In my blog, “Taylor Who?” (Oct. 22, 2023) this cranky old guy ranted on about the fact that I am not among the hordes who are besotted with Taylor Swift. I hastened to add I have no bones to pick with her. I simply am not a fan of her style of music.
Even the fact that I am not a Kansas City Chiefs fan has no bearing on my opinion of her. Hey, if Travis Kelce, is her current future breakup song, that’s entirely her business. And if that means she has to be a Chiefs fan, no skin off my back.
But now Taylor is in the middle of a Republican whirlwind as she has the nerve to support liberal political positions and may endorse President Biden. Fox news is on an anti-Taylor rampage because, according to them, as a celebrity performer she has no right to get involved in politics. How they reconcile this with the fact that they pushed a celebrity performer all the way to the White House or account for the fact that they are not a news service but only entertainers playing the role of reporters escapes me.
In the GOP universe all’s fair in love and war for them, but everyone else has to follow rules and laws. It’s no surprise then that they claim liberal performers should “shut up and sing” but conservative ones should speak out. In their universe, it’s fine for mega wealthy Republicans to fly themselves and their Supreme Court cronies around in private jets and for Trump to do the same, but if Taylor does that she’s a hypocrite because she endorses efforts to alleviate climate change. I guess since they don’t give a hoot about the environment, they are not hypocrites. At least in that regard. Ignored is the fact that most of the big shots who fly private could get on a normal flight and not be noticed. If Taylor did the same, pandemonium would ensue.
Of course, MAGA voters see nothing inconsistent with the Fox position.
In general, however, there is an aspect of the outsized influence of celebrities that bodes poorly for the future of the nation. That is that so many citizens are completely ignorant of and apathetic to the serious issues that confront us. They invest their time and attention in hedonistic preoccupation with hero worship of celebrities and pop culture trivia magnified many times over by social media.
Be it a Taylor or a Trump, people shouldn’t regard someone who happens to be talented in a certain way as a font of wisdom on all things. I happen to agree with Taylor in many ways, but I don’t need her to tell me what to think or who to vote for any more than I need a football star to tell me what insurance to buy.
Maybe I’m an oddball, but I have never been a rabid fan of any performers. If I like what they do in their art, I am happy to enjoy it. But to go as ga-ga over them as many do, seems ridiculous to me. Always has. Short of their being an axe murderer, if an artist’s views or personal behavior do not conform to mine, it does not interfere with my admiration of their talent. Why should it? Their talent is an entity unto itself.
In my view, the elevation of a celebrity, be it Taylor Swift or Donald Trump, to a position of political power is emblematic of the dumbing down of society and the decline of Western civilization. But hey, if in today’s world it takes someone who sings and dances for a living to protect us from a Trump dictatorship I say, “Taylor, you go girl.”
I will continue to ignore Taylor’s music, but wish her success in influencing the adoring masses who idolize her. They could benefit from shutting her off once in a while and gaining a better grasp on the serious issues of the day, but since they won’t, at least they will listen to her when she tells them to do what’s right.
An Author's Inner Mind 