the television global broadcast. The online portion of the event was hosted through YouTube by actress and presenter Jameela Jamil (first hour), actor Matthew McConaughey (second hour), actress Danai Gurira (third hour), singer Becky G (fourth hour), actress Laverne Cox (fifth hour) and actor Don Cheadle (sixth hour). It featured appearances from numerous celebrities.1
Together At Home was more than a “virtual concert”. It was a show of force. It was broadcast everywhere, on all TV stations and on all streaming platforms. That fact alone was a strong indication of the sheer power behind this event. Furthermore, the list of celebrities and powerful people who appeared during that event was simply staggering with headliners such as Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Celine Dion. However, this event was not only about music. The music was there to attract people. Between the performances, there were specific messages coming from powerful places.
Because, let’s not kid ourselves here: Lady Gaga was the face of the event, but she was not the engine behind it. Together At Home was a massive PR campaign from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the entire elite system behind it. Lady Gaga was put at the forefront of this event because her face and her name sell more than the face and the name of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO.
For the same reasons, countless celebrities were enlisted to say specific messages because celebrities are the best vehicles to transmit messages from the elite to the masses.
While the event was meant to be “comforting”, there was something eerie about seeing countless celebrities (with a somewhat spaced-out look on their faces) repeat the same slogans, chant the same mantras and sing the praise of the same powerful organizations.
Here are some of the messages communicated throughout the event.
Creating a “COVID Culture”
The most obvious (and annoying) aspect of Together At Home was its celebration of a “COVID culture”. Indeed, in the past weeks, we’ve seen media doing its best to normalize a world where confinement, isolation, and video conferencing were the new norm. While social distancing is supposed to be an extreme (and very temporary) emergency measure to prevent the spread of a deadly disease, Together At Home appears to be promoting it as a long-term way of life.
And, to prove that “it is not so bad”, the usage of video conferencing is constantly promoted for everything. In the sad world that is presented in Together At Home, all aspects of life – including arts, family, business and education – can be fulfilled through video conferencing. In their new world, human connections depend on an internet connection. Maybe they want all human communications to be recorded … and monitored.
