This Is The Real Story About Taylor Swift

[gab13by13]

I get a lot of my news from Thom Hartmann. There was a discussion there last week about Taylor Swift.

Thom was discussing how a candidate with a movement behind him such as (Trump, White Supremacist) beats a politician.

In all fairness, President Biden has a Women's right movement behind him.

This is why Magats are attacking Taylor Swift, she has the charisma to lead another pro-Biden, pro-democracy movement, and that scares the fuck out of Magats.

When you see Magats attacking Taylor Swift this is the reason. The more time she devotes to politics, the more the pendulum swings to Biden.

Movements beat politicians.

[BittyJenkins]

1. The MAGATS

are making Swifties swifter the more they go after Taylor. Go MAGATS go.

[global1]

3. Exactly What I Thought - If They Keep Going After Swift.....

it's just going to piss her off as well as her followers and they are just making things worse for themselves.

Again that may be the Repug plan. They don't want to nix Tr**p themselves because they are cowards and are concerned about their jobs, their life and the Party in general. Tr**p will go after each - if they try openly to jettison him.

So the alternative is to let the People (the voting public) take out Tr**p.

Lets bad mouth Taylor. Lets rile up her followers. Let them take out Tr**p and we'll be off the hook cause we did everything we could (in the open) to make it look like we support(ed) Tr**p.

[NoMoreRepugs]

7. Your idea assumes Republicans have a counterintuitive strategy, they can't spell it let alone formulate one.

[Wednesdays]

10. I agree with you on your first sentence

After that, nahh. Occam's Razor, my friend.

[littlemissmartypants]

14. You're giving the Republicans too much credit. They're not that smart. ❤️

[TheKentuckian]

30. Unfortunately some of the most evil ones are

Not the flotsam we see in Congress or on TV but the ones behind them.

[littlemissmartypants]

48. Good point. ❤️

[CousinIT]

2. She encourages people to register and vote. Democracy.

MAGAts hate Democracy and anyone who promotes it.

[ShazzieB]

5. Reminds me of that protest chant...

Leader: Tell me what democracy looks like!
Crowd: THIS is what democracy looks like!

Taylor Swift getting her fans to register to vote is exactly what democracy looks like, and the Trumpers can't stand it!

[BaronChocula]

4. One definition of a maga -

Someone who somehow feels "economically squeezed" by seeing Taylor Swift at an NFL game.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

6. vilifying women is an age old activity.

In this case though it's ridiculous because she's not popular for her politics. And our media is way too busy being lazy.

[GopherGal]

23. "not popular for her politics"

This phrase got me thinking a little bit.
If I were a MAGAt, she'd be threatening to me because of her influence as a role model to her mostly young, female fanbase. Maybe it's not strictly political, but she represents a sort of thoughtful female empowerment that is anathema to MAGAts.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

43. She Is the real Anti-trump.

She's thoughtful, gifted, attacked by Kanye (and not praised), an honest billionaire, and concerned about our future.

[CarolinaNC]

8. Please Taylor Swift, help us, The Orange Blob is so scary!

[ForgedCrank]

9. Ok, allow

me to be the outlier here. I've been watching all this Taylor Swift stuff flying around for the past couple of weeks. My real question is, why should I care what she thinks about anything? Who is their right mind would vote based on what a musician says or thinks?
I don't listen to Ted Nugent because he's a moron, what's the difference here other than we may align politically?
I obviously don't know Taylor Swift, but entertainers aren't generally known for being the brightest in any given bunch.
I just don't understand the obsession with anything that Taylor Swift has to say about anything political.

[Wednesdays]

11. Anyone who is willing to help our side is a good thing

Do you not at least agree with that?

[ForgedCrank]

12. Yes, I

do agree with that much, I just find the entire premise pretty cringy.
I'd be embarrassed as hell to tell admit it if I was voting how Taylor Swift suggested I vote. That's my only point.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

19. She encouraged her fans to register to vote

She didn't tell them how to vote.

The MAGAt BS speaks for itself.

[ForgedCrank]

26. Are you

insinuating that I'm MAGA?
WTF?

[people]

57. Taylor Swift

You are definitely not Taylor Swift's target audience, which consists mainly of young girls including those just reaching voting age. Her telling these young women to register to vote is VERY important - she's telling them to think beyond the glitz and to do their part and participate in this democracy. Many of them have been and will be influenced by her and have and will register to vote.

[HUAJIAO]

13. Who says, entertainers aren't "generally known for being the brightest in any given bunch."

[ForgedCrank]

27. I do.

Because they aren't. There have been a few highly intelligent ones, but most are very obviously detached from the realities of everyday life. You don't have to agree with me, but that's what it is.

[TwilightZone]

36. And you would be wrong.

As for musicians being unintelligent, there are studies indicating that the opposite is true.

"HIGHLIGHTS

- Musicians show higher general intelligence (FSIQ), verbal intelligence (VIQ), working memory (WMI) and attention skills than non-musicians. Amateurs score in between.

- Significant positive correlations between years of musical playing and cognitive abilities support the hypothesis that long-term musical practice is associated with intelligence and executive functions."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6682658/

[HUAJIAO]

45. Thank you...... from a musician.

[betsuni]

47. +1

[stopdiggin]

61. +2. the generalization is just flat wrong. (and somewhat gratuitous ?)

personal experience has brought me into contact with very few numb-nuts ...

[TxGuitar]

56. Wrong

Our daughter and son-in-law are both actors and theatre teachers. Both are very, very bright, graduated in top 10% of their classes in high school and college and both have masters. Both are some of the brightest young people we know- they are in their early 30's- have bought their home and generall have no debt. I would put my daughter's brain power up against yours any day.

[betsuni]

17. "entertainers aren't generally known for being the brightest in any given bunch."

Now what does that mean? Performers of music, acting, dance, comedy, and other artists is a stupid people thing? Who ARE the brightest in any given bunch then?

The old Liberal Hollywood Elites insult.

[ForgedCrank]

25. I see

that you conveniently left out the word (that I also underlined), "generally"
Why is it there are so many people who hear words that are never said? Are you simply searching for something to fight about? I asked an honest question. And yes, GENERALLY, entertainers aren't the smartest. They also have a habit of being unstable (or at least showing the appearance of).

[betsuni]

42. Oh, a personal insult.

[ForgedCrank]

44. You can

hate and bite all you want, but I'm not participating.
Have an awesome day

[HUAJIAO]

46. lololol.....

[HUAJIAO]

67. That must just be your perception.

[ForgedCrank]

68. It is

my perception, which is why I said it.

[littlemissmartypants]

18. You don't* have to like her but many who dis her are coming from a place of sexism and

Last edited Tue Jan 30, 2024, 10:42 PM - Edit history (1)

systemic misogyny. It's a basic emotional reaction. Those who critique others from a place of unfamiliarity are seldom taken seriously.

Those who attack others because they dare to thrive, as she does, are an entirely different animal. They deserve our scorn for their discrimination against women and the idiocy that comes with it.

❤️
*Edit: One doesn't...

[MorbidButterflyTat]

21. Agree

Plus, the MAGAt incels know Taylor Swift and beautiful young successful women like her would NEVER give them the time of day.

That severely damages MAGAt boo boo egos.

[ariadne0614]

52. Fox Sports announcer Colin Cowherd addressed this very subject.

foxsports.com/watch/fmc-dxqdcn7rflcv7jut

“Colin Cowherd is defending a few folks today: first, Taylor Swift. Watch as he explains why he has no problem with the singer's presence in the NFL, including telling haters to simply shake it off.

17 HOURS AGO・THE HERD WITH COLIN COWHERD・3:49”


“

[ForgedCrank]

31. I didn't

even say that. I find her to be a quite talented person and even enjoy a few of her songs. I don't think I'm alone in that opinion based on the popularity of her music.
I'm talking about the people who would be influenced on voting. Somehow this turned into accusations of me being MAGA and bashing Taylor Swift, and neither are even remotely true. that happens almost every single time I try to discuss something here. sometimes I wonder why the hell I even bother trying to discuss things here.
I asked what kind of people are actually influenced by an entertainment industry personality when it comes to voting. We can pretend all day long that all she's doing is asking people to register to vote. If we are honest, we will accept the fact that she is also promoting Joe Biden as a candidate. Obviously, this is good for us as a whole, but that wasn't my point at all.

[littlemissmartypants]

33. I'm sorry you took offense at my post. I should have started it with

"One" instead of "You" because it was a word choice error on my part.

[ForgedCrank]

34. It's not

a problem, I do appreciate that a lot.
I just don't know what it is, but nearly every time I post I get attacked, so I'm a bit defensive.
I always want to discuss things with honesty, and it seems that a lot of people can't take that. I constantly get accused of being things that I simply am not. I'm not one to post "I agree", I find it redundant and boring, and I'm not on a post count mission either, so I don't get involved in stuff I agree with. So I generally only interject when I see something worth discussing, or something I disagree with in some way, or have a different perspective on.
I'm starting to think this may not be the place for me. I'm a liberal to my very core, I question everything and refuse to be blinded by gossip and headlines, I want truth, even if it hurts. That is something not appreciated here. In fact, it is highly discouraged.
I saw a post a while back where another DU user, a very long established one too, brought up this hate. I tried to post a reply, and it had already been flagged and removed while I was typing, even though he presented it well. This is what I'm talking about. I mistook this as a place to argue positions and discuss politics. I'm not a cheerleader, I like to participate in thinking constructively.
I don't seem to fit in here, and I'm questioning my associations very seriously right now.

[littlemissmartypants]

49. Stay encouraged, ForgedCrank. I recommend the Ignore function.

Some of those posters you wrote about could be trollin' and hatin'. There's no shortage of malcontents here.

Also, not being able to see and hear each other we miss all the nonverbal cues of communication. This makes discerning intentions and attitudes less than ideal. There's so much to be learned from a person's tone of voice and eye contact for example.

I use the Ignore function liberally, no pun intended. Sometimes when I post my thread will say I have a certain number of replies but I can't see a fourth of them because of my ignore list.

But I do recommend it because it it helps separate the serious conversationalists from those some might refer to as smart asses.

Keep the faith!

❤️

[lonely bird]

59. I doubt many people vote the way an entertainer tells them to vote

People are influenced by all kinds of things.

Religion, peer pressure, need to be liked/accepted, warmed over political bullshit like “my tax dollars” etc ad nauseum.

Critical thinking is and always will be in short supply. It is difficult and requires laying aside belief structures. That is one reason that Faux Noise, OAN, Newsmax et al are successful. Instead of demanding critical thinking they reinforce intellectual laziness. Some may say CNN and MSNBC do the same but I would argue that that occurs far less than RW media.

[HariSeldon]

28. They deserve as much of a hearing as anyone

If they are making good, solid points, I will listen as much as if it were a college professor, a lawyer, or a politician saying the same.

And not all entertainers are lunkheads: Al Franken became a US Senator and Heddy Lamarr co-invented spread spectrum radio. It is important to judge each on her or his own merits.

[cally]

29. I partially watched a video of her last tour

Shown on Netflix (not the Eras tour). I was curious why all the hype about her. I was impressed by her constant interaction with her audience and how the audience seemed to know every song. It changed how I see her. Her fans appeared to adore her. She appears able to greatly influence a large group of fans. This cohort are very difficult to get to vote but are generally very liberal. It could change the outcome.

[questionseverything]

35. Ok boomer lol

Taylor is against the government controlling women’s bodies, she lets young women know it’s democrats that protect women’s rights and repubs that want to take that right away.

Luckily for us most women agree with her

[Sympthsical]

37. I'd be a little surprised if Swift did anything so overt as people are hoping for

It's not her style. She has a very, very carefully cultivated PR system that fosters an uncommonly (and cringingly) close parasocial relationship between her and her fans. I can say, with full experiential authority, that it is jarringly disconcerting. Trying to drag Swift into overt partisan politics has a whiff of "What if we fought a personality cult with another personality cult?"

Talk to tweener Swifties for about five minutes, and it's almost concerning. I will say shit to my 14 year old niece just to get her going. Nothing bad, just things like, "Matty Healy was the best boyfriend Taylor ever had. She didn't deserve him." She will go into total furious orbit and then spend a solid fifteen minutes genuinely distressed that I could have said such a thing and explaining to me in vast detail why I am wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I like Swift. My partner's best friend (a near 50 year old gay man) is obsessed with her, so I get a lot of her music in my house through pure osmosis. Some of it slaps. Anti-Hero's been in heavy kitchen rotation for what feels like forever. I'm currently more of an Olivia Rodrigo man myself, but whatkinyado.

But who knows. Maybe the Right will push Swift into being more involved than I think is her preference. She does good things for voter registration. I just don't imagine she'll go super saiyan partisan the way people want. Could be wrong, but it'd be a stiff break from how she's operated in the past and been careful about her image.

[TwilightZone]

39. She openly supported Biden in 2020.

There's little reason to believe she won't do the same this time. And that's just fine.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-endorses-joe-biden-kamala-harris-president/

[Sympthsical]

40. I know she did

I'm responding more to the idea that seems to be floating around that she's going to go on some kind of crazy political blitz for the next nine months to defeat MAGA once and for all.

The stuff I've seen around Swift has been getting . . . hyperbolic and weird.

She'll do her thing, which I surmise will look a lot like what she did in 2020. It's there, it gets said, and then she does other things. And hey, I'll take it. Any help is good.

Hell, if she gets a significant bump out of Gen Z to vote, I'd be thrilled.

[stopdiggin]

60. +1. "hyperbolic and weird'

And, truth told - you can probably make a pretty good argument that her 'just doing her thing' - would be a good deal more effective than some sort of muscular campaigning blitz, that some seem to imagine is in the offing.

(right now the wingers just look like a bunch of fools on this topic - let them continue to embarrass themselves.)

[TwilightZone]

38. Musicians and other entertainers have as much right to be politically active as anyone else.

By your standards, who is allowed to be political? Only politicians?

I would presume that it's not your intent, but your assertion is veering dangerously close to prior gems like "just shut up and play football".

[betsuni]

41. Laura Ingraham's "Shut up and Sing."

[megapuzzler]

50. She doesn't have to SAY anything political

and I haven't heard that she necessarily has. BUT if you've read anything about her, she embodies qualities that democrats hold dear. She has held her own against physical sexual assault (a DJ in Colorado), verbal sexual assault (Kanye West) and most recently cyber sexual assault (the AI-created nude images of her recently making the rounds). She encourages her followers to register to vote and then to do so. She shrugs off the misogyny that has pounded away at her since she started appearing at her boyfriend's football games and stands as a strong woman with great business savvy, impressive talent, and demonstrative kindness to others. On top of that, the one video of hers that I've watched shows a self-deprecating sense of humor that indicates to me her success has not swelled her head.

So, she doesn't have to say anything political. Any young person who admires her will loathe the MAGAts and their social media influencers that have crept everywhere online and most likely vote for democrats who reflect similar values.

[Torchlight]

51. Reminded of a wonderful performance by Mama Cass and John Denver

singing Leaving on a Jet Plane as a balladic-duet. Used the time both prior to and after the song to encourage people to vote as a greater part of the peace movement.

I guess things like that really frustrate and often just stick in people's craw. But I think if we remove politics from popular art and music, by default we're also forced to reject Bloody Sunday, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Imagine, A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, Born in the USA, What's Goin' On, Another Brick in the Wall, Zombie, and a host of other tunes we may have never heard, and now can never give a chance.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

63. Don't judge the world by your own habits. "Who is their right mind would vote based on what a musician says or thinks?"

Millions & millions of people, in their right minds or not, do. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. People we admire can make us think and at least reconsider our beliefs. And some will just follow her political advice because they don't care about politics but care about her. Remember, fan is short for fanatic.

Also, imo, a large percentage of the population is not in their right minds. Trump got elected in large part due to loads of people admiring and supporting him mainly because he was a celebrity. Many shared his hateful, simplistic views, and others voted for him because they thought he was a famous, wealthy, successful businessman. The "famous" part helped.

[Codifer]

65. Ok

I am guessing that you were not around to hear John Lennon or Joan Baez or The Moody Blues or...... I could go on. There was so much power there.... and hope

[StClone]

15. Why don't we admit it: we are very powerful.

We make pizza places with no basement into "basement human trafficking" hubs.

We endlessly develop and move on to new "conspiracies" at the drop of a hat. Covid Virus hoax, we did it.

Of course, Obama was born in Kenya and is Muslim, nothing wrong with that for normal people.

And yes, our buddies in the FBI did a bang-up job of simulating an attack on the US Capital and framing the innocent Right for it.

Taylor Swift, well friends she is our biggest sucker punch yet. Yes it's all the rage our Newest Conspiracy Is The Super Bowl-Taylor Swift-Joe Biden 'Psyop'

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-joe-biden-conspiracy_n_65b95afbe4b0102bd2d677cb

Fear us! Look at our history of luring you to endless surprises! Don't fight it anymore just let the mold take over your essence and submit to Mother Earth.

[kimbutgar]

16. Young Taylor Swift fans don't care about right wing grievances

And outside of the evilangelicals young girls who will be forbidden from listening to her are forbidden from voting anyway.

And all her concerts have drawn larger crowds than any of the orange menaces rallies!

[littlemissmartypants]

22. She's been performing for almost twenty years. Not all of her fans are considered young anymore.

Have you looked at her fan base numbers?
Demographic profile of Taylor Swift fans in the United States as of March 2023, by generation

Gen Z: 11%, 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2010s as ending birth years.

Gen X: 21%, mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the late 1970s as its ending birth years, with the generation being generally defined as people born from 1965 to 1980.

Baby boomers: 23%, defined as people born from 1946 to 1964 during the mid-20th century baby boom.

Millenials: 45%, also known as Generation Y (often shortened to Gen Y), are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years, with the generation typically being defined as people born from 1981 to 1996.

See Wikipedia for details on each group.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1372971/taylor-swift-fans-by-generation/
###
How many fans does Taylor swift have?
In 2023, a recent Morning Consult survey found that a significant portion of U.S. adults are fans of Taylor Swift.

The survey revealed that 53% of American adults consider themselves fans of Taylor Swift, out of which 16% are categorized as “avid” fans also known as swifties.
Snip...180.098 million
Snip...
Taylor Swift is an internationally renowned artist with global fame and a fan base of more than 500 million fans.
https://suratblogger.com/how-many-fans-does-taylor-swift-have/

According to Worldometers the population of the US is 339,996,563 for comparison.
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/

[samsingh]

20. Go Taylor Swift!

[LudwigPastorius]

24. Awww....

I thought the real story was going to be about how Taylor was created in a Chinese lab by George Soros, the Bilderbergers, and the Greys to facilitate a New World Order by alien-assisted Democrats.

[Upthevibe]

32. gab13by13........

I'm sooooooooooooooo thrilled we have Taylor as a voice (pun intended)! I'm convinced she'll continue to mobilize young people who might otherwise not be engaged - who knows what the numbers will end up being? And the way she called out Marsha Blackburn was awesome!

This is a clip with commentary from her 2020 documentary.

[Chakaconcarne]

53. Well, the GOP has Putin, so.......

[ECL213]

54. Taylor Swift could shoot Donald Trump in the middle of 5th avenue...

...and I would still vote for Joe Biden!

[Harker]

55. Time to call in Kid Rock and Ted Nugent! n/t

[ashredux]

58. Regarding musicians and intellect. I've known them, worked with them, and even married one....

Almost all I’ve run into and known, are very intelligent. Of course, not everyone in any profession are the best and the brightest. For instance, Trump’s lawyers. But, after saying, that, most musicians are very very intelligent. Period.

[Under The Radar]

62. This will end as bad for MAGA as Disney did for DeSantis.

All Ms. Swift has to do is keep smiling and not make any comment about the phenomena while Fox and MAGA beat themselves to death over this. Maybe just write a song named “Joe”, The chiefs come out in blue uniforms or something subtle like that.

[Mr. Ected]

64. Ironic that the SAME DAY that FOX went ballistic on Taylor Swift

They were promoting the Ben Shapiro/Tom MacDonald right-wing rap song "Facts" and its overtly-political lyrics.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

66. Taylor Swift is a good person