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by solipsism 2413 days ago
I think there are two things that weaken Swift’s message here

1/ There’s no need to call out gender

If you think that'll weaken her message, you haven't been paying attention to society lately. This will resonate strongly with the people she intends it to resonate with.

Maybe you mean it makes the message less compelling to you personally. I'm not sure Taylor cares about that though...

2/ When your net worth is measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars it seems calculating and disingenuous to try to have your way in the court of public opinion.

Again, I don't think you're thinking things through. Taylor's fans are incredibly loyal. The only people who are likely to think of this as bullying are already not her fans.

If anything, this tells me Taylor should consider politics. It seems like she knows how the game is played these days.

1 comments

Thanks for responding to my comment. I should be clearer that I think her message is weak specifically on a moral basis. That’s a bad thing because it is pretty damaging behavior to see coming from someone with so much influence over young people.

As a piece of PR though, you are absolutely right. There’s nothing weak at all in this message.

Attempting to mobilize millions of fans like this is a nuclear option not only because it is a huge expression of power, but also an apt analogy in terms of the morality of whether such power should be used at all. (Said with all due respect to the victims of actual nuclear weapons.)

also an apt analogy in terms of the morality of whether such power should be used at all. (Said with all due respect to the victims of actual nuclear weapons.)

Ignoring the respect part, I don't see the analogy. No civilians are going to suffer here. She's attacking record execs. Bloodsuckers. No one's going to shed a tear.

Society as a whole suffers when our leading society members, particularly our children’s cultural leaders, act like ass hats.

There’s potentially a moral justification for rousing up mob justice if you are marginalized to the point of having no other way of making your voice heard, but Taylor Swift is literally the opposite of someone whose voice isn’t heard.

She should go fight it in court. Leave the teenage fan club out of it.