As we discussed earlier this week, Taylor Swift needs new people. People who will convince her that to NOT send threatening letters to small-time bloggers who are merely exercising their right to free speech. Taylor’s lawyer tried to threaten a blogger who questioned Swifty’s utter silence on the fact that she’s embraced by the neo-Nazi community, and that those alt-right douchebags have declared her to be an “Aryan goddess.” Some snake fans tried to argue that Taylor has the right to not say anything political either way. Sure… but if the most popular neo-Nazi publication in the country was on your side, wouldn’t you want to make it clear that (at the very f–king least) you don’t want to be associated with neo-Nazism? What makes that argument a million times worse is that instead of simply issuing a statement about where she really stands, she had her lawyer threaten this one small-time blogger. I love the fact that the blogger is now being represented by the ACLU too. And the blogger gave an interview to Newsweek!!! Dear Swifty: welcome to The Streisand Effect.
On October 25, Meghan Herning was at her computer when some alarming news arrived in her email: Taylor Swift was mad at her. It was worse than that, in fact. Swift’s legal team was threatening to sue her for criticizing the pop star’s politics in a months-old blog post.
“When I saw [the letter] at first, I didn’t even think it was real,” Herning, a 30-year-old blogger and entrepreneur who works in the solar industry, told Newsweek. “I was just kind of like, ‘OK, how do I verify this?'”
The very real cease-and-desist letter was signed by the entertainment attorney William J. Briggs II and sent on behalf of Swift. It accused Herning of defamation for writing a blog post analyzing the pop star’s appeal to white supremacists and neo-Nazis. In the piece, published by the tiny online magazine PopFront, Herning argues that Swift’s recent lyrics appeal to white privilege and white anger and that her silence on racial and political matters constitutes “support for the oppressor.”
“PopFront is a writing collective I started with a few of my friends,” Herning said. “[I] definitely never thought she would see it.” The site has a small audience, roughly 275 Twitter followers and a nonexistent operational budget. Compare that to Taylor Swift, who has a massive global fanbase, an estimated net worth of $280 million and a team of high-priced lawyers prepared to defend her on matters serious and trivial. It’s a remarkable power imbalance. Nevertheless, Swift’s legal rep demanded Herning remove the post and immediately issue a retraction. If she didn’t, Swift would “proceed with litigation.” The attorney concluded his letter with an unusual warning: “You are not authorized to publish this letter in whole or in part absent our express written authorization.”
“I actually went to law school, so I understood that what they were threatening legally was not legitimate,” Herning said.
After a few days of reflection, she decided to take on the global pop superstar from her apartment in the Bay Area. So she ignored the threat and contacted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “I wanted to stand up for the principles of free speech and free press at a time when the press is really under attack by the government.”
The ACLU eagerly took Herning’s case. “Our client’s blog is a critical opinion piece that discusses current politics and the rise of white supremacy in the United States,” said Matt Cagle, a technology and civil liberties policy attorney at the ACLU of Northern California. “These are opinions that the Constitution fully protects. And we’re concerned to see powerful figures using legal threats to silence opinions they don’t like.”
When she wrote the original post, Herning hoped to create a dialogue urging stars like Swift to become more politically outspoken. “Why is it so hard to say that white supremacy is bad and racism is bad?” But the goal changed once she received the cease-and-desist letter. “Then it became: I want to make a statement for free speech,” she said. “I want to make a statement about the rich not throwing their lawyers around and being able to bully people.”
Ah, Meghan Herning went to law school, that’s why she wasn’t intimidated by the takedown threat. It’s really cool that Herning went to the ACLU too, and that they took the case. Newsweek goes on to note that after the ACLU published their open letter to Swift and her lawyer, several other journalists and media outlets confirmed that this is standard operating procedure for Team Swift – journalists from The Daily Beast and New York Magazine confirmed that they had also received ridiculous takedown threats from Swift’s lawyer too, about everything from coverage of The International Tiddlebanging to Taylor’s apolitical public image. Incidentally, here at Celebitchy, we’ve had some dealings with Team Swift’s threats too and it was about something so innocuous, you wouldn’t even believe it if I told you. The point is that Taylor Swift is reading all of this. She reads about herself constantly and she’s litigious. So, Tay, since you’re reading this…Herning makes a great point: “Why is it so hard to say that white supremacy is bad and racism is bad?” SERIOUSLY, WHY IS THAT SO HARD?
Photos courtesy of Taylor Swift and WENN.
Because racists buy her albums, and it’s all about the sales.
Plus no-one is allowed to criticise her, if they can be sued.
She wants to keep the $$$$$ and/or the worship. Doesn’t want to alienate the Evangelicals or the Breitbart crowd or the other pond scum clamoring to call her their Neo-Nazi princess.
Her right, I guess. It’s my right, tho, to think she’s an exhausting, , selfish, narcissistic trainwreck whose music isn’t worth my money.
The fame thirst is strong in this one. Taylor is also a bully and way too thin skinned. I refuse to listen to her songs and will either change the radio station or walk out of a store if her songs are playing. She comes across as a horrible person.
I’m with you. I’ll walk out of stores too if I hear her music. Ugh. And I’m always wondering why she’s so goddamned rich on such mediocre-at-best “talent.”
Yes, Tay, why?
Who knows. Maybe she believes they are right and doesn’t want to say it?
Beginning to think you are right. She calls out little bloggers but stays silent when it comes to the utter scum of society. The nazi groups must be striking a chord with her.
Because Taylor’s only concern is herself. Political/Social issues matter when she can benefit from them (Like her Tayesque interpretation and approach towards feminism).
Any communication speaking out against white privilege would require her to acknowledge her privilege, the oppresion of others, which she seems to be incapable of.
Lawyering up to crush commentary is just Another example of what somebody else made her do no doubt
F.g.s.
Just say it Tay, white supremacy is bad. Easy to say and way cheaper than a lawyer, but good job Streisanding yourself.
Remember when she sued the Etsy stores? And I’m dying to know about what they tried with CB. Guesses?
If it wasn’t CB linking Tay with white supremacists, I guess it must’ve been Hiddles related
or boobs related, bcs her team debunk this story so fast.
Oh yes the obvious boob job, that looked like 2 grapefruit stuck to her chest when she had them done last year.
I think it was the story about the snake emoji that Swifty was trying to scrub from social media.
CB actually reminded me that Team Swift had issues with us TWICE. Once was Tiddles-related and once was Kimye-related.
And what did you do?? You didn’t stop writing about it, so it was about the tone? I can not believe her. I mean… you’re such a clever gossip blog, she should be reading you and questioning her moves to become a better (public) person!!
Slightly off topic but I also get the sense that you’ve had issues with Blake Lively’s legal team before too, no?
I’ve never found anything sinister in this site’s reporting, so I can only assume these celebrities malfunction at any kind of negative coverage.
Haha, okay, that obsession also explains why those of PR Team Tay who magically appeared all at once to comment here when LWYMMD came out actually followed up on the suggestion that, next time when they want their paid commenters to seem legit, they should actually drop a few comments on other posts as well. Lol.
P.S.: A Croatian: EXACTLY. Tay, you should actually be thanking CB for some of the soundest and most reasonable PR advice.
And the funniest part to me is that they brought the Tiddles drama on themselves with their oh so public rock kisses and pap strolls. We would have never known if they’d kept it quiet like other celebrities.
ahaha, i thought it was the titjob 100%, but it makes sense it was what she really cares about – her petty beefs and childmances.
ps. sorry for being salty about the tone yesterday, Kaiser, that was unfair of me. I really appreciate your consistent writing about SV, you inspire me to get good. It must be exhausting and you do an absolutely wonderful job. Glad you got to write about snakestress here as a change.
This makes me want to encourage every single blogger to call the ACLU on her stupid Eva Braun Swiftenhauser’s arse. I hate bullies. HATE THEM!!!!
Because she doesn’t care and she’s at best apathetic to any issues for minorities and at worst…well. She’s a proven white feminist so this is not surprising.
Again it’s all about the $$$ for her
I think she is more than apathetic.
I think she knows full well that she gains plenty from white privilege, and she wants to hang onto that. She does not like the thought of giving up whatever perceived advantages she has, whatever they may be, no matter how unjust or who has to pay for those advantages.
It is not so much that she likes her neo-Nazi fans so much as it is that she doesn’t want to offend her other white fans by talking about race and privilege or addressing this in any way. Part of white privilege, after all, is the perception that one can ignore the issue, live in a bubble, and be “apolitical.” She wants to hang onto that. Her fans want to hang on to that. In her case, there is big $$$ in hanging onto that. Yup, she will even make room for neo-Nazis if it means she gets to hang onto that.
It’s bullsh*t. I really hope all of this blows up in her face. The times are changing, and these little bubbles are breaking.
I think so too which is why I said at BEST because I don’t know for sure. But yea I don’t like her and this is one of the many many reasons why
Yesterday or the day before somebody commented about Taylor Swift’s father leaving some ‘Blue lives Matter’ commentary on facebook.
Yes, he did. Someone also said she used to post Pro Right comments on her Myspace page.
This apolitical excuse is BS. First off, feminism IS political and she’s taken plenty of stances on that—albeit self-serving. Second, if being apolitical means you won’t take a stand against neo-Nazis and white supremacy, I’d say you’ve taken it a bridge too far. This critique is for Taylor and a growing trend in people to not want to discuss politics. I don’t know when taking a stand against Nazism was worthy of “let’s not get into that” sort of mentality.
I think at this point it’s not even about politics anymore, it’s about being a decent person.
I was about to say the same. Nazism and racism isn’t political, it’s just about common decency. It’s disturbing that how Taylor and her team are going after a blogger but not the Nazis who embrace her. I think her team made a mistake based on optics. They come off as supporting the Nazis. The blogger wrote how the Nazi groups use her image not that Taylor is racist.
I’m with you. If she was just a performer who went away post-tour I’d cut her some slack, but she has gone out of her way to embrace feminism and write op-eds about all manners business and political so this seems more deliberate.
Although — she should have known calling herself a feminist would alienate some fans (white supremacists and misogynists have a lot of overlap). So this seem even more fishy.
Yeah, I totally agree. Putting Nazism into “political” territory legitimizes it. This isn’t about whether the government should be involved in healthcare or if tax cuts are good for the economy.
This is about whether you can stand up against people who celebrate the killing of 8 million men, women, and children and want to do more of that. The Nazis killed Jewish people, LGBT people, the disabled, and many more. Surely, Swift has more fans who fit into these categories than she does white supremacists. So why not take a stand? It’s the easiest thing in the world to do and if more people had done it last time, those millions of people wouldn’t have been killed.
I agree. I’m fine with people, including celebrities keeping their politics private, but if you decide to use “feminism!” to sell your brand, you should be willing to stand up for it, and as a decent person, you should be willing to denounce Nazis.
If I were in her position, I would be horrified to learn I was being supported by awful people like that, but then I would immediately make a statement against it. Do I think she needs to respond to every last thing said about her? No. But Nazi support? Hell yes.
I was coming to say this, too. It’s sad that people consider white supremacy/Nazism to be a political issue these days and not something that’s unacceptable.
I agree 100%.
Money. That’s why it’s so hard.
I’m so tired of this “She has the right to not speak out.” arguement. Sure. She has the right, we have the right to call her out on it, we all have rights. Since when is that the most important thing? How about actually doing what’s right? Pun intended. Do the right thing, Tay. Very few people have a platform like that. Use it wisely. Good gawd.
I truly don’t think it’s a good thing to compel speech. Honestly not being a devil’s advocate. It’s all very well pressuring la Swift to do the decent thing, but compelled speech rolls downhill in all sorts of unpleasant ways. Nobody will EVER make me say anything I don’t want to say and I don’t want an atmosphere where I’m under that sort of pressure to be normalised.
I do think there should be some safeguards to prevent trivial/malicious legal threats from powerful people, as Swift is doing here and as we see in the UK with the rich people getting secret injunctions from the courts. I also support people who suspect that she is happy to condone racism in order to make money starting a consumer boycott of her.
Compelled speech, though? No.
I seem to be a lonely voice on this one! 😉
While I’d agree with you in principle, the end result of this is a PR backlash against Swift and her heavy-handed legal team. Even a subtle news story that she didn’t like being known as an aryan goddess would’ve helped.
She’s also co-opted feminism – when it suits her of course – but when she’s being aligned with nazis and looks bad she says nothing.
It obviously come across as very hypocritical.
Swift is mainly harmless, just annoying to me, but she has a significant fanbase made of impressionable pre-teen and teens, who look to her as a role model (+ ripping them off with her album and ticket sales).
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I have no liking or sympathy for Swift and I agree that money and status-protection means more to her than racism.
But if we live in a climate that can compel speech from her, then that climate can also compel speech from me. And I’m not having that!
I agree with you. Can often lead to forced, insincere statements made merely for positive PR. If making money is the reason for her silent stand, well, I may disagree with that, but she has a right to make her own biz decisions.
Again, she has the right to say nothing. I’m not going to argue that anyone touch that right. But these are desperate times. I expect people to take a stand and if they refuse for whatever reason, I can’t do anything about that except not support them. My issue is her motives. Why does she not say anthing? I can’t come up with a reason that I find palatable. I judge people who are silent. Or who don’t care to even be informed. I’m having a hard time with a close relative who knows the latest fashion but has no idea about politics. None. It’s shocking. If she weren’t a family member, we’d have words.
I just have no time for peole who don’t care.
Littlemiss – on this, we can agree. I am judging her too!
I agree with you in that she has the right not to say anything and anything she says about the issue now will seem insincere and forced. However, other people then have the right to draw their own conclusions from her silence and state their opinions, which for me is the crux of the issue here. She can say or not say her opinions, but she can’t threaten others for doing the same thing. And the fact that she sic-ed her lawyers on a blogger with a limited following and likely more limited resources is stupid and troubling.
I guess I don’t see it as “compelled” speech in the sense of compelling her to say something she doesn’t believe. I forget where I saw it but one of the speakers at the women’s march pointed out that in a racist environment, it is not enough to not be racist yourself, you must be anti-racist.
So she needs to either be anti-racist or be judged a racist. Her choice and I don’t see that as compelling her to speak.
People always have the right to say or not say what they want on any issue– I agree with you on that part.
What I always told my students though back when I taught is that other people also have the right to say or not say what they want– and this might involve criticizing you, boycotting you, not offering you a platform, etc., and otherwise calling you out on what you have said or refused to say.
Freedom of speech, yes; freedom from consequences… nope. The solution here is not for Taytay to come up with some mealy-mouthed fake statement but to learn how to take criticism and maybe grow as a result. It’s up to her, and nobody owes her a damned thing.
Very well said Sixer! I also think at this point anything she says will be insincere because it was forced upon pressure or not believable anyway because again it was done out of force. She loses either way. Would I love for her to stand up and condemn these horrible people? Absolutely! Would I respect her more? Absolutely! But would I believe her now? No! And I have to say this, I am truly sick and tired of the comparisons with Hitler that gets thrown around now for just about anyone. I take that part of history very seriously and to thrown it around makes light of what actually happened. We have to make sure that atrocity never happens again so please enough of the ridiculousness that Taylor Swift is a nazi. Save it for the real evil people.
And on a much lighter note, I can’t imagine any of those sickos dancing or listening to her music.
She may simply be afraid to speak out. The racists calling her an Aryan princess are really scary people, who, as we saw in Charlottesville, are willing to use violence. I was just reading the summary of a civil suit in which Andrew Anglin from the now defunct Daily Stormer rallied racists to harass a Jewish woman. They have made her life a living hell.
@Megan
Surely you aren’t serious.
I don’t recall them murdering the members of Depeche Mode, or when Amanda Knox made it clear she didn’t want them talking about her, she seemed to have survived it. Taylor afraid? Nope. She is a racist. No need to speak out. WE know.
@MagnoliaRose Are you on Twitter? if so, is it so hard to believe she doesn’t want to be trolled by thousands of white supremacists? Their rhetoric is beyond vile.
As I commented below, I think Swift is a racist, but I don’t think she is a Nazi sympathizer.
Mary, there’s a difference btwn calling her hitler and calling her a nazi. I agree that we should not call everyone we disagree with Hitler. We should probably not call every alt-right-lite person Hitler. But Nazism is a political belief system. And if you’re not against it, you’re for it. While many German people during WW2 were not actually Hitler giving the orders, they were still Nazis, they supported him and believed the things he believed. They voted for him. They did not work against him.
You’re not Sixer, I just got sick of the group consensus in here that decided all TS fans are Nazi’s or white supremacist. Or if not that, lame and basic and stupid and 12. I feel the same – I don’t think she has to comment on this. I think to give sites that declare her their princess any attention would be to legitimize them in some way. It would give them power to know she noticed them.
All I can say is if a website was out there giving personal interpretation to my work saying I’m encouraging or courting Nazi’s and it wasn’t true, yeah… I’d want that shut down too.
@Erica: yeah, anyone would want sites like that to be shut down. But we don’t get to do that, unless they make false claims.
Saying “Taylor is a Nazi” is a false claim. Saying “Taylor uses problematic imagery” is not a false claim.
When a multi-millionaire sends a strongly worded cease-and-desist letter to a small time blogger, that’s suppressing free speech. That’s exactly the time that the ACLU should get involved. Their letter was goddamned perfect.
I have two things to say to TS: “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people”. And Martin Niemöller poem ” First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me”. My grandfather survived WWII and nazis camp and he always tell us about this poem – that people forget that they create a society, that the most important is not to fight for you, but for others, whose voice couldn’t be heard. She has such a hight platform to speak and she rather want to give us a viideo about her cats. Pathetic.
I am a descendant of survivors, and I have no time for her. None. But I do have time to scream because I am aware of history. Never again.
I refuse to remain silent, and I refuse to allow her to reap the benefits of our system and support Fascism. She can, but I won’t shut up about it.
no no, you’ve made an excellent point. To underestimate this mechanism leads to a very dangerous path.
It’s a privileged stance to say nothing. But hey i believe in her right to say nothing. I also believe that if you can’t denounce Nazis then it says plenty about your character.
But just like her faux feminism i don’t need her faux anti-racism or faux intersectionality. It will ring false
Did anyone stop to think that maybe Taylor and her team are Nazi sympathizers at heart? Maybe that’s why. Or, her and her team are greedy AF and knows many people who buy her sh!t are racist scum bags.
Honestly it’s been years of Nazis calling her their goddess. What? She thinks “oh I won’t respond because that’s acknowledging them.” What a dumb idea. We’ll see how that works out for her. I agree, she needs a new team, stat.
It’s money. I suspect she actually voted for Clinton considering her friendship with Lena & she apparently was at a dinner party after a Clinton fundraiser once. However, she’s absolutely mercenary when it comes to her career which is normally something I give her credit for; in this case, it’s obviously horrible that she values potentially racist fan base over calling out racism.
She needs a new PR team stat. If she was going to weaponize feminism as a commercial tool, then she needs to realize she can’t stay silent when the alt-right starts using her as a goddess figure.
One of her closest friend is Trump supporter, just like Swift father. I don’t think her friendship with Lena has any impact at her political opinion. If she has any.
I could see her going 3rd party in that case, because you know “Hillary is just soOOOooO bad” but trump can’t be stomached enough.
Her father is an alt righter. I await some enterprising investigative reporter to dig. She absolutely did not vote for HRC or 3rd party. She is a Republican, and she voted for Tangerine 45. Her silence is the answer. Why do you think people think it about her and no one else? Why was the rumor so believable and viral? She didn’t even pull a Brady and say she didn’t vote.
I see her clear as a bright blue sky.
I don’t think she is a Nazi sympathizer, and I am sure she wishes the nazis would leave her name out of it, but her beef with Kanye made it quite clear she is a racist.
@Megan You don’t think she’s a Nazi sympathizer, but you also acknowledge that you believe she is a racist. How is one different or better than the other? I’m honestly very confused by your logic.
I wonder if her team just acts on its own sometimes. I can imagine bc she was so young when she started, that her team sort of ran itself, or reported to her parents or manager (maybe her parents were her manager?) and maybe this has never been changed. Like maybe it’s not Taylor who is searching the web, googling herself, and writing out a “to sue” list for her lawyers that includes any and ever little blogger or journalist who has written something even vaguely against Swift. Maybe the team was set up years ago to be extra litigious and to go hard after detractors to protect the young Taylor and her image. I would think that this would have been changed years ago, that she would be more in control of her team and who they go after, but maybe she’s not. Maybe they come to her and ask her to approve their taking action against an “offensive, mean, nonfactual, lying blogger,” and assure her that it will be taken care of quickly and discreetly and she just says yes without looking into it. In some ways, I can see her as a clueless woman-child, letting others take care of her and not taking a lot of interest in the legal or business side of things, but in other ways she seems like a ruthless, clear-eyed, calculating business woman, out to protect herself, her brand, and her money at all costs.
Taylor is not a babe in the woods. Lawyers don’t react until they are told by the star what they want them to do.
This is not how lawyers work. This is not how any of this works.
It isn’t hard to say, and I no longer think it has anything to do with alienating fans and losing money (which would be a drop in the bucket to her enormous wealth anyway).
She doesn’t say it because she doesn’t have a problem with it. She doesn’t care where the adoration comes from as long as it is there and she is never going to shut off a source of her worship.
Someone said the actual blog post compared her to Hitler of all people? I’m all for calling out her for being apathetic on white supremacy, as The Root has thoughtfully done in several pieces in addition to Ira Madison, but comparing her to Hitler is insane if that is true and another example of how people are OTT in either defending or criticizing her.
That said, it’s near impossible for a public figure to win a slander/defamation suit in the US so her legal threats are stupid…especially as she can shut everyone up by doing the bare minimum and retweeting an article that is critical of white supremacy.
That’s a loose interpretation, from what i understand it pointed to similarities in images used.
“At one point in the accompanying music video, Taylor lords over an army of models from a podium, akin to what Hitler had in Nazis Germany. The similarities are uncanny and unsettling.”
I mean – come onnnnn. I’m all for calling her out for staying silent, but I think that’s a bit of a reach. If we’re going to say that this is fair – then anyone who stands at a podium can be compared to Hitler. Preachers are akin to Hitler. All politicians are akin to Hitler. The woman has the choice to write about whatever she wants – but I think for SOME people Swift could buy a shepherd and someone would be like “oh, it’s a german dog! Hitler had a shepherd!”. I own a German Shorthaired Pointer – I suppose someone could say “oh – she’s got a german dog… it’s a purebred – clearly she supports Hitler’s goal of a perfect race”.
I don’t know how to feel about this. I think ultimately, if she wants to write whatever she wants – then she runs the risk of someone calling her out in the same way Swift runs the risk of being called out for her silence. The writer goes into detail about the eugenics movement and how it inspired Hitler. She mentions that there were suffragette who lobbied for eugenics. Suffragettes who were outraged that black men would be able to vote before they could when they were of a superior race – suffragettes who were happy to control the population by sterilizing those they believed shouldn’t be procreating. The suffragette movement was tainted by outright racism – unapologetic, and to the point – they believed themselves to be superior in race/breeding and wanted to keep white people in power. They didn’t hide this – their statements weren’t subtle. But we’re taking a look at a pop star in a video who’s looking like every ‘bad guy’ in a movie who has control of armies or whatever – and immediately jumping to Hitler? She looks just as much like she’s trying to pull of a Star Wars type theme.
I don’t like when ANYONE is compared to Hitler. It downplays the significance of the evil that occurred. Unless you’re comparing dictator regimes where genocides are happening – I don’t think it’s a fair comparison. Especially when we’re living in a world where a lot of the young kids and teens don’t have as close of an attachment to WW2 Veterans as previous generations had – they don’t even begin to grasp how insanely awful the world wars were. Their lives are so simplified because of technology, and those living in the most developed of nations can’t even begin to understand how incredibly horrible conditions were. People were drowning in mud, their limbs were being blown off, they were in hell. And those in concentration camps were in even poorer conditions – but most kids today don’t have the same kind of emotional bond with someone who had been through those things – WW1 and WW2 might as well just be stories to most of them.
So I have mixed feelings. I still can’t believe she’s said nothing on this – and I don’t mind when people are calling her out for all the dumb shit she’s done. But I also think it’s dangerous territory to force people to say things, and also dangerous to compare a pop singer to someone who was hell bent on wiping out so many people.
Erinn, I think that image of her standing at the podium is supposed to be taken in conjunction with other images, symbolism, and lyrics. I don’t think that if it was just standing at a podium, and if she did not already have the support/admiration of neo-nazis, that anyone would make the argument that it’s a Hitler-like image and that she’s pandering to the alt-right.
I think the article is also trying to say, that if one were already a neo-nazi, holding swift up as an Aryan princess, then one would view her video through the eyes of a Nazi, looking for Nazi symbolism. The image of her at the podium would stand out to Nazis looking specifically for Nazi messages.
Damn Amy it’s amazing you didn’t pull something doing that reach…
This is where things get tricky. Because what’s the message here? Taylor’s hurt feelings about being called a name trumps the actual pain and institutional oppression that results from staying silent about racism and white supremacy?
As far as being compared to Hitler….who hasn’t, these days? And I’m not saying that flippantly, just pointing out that “Hitler” accusations — accurate or not; right or wrong — get tossed around quite a lot these days.
@Odette
I don’t think this is an either or situation. One can think the issue needs to be thoughtfully addressed as outlets like the Root have done in addition to believing that Taylor herself needs to condemn white supremacy and that her legal team needs to chill. One can believe hurt feelings over names is nothing compared to the pain of oppression. All of that can be true and one can still think seriously, and not jokingly in bad taste, comparing a pop star to Hitler is insane and borderline offensive to people who have lived under the umbrella of actual genocidal dictators.
I am a Black woman with immigrant parents who hates the Orange Devil. Essentially, I am the embodiment of the type of person the Trump cult hates. I have jokingly compared him to dictators and I have seriously compared aspects of his personality to dictators (specifically Saddam Hussein and Stalin), but even I find the tendency by some to compare 100% of his personality to Hitler to be nuts. It’s even nuttier when it’s a pop star. People really need to dial back tossing around the Hitler accusations in such a flippant manner. What’s happening to the Rohingya is an appropriate place to trot out that accusation…not Taylor Swift.
I always bristle when people use it flippantly, but that is not what she said. Unless you have studied the Third Reich like the Nazis have you wouldn’t know the dog whistles or imagery that are signals.
As a Jewish person, I see them clearer than a non-Jewish person would in some cases. There is specific language. The tiki torches would not mean the same to you as they do to me. Blood and Soil. No one understood it is a Nazi chant. It isn’t always as apparent to you.
But this blogger struck a nerve because they came down her hard. Why would that be? The blog is tiny and irrelevant. Maybe because if anyone with knowledge looked and researched it would be apparent. Something about it threatened her, and again it is a very tiny blog with 300 followers. How did she even find it?
Here’s the original post. She doesn’t say that Taylor is like Hitler or a Nazi. She says that she uses some similar imagery in her videos and that others have co-opted Taylor as a Nazi sympathizer. The blogger only wonders why Taylor won’t speak out against this.
But read it for yourself. It isn’t long.
http://popfront.us/2017/09/swiftly-to-the-alt-right-taylor-subtly-get-the-lower-case-kkk-in-formation/
Thanks! I was trying to find a link but I couldn’t find one anywhere and I was very curious since I’ve heard two very different interpretations.
I’m quoting from the article here:
“A white supremacist blogger from neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer was quoted in a Broadly article in May 2016 as saying, “it is also an established fact that Taylor Swift is secretly a Nazi and is simply waiting for the time when Donald Trump makes it safe for her to come out and announce her Aryan agenda to the world.” What “facts” the blogger is pointing to are unclear (and likely invented); still, his statement exemplifies how neo-Nazis and white supremacists look to her as their pop icon.”
So, like, instead of going after the ACTUAL NAZIS who are calling her a Nazi based on absolutely no facts whatsoever, Swifty goes after the small-time blogger who’s simply pointing out the facts as they are and questioning why TS doesn’t at least denounce the actual Nazis who are calling her a Nazi.
This is….this is something ELSE.
A – I’ve seen arguments along the same lines from fans that think Taylor & Karlie Kloss are together. They dig into every photo, lyric, comment and say this proves it! This line about a crooked love in a straight line proves she is gay!! No matter how much they believe it, no matter how much they insist, no matter how many Kaylor websites are created… it doesn’t make that true either.
Why people can’t understand that she doesn’t care? Conservative and ultra conservative people buy her music (or they give money to children who are her fans). Racist etc. doesn’t concern her, but money she can earn does. Lat few days, when this drama with blogger start, Tay Tay was on her Twitter and IG to wrote about her album, some magazines she sell, Secret Session and now about some stupid award she won. But she can’t wrote F*ck KKK? For me it is a slap in a face from her, like she said – See I can wrote about stupid things but I don’t care about you peasants, so F*ck off. Because for TS one thing is importatnt – her.
I am on Taylor Swift’s side, but I do expect her to make a statement in which she declines the crown and title of Aryan Goddess given to her by the neo-nazis. It is not worth whatever money she is making from them. It is the right thing to do. I do not believe that Taylor is a racist person and does not sympathize with their beliefs. Please Tay Tay just go ahead and shut those racists up and the people who want to see you destroyed as well, and they know who they are.
Right? I admire her business ethic and some other random bits about her, you can’t argue she isn’t a strong woman.
But come on, Tay. Just say it. It will shut this entire thing down. Unless this is a bad play by her for more press? I dunno.
Honestly your last sentence made me laugh, and I needed that so I guess this drivel of a comment achieved something lmao
LoL, right? Even her fans have a victim complex.
Ugh I feel kind of awful about defending her on the previous post after reading all of this. What a petty little b. It’s becoming harder and harder for me to remain a fan.
I would love to be a fly on the wall watching her read criticism of herself online.
I think she probably reads some of it, but what I really suspect is she has a team of lawyers who spend all day searching for stuff like this and sending letters to shut it down. I bet she never sees half of it.
…and I just saw that Giulia posted the same right below.
Just want to throw in that artists at TS’s level usually direct their law firms and/or PR agencies to comb the internet daily for mentions of them. That’s one of the services they offer. Literally, there are people whose job is searching every day through blogs, ebay, etc for anything connected to their client. I doubt TS directed her law firm to send the letter, as that is part of their job and she doesn’t need to personally order them to threaten bloggers. She might have, but not necessarily.
+1
They represent HER; the letter was sent on HER behalf. They wouldn’t do that without her complicity.
That sounds like the excuse in the Panama and Paradise Papers. “The peope they hired are doing this” YES! and who do you think hired them? Who is ultimately responsible? They work for her, its her fault.
Ummm no. that’s not how this works.
As a lawyer, I cannot do anything unless my client instructs me to do so. So, either she gave specific instructions in this case, or she gave blanket instructions that in the event of “X” do “Y”.
Either way, this is on her. It’s her instructions.
Oh p!ease, everyone gives her credit for creating the positives in her career but suddenly when she makes a mistake it’s someone else’s doing.
She needs support where ever she can get it, cuz from what she has leaked of her album so far, it sucks. Hard.
Tay-Tay, if you’re reading this: You’re an immature tool and you have douchebags working for you.
Come and get me, bitch. I’m a lawyer too.
Seconded, and I’m also a lawyer.
Yaaassss, Izzy!
it is her right to be a political and say absolutely nothing if she so chooses. I do think we need to stop expecting celebrities to comment on everything just because we feel that they should. However, the fact that she is sending people cease-and-desist letter letters and getting her lawyers involved makes it into a whole other issue. I was kind of concerned about her paranoia once she mentioned in Rolling Stones that she’s convinced that there’s cameras everywhere tracking all of her movements and what she says. That became apparent on 1989 as well and it was clear that she felt that the medium was a very intrusive part of her life. Maybe she just needs to go and chill for years and not just a couple months.
She lost the right to say that she’s “apolitical” when she sent that cease and desist letter to the person who wrote the article. In my view, that’s a very political action to take. Nothing is apolitical. Not even someone’s supposed “neutrality.” In this case, Swifty defined her politics very very clearly with the letter and it’s gonna be very hard for her to go back to what she imagines is probably a neutral stance in her eyes.
“As we discussed earlier this week, Taylor Swift needs new people.“
Nope nope nope. No. I’m sorry. This is not about Taylor Swift’s people. I’m still bewildered that we’re seeing this as a PR issue. This is a Taylor Swift is a sh*tty person issue. At best, she cares more about being vanilla because, money. At worst, she knows how damn easy it is to say white supremacy is bad, but she doesn’t think it’s bad. Either way, this tells you everything you need to know about Taylor Swift. Like I said yesterday, this is no small thing. She has had YEARS to say something about this and at this point in the game her silence is tacit acceptance if not endorsement. She’s a sh!t person.
AMEN, Shambles!! Exactly! This isn’t a public relations problem of hers, it’s a human being problem.
Probably bc she is a rasict & white supremacist… I know the area she is from and the bars she played at before she was famous in PA. A lot of Trump fanatics and confederate flags (yes, in PA). Sad truth. I never liked her or her music so none of this is surprising.
never liked her in the first place. and she’s an idiot so i would never care about her opinion anyways
…..especially after her comments on feminism. she is a teeny bopper?
The lying about kanye letting her know about lyrics, so she could play the victim. She kicked that man when he was down for a boost she didn’t even need. Then she went after kanye AGAIN in her new album, seemingly not understanding that she is the bad guy in this scenario. She is voldemort, she is Darth Vader here. Maybe she would have done this to anybody. Maybe she would only do this to a black man. Maybe she would only get away with it because kanye is black. Alot of those choices are racist, consciously or unconsciously.
Um because she is a white supremacist. I’ve always felt that way about her. She’s never going to come outright and say it, but not saying anything is as good as an admission in my opinion.
I just don’t get this.
If the Neo nazis were helding me as some sort of ‘Aryan goddess’ I would horrified, and telling them to fuck off the farthest corner of fuckoffsville, then fuck off again.
Her silence speaks volumes, in my opinion.
Switfty has shown time and time again that she is a very unpleasant person. Why is she always given the benefit of excuses when she does something unpleasant, like bullying.
It is okay that she is horrible. I am okay with not liking her. I am okay with people that do as I have the right not to like or talk to them.
I think she can still court a conservative audience if she has “sources” go to people mag with a story about how taylor doesn’t want to publicly discuss politics but is horrified at being linked to nazis.
Would have nipped this popfront et al story early in
Because they’re her kinfolk.
It’s a bit late now anyway. The time to do it was a decade ago when she was first crowned as Neo-Nazi’s favourite ‘Aryan Princess’.
I mean, she still needs to say something, but we’re way beyond it being genuine at this point.
Looking at this from a public relations view, it is almost too late for Taylor to release a statement condemning rasict groups. Any statement she( or her reps) sends out will be considered not heart felt or fake.
But, if Taylor was to have a sit down interview with someone like Oprah Winfrey, Diane Sawyer, etc, then people would think she is more sincere.
Don’t care about Taylor one way or the other, but this whole mess could have been stopped in it’s tracks long ago
If she remains silent she is CONFIRMING she is their Aryan Goddess. She should shut this down before it grows any further.
No decent person wants to be associated with Nazis… unless you’re kinda one of them.
“unless you’re kinda one of them.” That’s like being “kinda” pregnant.
Ugh. I really still liked her before this album, and was really looking forward to Reputation. But all this stuff (neo-Nazi’s, Gorgeous Joe, crappy songs) is just… ugh. I’m over her.
If you also need a new post-Taylor pop addiction, Demi’s new album and her documentary are amazing.
Oh look, another white woman proffiting off of the backs of blacks and other minorities. Yawn.
Look, I don’t know why you guys keep on expecting better behavior from her.
She’s just like every other priveleged white woman I know who’s more interested in her own microscopic world and chasing the dream then waking up, looking around and seeing how she can use her power and privilege to help.
Unless it involves her and only her i.e. the sexual harassment tria, Swifty can’t be bothered and the money coming in is pretty sweet, regardless of the source.
See, she ain’t so hard to figure out.
Pretty much.
You wouldn’t believe a world-famous pop star would be that petty… but she is, bullying and intimidating everyone -from very small to large companies- like she is some kind of queen? The f*ck?
I’m inclined to think that ignoring the alt-right/neo-nazis is the right tack to take. They want publicity, they want the attention, they want people talking about them. And Taylor Swift talking about them, no matter how critically, would be their wet dreams come true. I wish more people would just ignore them, and starve them of oxygen. That being said, if Taylor Swift’s team is issuing legal threats to everybody who posts a picture of her CD cover and anybody who utters a slightly critical thing about her, and not issuing legal threats to the white supremacists who promote her as their golden girl, then fuck her forever.
Noted Alt-right dickhead and a-hole Richard Spencer just mentioned that Depeche Mode was his favorite band and they immediately came out and told him to f*ck himself. They aren’t even American. It is an issue of being human not political. Her silence is all about money and not wanting to piss off her Trumper fans. She sucks.
Depeche Mode? So odd, when they have an ANTI racism song called (I think) People Are People. It’s about wondering why we all get along so badly just b/c we’re different colors/races—the song is about that, how awful prejudice is. Richard Spencer is just as stupid as I’d have suspected.
Its her right to remain silent and its within our rights to interpret that silence and acknowledge what side she is choosing to stand by, by doing nothing. We see you Taylor and we know what you’re about.
Didn’t she send letters to white supremacist websites as well? I completely agree that there’s something wrong with her if she doesn’t immediately condemn groups that hold her up as their Aryan goddess, but she does use her scare tactics on a wide array of writers, not just the ones calling her out on this.
As an aftorney this is just dumb. Wasting time and expense to go after a small tiny publication with minimal followers? Sometimes we counsel our clients whether the actions they want to take are worth it in the grand scheme if the person decides to go to the media. We usually have them do a cost analysis and most of the time they heed our advice to just move forward in a different more effect non-legal manner. She oversold her hand and it’s come back to bite her in the ass
She is a bully. Her team is known for being unpleasant bullies to stage crews at venues. Her charity work is for show and is to hide from her true bully nature. She overplayed her hand (again) and it came back to bite her. There have been stories since she was a kid of her spoiled, entitled nature at plays to others in the cast and it was swept under the rug. So glad the truth about her is coming out. There are more skeletons left to come.
What’s weird to me is – where are her army of friends? Like, her girl squad? Are they not telling her to to better?
I mean, if one of my good friends remained quiet while her songs/image/persona were co-opted by evils and white supremacists, you bet your ass I’d be saying SOMETHING. I’d be saying something until said friend did something about it, or we would no longer be friends.
Wouldn’t you say something? It’s weird, as they all seem to lean left?
They aren’t friends anymore. For the most part anyway.
Her silence speaks volumes, so I really don’t need her to come out with some Trump-ish, b.s. statement repudiating the alt-right.
She doesn’t speak out for two reasons: 1. She doesn’t care and 2. Because she actually kind of agrees with it. She has proven that she is willing to play with race tropes such as the “white damsel in distress and the “scary black male” as evidenced by her need to paint herself as the victim in every situation that involves Kanye. Her blatant cultural appropriation. It’s always been obvious to me that Taylor IS racist. She’s just one of those casual racists who think they aren’t racist because they don’t use racial slurs (those are to be used only in private amongst family)
Yaaaassssss drag her!
I don’t care about Taylor Swift for the most part. I’m not a fan, but she doesn’t really bother me like she seems to bother most people on this site. That said, I am more and more disgusted by her refusal to call out her white supremacist fans. She needs to do that now – needed to do it yesterday. Even the bigoted Papa John’s called out the supremacists for trying to make their pizzas the official pizzas of the movement.
I get that some famous people want to stay out of politics, and I get why they do. However, anyone who can’t unequivocally call out nazis does not deserve fans, fame, or money.
I was just thinking of the Papa John’s example too. If that guy has the sense to call them out, then even Taylor should know better. Ugh.
So let me get this right. She has no issues with neo-nazis and other right wing groups to gush about her but gets upset for someone who asks her why? Makes me draw the the conclusion that she secretly shares their view and would not want to alienate them from her
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for (good) people to do nothing.”
Your silence is loud and complicit, Tay Tay. 🐍
I doubt she’s some kind of hard-core white supremecist, but I do think she wants to hang on to their money. And, as much as I find some of the other criticism of her silly and petty (like, I seriously don’t care who her songs are about) this is coming close to cancelling her for me. Just say it Taylor! OMG it’s free and you don’t even have to pay a lawyer.
This!
Omg! I went to high school with Meghan, which makes this story so much more awesome for me. Bahahaha get it 🐍🐍🐍
Not every celebrity is genuine or relatable or even particularly lovable and I really think Tay Tay is one of those people.
I think she’s a narcissist, a conservative and an uber capitalist. None of those things exactly endear you to the masses. It’s getting harder to keep up the facade. I she had just taken my advice and taken a long break, none of this would be an issue for her. However, because she’s an uber capitalist and there’s a new, more talented ingenue born everyday, the girl won’t go away. Eventually the public will make her take a break because interest will wane.
Anyway, I genuinely do not think she’s a good person by nature. It’s just who she is.
Let’s face it- a huge part of her fan base are Arian nation and she’s laughing all of the way to the bank.
What about the rest of the country community? I would like to know where they stand also because every single one of them is silent on the issue. I used to listen to country and went to a lot of concerts and festivals. Never once did I hear an act say a word about the abundance of confederate flags and what they stand for at their venues. The parking lots were full of them on their pick up trucks. And I’m from upstate NY. None of them campaigned for Hillary so where do you think their loyalties lie? The only one who played for Trump was Toby Keith and I think that was after the election. Every single one of them is playing both sides for money just like TS.
If you are going to cancel her out you have to cancel them all.
As I said I’m no fan, but as a grown up 50 something year old, I want to see the outrage for the rest of the country community or is this just really about your hatred of one woman?
The rest of the country community doesn’t have their music featured by Breitbart.
None of them have been given the praise and allegiance as she has received. Plus your point has nothing to do with anyone else. I don’t recall anyone being called out for attacking a tiny blog and calling the ACLU. Country musicians may be conservative, but that doesn’t equal Nazi.
Why didn’t they choose Faith Hill or Carrie Underwood for their Goddess?
The subject is Taylor Swift and her continued silence. Why drag other people into her mess?
So now artists are supposed to pick and choose their followers? Tell them, hey you can’t like me if you support this or that candidate / political issue? Unless they are especifically doing music with a questionable message, I don’t think they should be blamed for what their followers believe in. Country music is usually about the simple life and traditional values, and rednecks identify with that.
Um, actually, yes, when one’s fan base includes neo Nazis.
And how do you control that? Has she ever said anything remotely racist or sympathetic to neo nazism? (I’m honestly asking, I don’t really follow Taylor Swift’s career). You can speak against neo nazis but you can’t decide who likes your music and who doesn’t. That mere notion is absurd.
I assume in this case, her PR people think that by going out and even acknowledging the claim she’s only making it a bigger deal. I seriously have only read about this issue in blogs, I haven’t seen it in any mainstream media so I guess they have a point.
This has been picked up by Newsweek and Fortune magazine.
No one says she can control who likes her, but she can repudiate them very easily. A decade is a very long time to say nothing.
Silence is actually a form of communication.
How many other people in the “country community” have sent cease and desist letters to random bloggers? That’s the problem here.
The blogger has a point. Artists do give up a bit of control of their image, but, when they disagree about how that image is being used or by which groups it is being promoted, they act. Musicians tell politicians not to use their songs all the time, lest a singer who is a life-long Democrat be associated with the Republican Party. That Taylor Swift is calling out and threatening a blogger for “defamation” and questioning her politics rather than speaking out against the white supremacists speaks volumes and gives more credence to the blogger’s statements. Taylor doesn’t need to get into a political discussion, even a tweet saying “I don’t agree with their politics but I can’t control who buys my music” would be sufficient.
Fun fact: Karlie Kloss dates Jared Kushner’s brother. She keeps it on the low for obvious reasons, but she is canceled to me unless/until she explains herself. Are she and Taylor still BFFs? I thought I heard something about Taylor voting for Dump?
Jared Kushner’s brother is a Democrat though. Same with the rest of Jared Kushner’s family (his reprobate father included).
Josh Kusher attended Donald Trump’s inauguration, don’t be fooled, he is just as complicit.
He also attended the women’s march. The Kushners are Democrats.
I’m reading the article right now, and honestly, it is an enormous stretch on the part of Swifty’s team to believe that the PopFront article is calling her a Nazi. From what I can tell so far, it really isn’t. It makes some questionable reaches, yes, but mostly in an effort to explain why certain parts of her music are so appealing to Breitbart and the white nationalists.
And yeah, some parts of it are a bit strange (esp the whole “is her music serving as indoctrination to her young fans”) but again, I think that’s mostly because the author isn’t doing a good job of explaining how casual centrist “neutrality” that white people gravitate towards is so often what paves the way for them to become tolerant, or even accepting, of white nationalist ideology. She jumps right into the argument that Taylor Swift is aware of her own white nationalist stance and is purposefully leveraging it in her music, when the reality is that most of the white people who are like her don’t often have the ability to understand how and why they feel so victimized and why that’s a load of garbage and why it’s wrong to feel that way.
Otherwise, the article doesn’t do anything that Breitbart and other white nationalists haven’t already done. Actual Nazis were the ones who co-opted her lyrics and her work and her imagery and used it as a way to articulate their own misplaced victimhood. THEY were the ones who called her a Nazi to begin with. But the blogger who points out these connections on a tiny little platform that they figured no one would probably read is the one who’s getting sued for libel. Not the Nazis who actually called Taylor Swift a Nazi. Makes sense.
For the record, I don’t think that Swifty is a white nationalist herself, nor do I think she purposefully supports them. And I don’t think she’s into it for the money, not entirely anyway. I just think she’s doing what is, sadly, very common and typical of white people when they’re confronted with the idea that their silence on something isn’t actually revolutionary and that they aren’t nearly as “colour blind” and not racist as they think they are. She’s no different than the middle-aged white guy who insists that him being friends with a racist Trump supporter is “perfectly fine” because they can just “agree to disagree.” She’s the white lady who can’t possibly be racist because she makes herself a Buddha bowl for lunch every day and everyone KNOWS that eating “ethnic” food is what makes one not racist.
In the same way, Swifty isn’t racist because look, she was friends with Zendaya for a hot second! She isn’t sexist because see, she knows Lena Dunham. And I don’t believe she is smart enough, in this case anyway, to really be able to put a finger on her resentment and pinpoint that the reason for it is because she’s angry that her privilege as a white woman isn’t enough to keep her in the public’s good graces. She probably just thinks that it’s because she’s been truthfully wronged by others around her, and doesn’t think that it has anything to do with race, when the reality is that the people who are a lot smarter than her have had this figured out for years now.
I don’t agree that her silence is just dumb white people stuff. Or laziness or tolerance. I have never seen in my life anyone who hasn’t distanced themselves or made it clear that they didn’t want to be associated with something that is against their values.
Bruce Springsteen rejected Chris Christie. Musicians ask politicians not to use their music.
It is a big stretch to get from apathy to Nazi. Even after we have seen the violence that killed Heather Hayer not one word. She is meticulous about her image to the point of obsession.
@magnoliarose, you’re right, it should be very easy for people to disavow bigots and Nazis. It should have been a no-brainer for Swifty to denounce the Nazis the first time they started this nonsense, and she didn’t. You’re right that she’s meticulous about her image and at least as far as the Nazis are concerned, she should be on top of things when it comes to distancing herself.
I do think, still, that she’s not quite smart enough to figure out for herself that her defensiveness is a direct result of her whiteness. And that she banks on her whiteness and white womanhood specifically in order to maintain a state of perpetual innocence and victimhood. I don’t think she purposefully goes and borrows from Nazi or white nationalist ideology, but both the Nazis and white nationalists have built their movement off of weaponizing that sense of wrongedness and victimhood in white people. That’s where the overlap between her work and Nazis exists. I don’t think she herself necessarily realizes that as a white woman, but the white nationalists see that reflected in her work, hence why they gravitate to it.
But ultimately, that shouldn’t matter. There are plenty of white artists who do their best to distance themselves from Nazis if need be. That’s about the barest MINIMUM one should be able to expect from artists and musicians, tbh. If Swifty can’t even accomplish the barest minimum in this case, then that leaves her looking really REALLY bad as a person.
She admits on the album she used tom. And it is an upbeat song like it didn’t matter. Called him a player. She is a nasty human being. So low.
I don’t understand how her fans idolize her. She’s a terrible role model.
because they are as petty and immature as she? It is the only explanation for me. I can’t imagine someone normal would want to her fan.
I’m 33 – I don’t need a role model. But I do need is some mindless fun catchy silly love songs to jam out to while everything else around me is sad and depressing and every day I’m more and more frustrated while our country goes more and more to sh*t.
Why is that so difficult for people to understand? Not everything has to have a deep message all the time. Some people just like pop music.
Erica V
No one is telling you what to listen to. It doesn’t matter what you choose. If this issue doesn’t bother you, then that is your call. For many of us, this is important. We all have things we will not tolerate and for many silence about Nazis is one of them. You do you, and we will do what we want to do.
@Erica_V, congratulations on you not needing a role model. I don’t think Swifty serves as one at any rate. But the least, the very least, the barest minimum that someone should be able to do is distance themselves from Nazis. She can’t even do that. In fact, she went in the complete opposite direction.
This isn’t an indictment on her music. She puts out bangers, people buy them and undoubtedly enjoy them. But Taylor Swift has spent considerable amounts of time trying to cultivate an image of herself that’s intended to sell. The reality of who she is vs. the image that she uses to make her money–there’s an enormous disparity there. I’m glad it doesn’t matter to you. But if you’re only here for her music, and you only care insofar as it sounds good and is catchy, then it shouldn’t matter to you what people think of her personality, her public image, or the deeper meaning of her lyrics. You don’t have to care. But that doesn’t mean others are obligated to do the same.
@Erica_V clearly I mean younger fans. The message she’s giving off is terrible. There’s no growth or maturity. Just pettiness and humiliating anyone who doesn’t worship her. Her fans are obsessed with how much money she makes or how she charts, and it’s been done with cheating her own fans. Her enemies become their enemies and they hive mind bully them. I mean seriously wth.
If you’re just a casual fan and don’t get involved with her personal stories, I’m not one to judge.
I used to really like Taylor’s music. But she has become a bully, and that colors her music in hateful colors. Her newest album is bad and Look what you made me do should be a bully anthem.
I bet if we read white supremacy sites we would find a lot of athletes and entertainers that they like. Are we going to line all of those athletes and entertainers up and demand that they say, “White supremacy is bad.” If not then why are you picking on Taylor?
I don’t hunt for Nazis, and it isn’t our job to do that. This issue was reported, and we reacted. Stop conflating this issue.
The subject is Taylor and her refusal to say anything. Just her. 15 seconds of her time and it would have been shut down and forgotten.
Victim poor Taylor has really worn itself out at this point. Not approving or liking someone’s actions is not picking on her.
*eye roll*
Magnolia, don’t waste your time. Helen Smith is a character in the Man in the High Castle, Rufus Sewell’s wife, a 1960s Nazi. (And Helen: we are picking on Taylor because her lawyers are picking on free speech).
Anyone notice how she doesn’t allow comments on her Instagram?? When did that happen. Recently?
see that jacket? looks a bit militia. see that font – looks a bit germanic? see that girl. she is playing a strange old game. for someone with a reputation for image control – these are provocative choices to say the very least.
She is well aware of how she has benefited from white supremacy. She is a product of it, wrapped in socially acceptable packaging.
My guess is she won’t come out to say anything. She is adamant about becoming in any way political, or delving into anything controversial, unless it is something petty between her and another celebrity. I can see her doing something to prove that she isn’t a white supremacist – like donating to a charity that helps underprivileged girls of color – but she won’t go after her fans even if they are deplorable. That’s how Taylor Swift rolls. It doesn’t surprise me.
Silence is not apolitical. Silence is not devoid of controversy. She is staying silent in the face of Nazis, and then choosing to attack only the person who is pointing out the connection. That’s not apolitical. She can stay silent and say that she didn’t say anything on the subject, but her silence does speak volumes.
I think she’s a control freak – she wants control over who she will and won’t go after, and not bowing to pressure to denounce white supremacy is her way of controlling this situation.
I DID SOMETHING BAD is about hiddleston. I am laughing my ass off. Those lyrics are nuts. 400.000 pre orders. Nuts.
I don’t know if you posted the original piece, but here it is. Let’s drive up their traffic so Team Swifts action has the opposite effect: http://popfront.us/2017/09/swiftly-to-the-alt-right-taylor-subtly-get-the-lower-case-kkk-in-formation/
TS, you’re cancelled.
We must fight to remember and teach new generations of attrocities commited during WWII. This needs to be all-encompassing and institutionalized.
TS needs tobe called out on her rhetoric all the effing time.
So sick of people not knowing and understanding concepts of Malthusianism, eugenics and how it is still well and alive in today’s world. Smh