Given that one of the core grievances of the MAGA right is their lack of mainstream pop cultural relevance, I'm gonna guess this is a resentment of her power and influence. Even if she is white, straight, hetero, Christian, and mostly apolitical, the fact that she can't always be relied upon to be lockstep with them and is vastly more powerful than them is yet another reminder of their own cultural limitations, especially with coveted demographics like young people.
You'd think they'd give her huge bonus points for unapologetically associating with and even dating the likes of Matty Healy despite how much the social justice crowd hates him.
I guess I'm not a member of the MAGA right, so who knows, but this take seems bonkers to me.
The output of artists who "can't always be relied upon to be lockstep with" MAGA conservatives comprises essentially the entirety of American musical history, apart from that one time Kid Rock got stuck in an elevator with Kirk Cameron.
I can't fathom a conservative complaint about a specific artist not toeing the line when there's never been any line to toe. If Taylor Swift draws particular ire, it must be for some other reason.
Few of those artists have ever wielded the power and influence of Swift, though. It's not just about Swift's sales or Q rating or whatever. There have been other big-time female pop stars in just the past decade, like Ariana Grande or Katy Perry or Rihanna. But none of them have come to represent the soul of the median American girl like Swift has, and that gives her a scary amount of power and influence.
Also, given the fact that just a few years ago, Swift was attacked by liberals for being some kind of Nazi Barbie for her lack of political activism (and conversely celebrated by conservatives for being hated by libs), I think many also see her as some kind of cultural bellwether, that if you lose such a middle-of-the-road figure like Swift, your side is culturally doomed.
You forgot about Ted Nugent! Otherwise, I think this analysis is correct. In my experience, conservatives have more or less accepted that most entertainment stars don’t share their politics.
I suspect they’re not really looking at her, they’re just reacting to the fact that she’s SO famous and inescapable right now, and her fanbase is quite rabid. How better to troll Swifties than to proclaim her any variety of mid?
On the internet, arguments don’t have to make sense. If you can just keep someone replying to your nonsense, it’s a win.
I'm genuinely curious who these people are, who harbor opinions about Taylor Swift's fatness vel non and give the impression of never having left their homes. Not that I doubt their existence -- obviously Phoebe has met and engaged and lived to tell the tale! But what particular rabbit hole does one have to go down to find them? Is it a group of guys with some sort of pre-existing affinity? Or more of an ad hoc coalition of anti-Swiftites?
That said, insofar as there's conservative dislike of Taylor Swift on a broader scale, I don't think there's anything terribly complicated going on. Her stardom fits into the general category of things the media-industrial complex periodically, acephalously puts forth as at once inescapable and beyond serious critical attack. Examples: Hillary Clinton, Harry Potter (before the trans bit), climate change, Beyonce, superhero movies, Black Lives Matter.
It's not that there's anything much the matter with Swift herself: seems like a decent person, makes hummable music. What rankles, I take it, is a ubiquity that seems illegitimate, perhaps because it operates on and through the cultural tastes of young women. At one level, this is simple misogyny. But the resistance may also reflect a not-implausible recognition of the vector by which pressure to embrace prosocial norms and symbols is in contemporary society most likely to travel.
Honestly, I'm tired of Taylor Swift too. I'm not going to express it in as childish a way as an incel, but yeah. She's mentioned in the podcasts I listen to, my friends insist I have to love her, she's on my TV, and in the magazine stand, in the newspaper, and on every radio station. You know how media can take a good song and ruin it by overplaying it? Its like that except for every media outlet.
If Martians descended on Earth tomorrow, they would think there was only one woman on the entire planet.
Yeah that first tweet seems basically correct to me. Taylor may be pretty popular but the sheer level of media coverage seems artificial and unnecessary. I just don’t get why, you’d think if it was really about wokeness they’d be elevating someone who wasn’t a white child of privilege.
I think it’s simply a case of familiarity breeding contempt. People will always have an opinion on the famous, and this opinion reflects their own biases.
Very interesting point, about them not getting out much. Occasionally, if I don't mind feeling sad, I read the comments under YT videos which are filled with young (mostly, I assume) men lamenting how terrible girls are and anyhow all the hot ones are going out with the nine good looking well over 6 feet tall rich guys (the height thing bemuses me, all the men in my extended family are under 6 feet and yet all have managed to have offspring). However: I sell my wares in craft/tourist markets, and I see the myriad shapes and sizes real-life couples come in. Young, old, bald, not, fat, thin, disabled, tall, short, all races, etc. Occasionally there's someone exceptionally conventionally attractive, but in general the guys who are with girls and women are overwhelmingly ordinary looking, as are the girls and women themselves. I think you may be right, maybe these guys online simply never get out and have no idea what real people look like.
I’m not a fan of Taylor’s music ; However, I believe she is a good influence on young girls soon to be young women . Would you prefer your kids listening to Cardi B whom has written such iconic classics as WAP aka Wet Ass Pussy ? Taylor is a business woman first, and a musician secondly . One must remember Taylor’s music is not aimed at an adult demographic, nor serious music aficionados. My understanding, and from what I’ve heard lyrically delves into teenage angst in respect to interpersonal relations with men or boys as it were . If indeed her politics enter into the equation it would say much in respect to her influence if she has a fan base that could sway an election ie. Are her fans writ large old enough to vote ? I applaud Taylor as the most savvy businesswoman in the industry . Re-recording her albums to get her due - what her record label skimmed off the top in respect to her intellectual properties - was beyond brilliant . Point being . Although I can’t relate to her music doesn’t mean that I dislike her in any way. If Taylor is a positive influence on young girls - women more power to her . Things could be much worse for your children to be listening to. Cardi B influences many young people which is mind boggling ! If you believe that is a positive message for young women , you shouldn’t have children …
Growing up as a midsize blonde girl during Taylor Swift's rise to stardom was a weird experience; when she came on TV, the conservative menfolk in my family always insisted on pointing out how thin (and effortlessly so!) she was. It was like they were implying that Swift -- who is, as you point out, prettier and skinnier than 99% of women -- was the blueprint for womanhood, and I was obviously doing something behaviorally wrong if I didn't look like her. Obviously we know now that she was dealing with disordered eating, and actually wasn't a natural size 0. I think those kinds of men are mad that they no can longer claim her, whether it be her brand message/content or her body's place in their weird skeevy hierarchies.
The answer Is mostly porn (mostly teen), I guess. No need to think of AI either, the make-ups of porn actresses is designed to alter their outlines to the point of being unrecogbizable if you meet them elsewhere
Variety tweeted about David Letterman endorsing the NFL romance. Most replies agree with him, while the Maga boys and the watermelon girls state the similar things:
For Maga, the couple are Soros' plants.
For watermelons, they (and Letterman) are white people who hide the genocide.
Given that one of the core grievances of the MAGA right is their lack of mainstream pop cultural relevance, I'm gonna guess this is a resentment of her power and influence. Even if she is white, straight, hetero, Christian, and mostly apolitical, the fact that she can't always be relied upon to be lockstep with them and is vastly more powerful than them is yet another reminder of their own cultural limitations, especially with coveted demographics like young people.
You'd think they'd give her huge bonus points for unapologetically associating with and even dating the likes of Matty Healy despite how much the social justice crowd hates him.
I guess I'm not a member of the MAGA right, so who knows, but this take seems bonkers to me.
The output of artists who "can't always be relied upon to be lockstep with" MAGA conservatives comprises essentially the entirety of American musical history, apart from that one time Kid Rock got stuck in an elevator with Kirk Cameron.
I can't fathom a conservative complaint about a specific artist not toeing the line when there's never been any line to toe. If Taylor Swift draws particular ire, it must be for some other reason.
Few of those artists have ever wielded the power and influence of Swift, though. It's not just about Swift's sales or Q rating or whatever. There have been other big-time female pop stars in just the past decade, like Ariana Grande or Katy Perry or Rihanna. But none of them have come to represent the soul of the median American girl like Swift has, and that gives her a scary amount of power and influence.
Also, given the fact that just a few years ago, Swift was attacked by liberals for being some kind of Nazi Barbie for her lack of political activism (and conversely celebrated by conservatives for being hated by libs), I think many also see her as some kind of cultural bellwether, that if you lose such a middle-of-the-road figure like Swift, your side is culturally doomed.
You forgot about Ted Nugent! Otherwise, I think this analysis is correct. In my experience, conservatives have more or less accepted that most entertainment stars don’t share their politics.
Liked solely for the imagery of Kid Rock and Kirk Cameron in the same elevator.
Lol (as usual.) Yep, it's the Incels (also as usual.)
I suspect they’re not really looking at her, they’re just reacting to the fact that she’s SO famous and inescapable right now, and her fanbase is quite rabid. How better to troll Swifties than to proclaim her any variety of mid?
On the internet, arguments don’t have to make sense. If you can just keep someone replying to your nonsense, it’s a win.
(First time, long time)
I'm genuinely curious who these people are, who harbor opinions about Taylor Swift's fatness vel non and give the impression of never having left their homes. Not that I doubt their existence -- obviously Phoebe has met and engaged and lived to tell the tale! But what particular rabbit hole does one have to go down to find them? Is it a group of guys with some sort of pre-existing affinity? Or more of an ad hoc coalition of anti-Swiftites?
That said, insofar as there's conservative dislike of Taylor Swift on a broader scale, I don't think there's anything terribly complicated going on. Her stardom fits into the general category of things the media-industrial complex periodically, acephalously puts forth as at once inescapable and beyond serious critical attack. Examples: Hillary Clinton, Harry Potter (before the trans bit), climate change, Beyonce, superhero movies, Black Lives Matter.
It's not that there's anything much the matter with Swift herself: seems like a decent person, makes hummable music. What rankles, I take it, is a ubiquity that seems illegitimate, perhaps because it operates on and through the cultural tastes of young women. At one level, this is simple misogyny. But the resistance may also reflect a not-implausible recognition of the vector by which pressure to embrace prosocial norms and symbols is in contemporary society most likely to travel.
Honestly, I'm tired of Taylor Swift too. I'm not going to express it in as childish a way as an incel, but yeah. She's mentioned in the podcasts I listen to, my friends insist I have to love her, she's on my TV, and in the magazine stand, in the newspaper, and on every radio station. You know how media can take a good song and ruin it by overplaying it? Its like that except for every media outlet.
If Martians descended on Earth tomorrow, they would think there was only one woman on the entire planet.
Yeah that first tweet seems basically correct to me. Taylor may be pretty popular but the sheer level of media coverage seems artificial and unnecessary. I just don’t get why, you’d think if it was really about wokeness they’d be elevating someone who wasn’t a white child of privilege.
I think it’s simply a case of familiarity breeding contempt. People will always have an opinion on the famous, and this opinion reflects their own biases.
Very interesting point, about them not getting out much. Occasionally, if I don't mind feeling sad, I read the comments under YT videos which are filled with young (mostly, I assume) men lamenting how terrible girls are and anyhow all the hot ones are going out with the nine good looking well over 6 feet tall rich guys (the height thing bemuses me, all the men in my extended family are under 6 feet and yet all have managed to have offspring). However: I sell my wares in craft/tourist markets, and I see the myriad shapes and sizes real-life couples come in. Young, old, bald, not, fat, thin, disabled, tall, short, all races, etc. Occasionally there's someone exceptionally conventionally attractive, but in general the guys who are with girls and women are overwhelmingly ordinary looking, as are the girls and women themselves. I think you may be right, maybe these guys online simply never get out and have no idea what real people look like.
I’m not a fan of Taylor’s music ; However, I believe she is a good influence on young girls soon to be young women . Would you prefer your kids listening to Cardi B whom has written such iconic classics as WAP aka Wet Ass Pussy ? Taylor is a business woman first, and a musician secondly . One must remember Taylor’s music is not aimed at an adult demographic, nor serious music aficionados. My understanding, and from what I’ve heard lyrically delves into teenage angst in respect to interpersonal relations with men or boys as it were . If indeed her politics enter into the equation it would say much in respect to her influence if she has a fan base that could sway an election ie. Are her fans writ large old enough to vote ? I applaud Taylor as the most savvy businesswoman in the industry . Re-recording her albums to get her due - what her record label skimmed off the top in respect to her intellectual properties - was beyond brilliant . Point being . Although I can’t relate to her music doesn’t mean that I dislike her in any way. If Taylor is a positive influence on young girls - women more power to her . Things could be much worse for your children to be listening to. Cardi B influences many young people which is mind boggling ! If you believe that is a positive message for young women , you shouldn’t have children …
Growing up as a midsize blonde girl during Taylor Swift's rise to stardom was a weird experience; when she came on TV, the conservative menfolk in my family always insisted on pointing out how thin (and effortlessly so!) she was. It was like they were implying that Swift -- who is, as you point out, prettier and skinnier than 99% of women -- was the blueprint for womanhood, and I was obviously doing something behaviorally wrong if I didn't look like her. Obviously we know now that she was dealing with disordered eating, and actually wasn't a natural size 0. I think those kinds of men are mad that they no can longer claim her, whether it be her brand message/content or her body's place in their weird skeevy hierarchies.
The answer Is mostly porn (mostly teen), I guess. No need to think of AI either, the make-ups of porn actresses is designed to alter their outlines to the point of being unrecogbizable if you meet them elsewhere
Variety tweeted about David Letterman endorsing the NFL romance. Most replies agree with him, while the Maga boys and the watermelon girls state the similar things:
For Maga, the couple are Soros' plants.
For watermelons, they (and Letterman) are white people who hide the genocide.
It's almost "Swift is Zionist".
https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1752121399311757359?t=zkbfNgzoRYrk-2dGCTJj4w&s=19