June 19, 2019

I wouldn't have cared in the slightest about watching the new Taylor Swift video...

... but The Federalist was going on about it incomprehensibly to the point where it was easier to watch the video:



The piece at The Federalist, by Emily Jashinsky, is "Taylor Swift’s ‘You Need To Calm Down’ Is Breathtakingly Elitist." I will now try to read it:
While tech billionaires mine our divisions for profit, Taylor Swift is playing house in a trailer park. That’s the irony of “You Need To Calm Down,” which belongs to the dark era of shrieking keyboard warfare it rebukes, despite a blindingly bright aesthetic.
Yes, it's very candy colored. Taylor Swift makes herself a cotton candy smoothie for breakfast. We're in a special fantasy world.
To illustrate her LGBT pride anthem, Swift assembled the glitterati, casting them as the heroes of a utopian trailer park where her feud with Katy Perry ends, and ugly gay marriage protesters meet their match in a fabulous show of celebrity force.
This badly needs a copy editor. What are "ugly gay marriage protesters" supposed to be protesting? At least give me a hyphen between "gay" and "marriage" so I can see that we're not talking about ugly gay people protesting marriage.

The feud with Katy Perry (news to me) ends with Swift dressed up as a packet of French fries and Perry dressed up as a cheeseburger... and they hug. Because they go together.
[T]he protesters... look like they should be playing banjos in “Deliverance”: toothless, badly dressed, holding misspelled signs.
Who should identify with these people? They're such a cartoony exaggeration, they don't look like anyone who really exists. So everyone's safe.
“Control your urges to scream about all the people you hate,” Swift demands. “Cause shade never made anybody less gay.”
It's a rather polite demand. She isn't even saying you shouldn't think whatever you want. She's just saying don't be so overtly mean. Express your disapproval more politely. (This pairs well with the other news of the day: Joe Biden's pining for the days of civility amongst the segregationists.)
It’s all grotesquely elitist when you consider that she’s mocking people with less money while appropriating a trailer park lifestyle for three minutes of breezy, colorful fun...
The biggest criticism seems to be that it's set in a trailer park (a fantasy trailer park), but Swift and her friends are living in the park and the protesters invade her space. I don't know where the protesters live, but I don't see that there's any "mocking" based on income level. The "mocking" is just nice people telling mean people not to be mean. That's an awfully bland sentiment. The Federalist needs to calm down. And toward the end, it does...
It’s not a bad premise... With a dash of self-awareness, “You Need To Calm Down” could have been the giant exhalation we need right now, collective catharsis as the grip of social media platforms designed to keep us in conflict tightens, an easy antidote to the stresses of virtual battle. We do need to calm down. All of us.
... until it doesn't:
But this won’t help....
ADDED: Swift is also getting criticized from the left, according to "Taylor Swift accused of 'using LGBTQ people as props' in new music video" (Yahoo).
The Atlantic called it a “queasy double message” in which the “singer’s pro-gay single strangely compares her struggles with fame to more dangerous kinds of persecution.” The writer noted, “The entire song, indeed, subsumes queerness into Swift’s narratives. Its breathtaking argument: that famous people are persecuted in a way meaningfully comparable to queer people.”...

... Esquire writes that while Swift’s “gesture is nice,” her “attempt to marry the personal with the political is a baffling parallel. Equating online haters with the personal and societal struggle of LGBTQ+ people is, at best, tone deaf.”

The Onion even spoofed the video with its “Taylor Swift Inspires Teen to Come Out As Straight Woman Needing to Be at Center of Gay Rights Narrative.”

113 comments:

Todd Roberson said...

Remember when Taylor Swift was a cute little gal who wrote catchy country songs!

Those were the days my friend.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"Who should identify with these people? They're such a cartoony exaggeration, they don't look like anyone who really exists. So everyone's safe."
Who identifies with a white guy wearing ridiculous blackface?
It isn't a matter of identifying with a caricature, it is matter of knowing who is being mocked. This is child's play.

Ann Althouse said...

Nothing wrong with writing pop songs.

Ann Althouse said...

"it is matter of knowing who is being mocked"

Who is being mocked?

I see only the idea of hating gay people being mocked.

Quayle said...

"They're such a cartoony exaggeration, they don't look like anyone who really exists."

But, Ann, isn't that the exact problem? People in the US are daily "fighting" against the devils predominantly in their head, in the pretend form of fellow citizens that don't really exist.

Cite 1: Are we really operating Concentration Camps along the southern border? Or is that an exaggeration that doesn't really exist?

Swede said...

I've never watched a Taylor Swift video.

Today's not going to be any different.

Yancey Ward said...

Swift has some nice legs.

Quayle said...

Or in other words, it is the exaggeration that causes the political intemperance - that feeds the fire of discord. So exaggerations that don't really exist, apparently DO really exist in the minds of intemperate extremists.

Todd Roberson said...

No, nothing wrong with writing pop songs.

Plenty wrong with preaching to me in the form of a (vacuous) pop song.

Ann Althouse said...

See the post update. There's criticism from the left too.

Todd Roberson said...

Swift has some nice legs ...

If you like toothpicks.

Henry said...

It's Alice in Wonderland. Complete with Tea Party.

Nonapod said...

I too was unaware of the "feud".

Here's Wikipedia's list of Best Selling Music Artists of All Time. These sales figures are largely guesses at best so whether you believe it or not is another story.

Katy Perry is far behind Taylor Swift, claiming 100 million units sold to Taylor's claim of 200 million.

But Katy Perry has 107.5 million Twitter followers to Swift's mere 83.5 million. (How much of those are actual individual people as opposed to bots is anyone's guess.)

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

She's got a rockin' bod, and really kinda cute--

a little crazy, but the volume's on 'mute'



Amadeus 48 said...

Hmm..the unreadable in pursuit of the unwatchable.

Christopher said...

Althouse, sometimes I truly don't understand you. How more obvious can it be that this is the cloud-people's stereotype of gay-marriage protestors as ugly, ignorant hate-filled people. It's a subtle as a mallet.

Btw that cotton-candy thing is a nice homage to Perry's California Girls video.

Achilles said...

Ann Althouse said...
"it is matter of knowing who is being mocked"

Who is being mocked?

I see only the idea of hating gay people being mocked.


As long as you aren't the target you don't care.

Typical.

Shorter Ann and Taylor:

"Don't be such haters you toothless inbred idiots."

Self awareness was never your thing though.

And this is coming from someone who largely agrees with you on your position with respect to homosexuality.

Achilles said...

Oh and bake me a fucking cake.

n.n said...

No political congruence ("="). An inclusive transgender spectrum ("rainbow"). Civil unions for couples, couplets, multiplicity, and other consenting adults. Losing their Pro-Choice quasi-religion. #NoLabels #NoJudgment #HateLovesAbortion

traditionalguy said...

She is slumming. She has that better than you persona needed to put the Country Music fans in their place. Her whole career is based on doing just that. Why they enjoy her doing it is the mystery. But maybe that is what today's youth feels like seeing done . She displays a perfect beauty of youth and then tells the old computer illiterate folks to get lost.

Rinse and repeat.

Lucid-Ideas said...

Welp...it's official. Her next step is to show up on some red carpet in a meat-suit. Push the envelope. Transcend boundaries. Come on Taylor...meat suit. You want to remain relevant don't you? It's the only way.

whitney said...

Swift is really trying to get rid of the Nazi Princess Vibe she has going by mocking toothless trailer-park white people. Hope it works for her

D 2 said...

Taylor Swift is the Bob Dylan of her generation.
She don't need to hear any smack - or worse - any critique from the Left or Right, about what she is trying to say (her words) as being wrong or right. She's shown an exceptional ability to be who she is far far longer than most. People over 40 - which I am in - can just shut it. They sound like dudes from the 1940s (or from the 1920s!) - who didn't like that there Another Side of...

Look at # albums she has put over the last X years and compare and contrast with previous voices who deign themselves as being key voices. I don't even like her music, but I will suggest she has had a greater impact than Madonna. Or Nirvana.

Now, if you all excuse me, I have a few little cats that I am thinking need to be put out amongst the pigeons congregating in the front yard

walter said...

Whole lotta Flamin'
What message is the fat black guy sending?

Kevin said...

Its breathtaking argument:

Can we throw breathtaking on the "stop using" pile with deeply?

Because the people using it really need to calm down.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

All I know is I want ulta-wealthy bubble dwelling pop stars preaching to me. beecuz I'm a deplorable and I didn't vote for HER-> I need fixing and re-educating.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Pop-pap. Her sound is like every other fem-pop out there. So boring.

rehajm said...

Just got back from the campus tour and prospective student info session. 6 people and all of them could have been extras in the video. Believe it or not one of them could have been a protester!

Eleanor said...

Will she just come out all right already so we can all stop hearing about her? I'm not her target audience, and I'm guessing few of the people who read Althouse are. Gay men and lesbians aren't even allies for the most part except during Pride month. Can we just pick one day, close all the shops, give the kids a day off from school, and throw a big Mardi Gras size Pride parade every year, and then go back to the business of not caring who people have sex with as long as they're all consenting adults?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Camille called her the "Nazi Barbie".

that always brings a simile to our face

eddie willers said...

Drum machines and autotune.

Another video I couldn't go longer than 20 seconds.

born01930 said...

It would've been better if they had a straight white guy with flubber on his shoes bounce around until the glitterati braided their armpit hair together into a net and caught him

AlbertAnonymous said...

“Who should identify with these people? They're such a cartoony exaggeration, they don't look like anyone who really exists. So everyone's safe.”

As others have said, you seem to be willingly oblivious to the not so subtle dig:

Anyone who is against gay marriage is a toothless backwards hillbilly deplorable.

You really do have a massive blind spot when it comes to the gay, Professor. Where’s Shouting Thomas when you need him.

Bilwick said...

If Swift and Perry were actually feuding, they should have brought Elizabeth Warren in so that everyone could smoke the peace-pipe and bury the tomahawk.

Mary Beth said...

Some on the Left may be criticizing her but they were playing this song at my city's Pride Festival last weekend. They also played some disco music, so with all of that, I was seriously questioning their musical taste.

Fen said...

I see only the idea of hating gay people being mocked.

they don't look like anyone who really exists.

Pick one lane and try to stay in it.

Alternate Althouse says "the idea of hating gay people being mocked" is boring. What would be impressive is mocking the people that think disagreeing with gays about hating them.

You oppose forcing bakers to make gay wedding cakes? Homophobia!
You oppose letting black shoplifters get away? Racist!
You oppose men using women's bathrooms? Transphobic!
You oppose open borders? Xenophobia!




Fen said...

How more obvious can it be that this is the cloud-people's stereotype of gay-marriage protestors as ugly, ignorant hate-filled people. It's a subtle as a mallet.

As someone mentioned upthread, it's narrative they weave for themselves, an alternate reality where they are the persecuted victims. If there are no more Nazis, they would reinvent them, much as they have reinvented the "concentration camps" on the border.

That's where Inga disappeared to after Mueller delivered nothing. Cocooned herself in a liberal bubble to cast a few illusions and then indoctrinated herself to believe they were real. Once a fantasy narrative gets dispelled it must be reset. That is why Reason and Civility will never work on these people.

And Althouse insists she doesn't see what's the big deal about Jar Jar Binks and the Hooked Nose Jew in Star Wars. Nothing wrong with writing Step N Fetch comedy!

But I'm always amused when idiots like Taylor use ignorant bigoted stereotypes to portray rural whites as ignorant bigots. Why, it's almost as if the Left doesn't really believe in the things they lecture the rest of us about ;)

gilbar said...

i used to buy her albums, because i used to listen to hear, because i used to like her
Guess What?
I don't anymore. I hope her new crowd pays for her new stuff

Fen said...

There's criticism from the left.

As yes, Stalin caught it from both sides too, so he must be a Moderate Centrist...

Fen said...

Sorry late edit:

What would be impressive is mocking the people that think disagreeing with gays isabout hating them.

Rory said...

"Perry dressed up as a cheeseburger"

I've dreamed that.

n.n said...

as if the Left doesn't really believe in the things they lecture the rest of us about

They enthusiastically, cleave to their Pro-Choice quasi-religion. In Stork They Trust.

Fen said...

As someone at Insty said: They gays have won the culture wars, what they are doing now is driving around and shooting the wounded who survived.

While the Nazi Princess coos "You need to calm down" at those being executed.

Automatic_Wing said...

Have we reached Peak Homo yet? I feel like we're pretty close to reaching Peak Homo.

Sebastian said...

"that famous people are persecuted in a way meaningfully comparable to queer people"

Which queer person in these United States has been "persecuted"?

"I see only the idea of hating gay people being mocked."

I guess the eye surgery failed after all.

madAsHell said...

I'm sorry, but you're no longer in the 14-year-old-girl-with-babysitting-money-to-burn demographic.

whitney said...

All the comments about Ann failing to notice who the truly persecuted groups are in this video are pretty funny.

I am tired of hearing How brave people are to stand up and say something that is supported by the entire media establishment, Corporate America and the government. That's not brave

n.n said...

reaching Peak Homo

No, it's not over. Now the transgender spectrum separates along politically congruent ("=") colors. Homosexuals actively retain their elite status, without bisexuals, neosexuals, and other. Then PC progresses along the conventional, well-worn path, selectively, opportunistically excluding politically incongruent persons, individuals, and constructs.

TrespassersW said...

What real live Jew looks like the caricatures published by Islamists and white supremacists? Who should identify with these people? They're such a cartoony exaggeration, they don't look like anyone who really exists. So everyone's safe.

How's that sound?

n.n said...

Which queer person in these United States has been "persecuted"?

There are the liberal inferences from disinformation spread over decades by esteemed spinners of yarns and [political] myths. Some of which have been unwound in recent years, but they persist and progress.

Beasts of England said...

'Why, it's almost as if the Left doesn't really believe in the things they lecture the rest of us about'

I'm guessing you're the originator of Fen's Law? If so, very nice.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

"Perry" and "Swift" sound like fencing terms

Good fencing makes good neighbors

Krumhorn said...

I admire Tay Tay. She's got an excellent business mind, she works hard, and she has talent....as well as great legs. I don't need to agree with her. I'd love to have her for a client.

- Krumhorn

rhhardin said...

Parry is followed by riposte.

Wince said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wince said...

Swift could have shown reconciliation or at least tolerance for and between all groups the video tried to represent. While the two younger, hipper looking protestors toss their signs away at the end to go over to the other side, she cast the rest of the dentally-challenged protestors as, well, "irredeemable".

Swift made exactly the greater insult that the (gay-friendly) Trump rather perceptively and insightfully pointed-out last night...

Trump also referenced Hillary Clinton's use of the word "deplorables" to describe some Trump supporters. The press clung on to the term deplorable, said Trump but, "she also said irredeemables, I think that's worse." The president remarked that "I think Hillary Clinton made a big mistake with that speech," about the 2016 remarks.

rhhardin said...

The protesters were given the weak lines. I assume that's editorial bias.

rhhardin said...

Normally the devil has all the good lines.

rhhardin said...

Sodom and gonorrhea

bagoh20 said...

Do gay sharks ever get tired of being jumped?

Is it safe to jump one in assless chaps?

rhhardin said...

Resent! The End is coming!

Fen said...

Swift could have shown reconciliation or at least tolerance for and between all groups the video tried to represent.

And from the other angle, she stereotypes gays as Flamboyant Faggots. Where is Gay Joe Bob in the button-downed flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up wearing a MAGA hat?

Swift is an ignorant bigot in both directions. I'll take Lady Gaga over her.

bagoh20 said...

I bet more gays hate this kind of gay than like it. More gays probably hate it than straights do.

It seems a little unwoke to mock people who hate ugly stereotypes. It's like mocking someone for hating blackface. Nobody likes blackface anymore, even if it was once a common form of entertainment. It's 2019 for Christ's sake! As Obama might say: The 1980's called, and they want their gays back.

bagoh20 said...

I was considering becoming gay, but this killed it. I don't want people laughing at me like some kind of clown.

Narr said...

I'd pay to see those two (TS&KP) really throw down (wink wink nudge nudge)! But I'm not in the mood to watch the video right now, even for free.

Swift is cute and talented; Katy manages cute from time to time. From reading the comments, I take it there's a whole lotta Otherin' going on.

Narr
Hey! Turn that noise down!

404 Page Not Found said...

Ann I think you are forgetting a few things. Firstl, gay-marriage (I'm helping you out here) is not a popular thing, and never was. We only have it because 9 robed lawyers decided in some kind of eureka moment that it was the equivalent of slavery NOT to have it. And you don't have to be a "mean" person to oppose gay marriage, any more than you have to be a "mean" person to think, "gee, it's not really safe to let men into ladies showers, nor is it fair to make women compete against "gee I'm a woman now" men.

steve uhr said...

I think they played it at yesterday’s rally.

MadTownGuy said...

Blogger made me post twice!

Renee said...

Recently I was asked to volunteer at a local event, I informed the local event organizer that there are some people in our community (aka SJW activists) that consider me a homophobic bigot because I have not repented and still hold to the anthropological kinship model of marriage for the obligations of children. "You know like gay kids have a mom and dad, too." The third person at the initial planning meeting began to giggle, he says "I'm gay and you're OK with me."

Every time in any in person conversation and as long as that person isn't in a progressive bubble, I find out for the most part things can be OK. That even if they disagree with me, they know clearly that my intent is not harmful and agree with my points even if they come to a different conclusion.

Anyways, I can't "repent" if I was never homophobic to begin with. I guess that's why I never felt the need to jump on the gay marriage band wagon either earlier this decade.

Aside from that, Taylor Swift using a name of a gay lobby group in the song. I find that odd. Gay musicians just write songs about life, but straight musicians write about pandering gay stuff just reminds me of forced bad Christian music. Same thing in these parades the more straight a participant is, the more 'clown like' they dress up in rainbow theme colors, and all the gay individuals appear well normal.

MadTownGuy said...

I should add: Alinsky Rules #5 and #13.

buwaya said...

"collective catharsis"

catharsis requires a release of some sort, a climax, something happens, not that something does not happen.

If for instance the entertainment industry would collectively go on procession in sack-cloth to their local cathedral, up its steps on their knees, scourging themselves. A public act of painful penance for beating their audience over the head for a few decades. That would be cathartic.

buwaya said...

True courage is to risk the consequences of opposing the media and elite consensus.
It could cost a career, often enough a family, most friends, and who knows what else.
Savings and assets.

It takes an extremely well-armored person to survive that, someone who is too powerful or whose assets are out of reach to lose much, or who has nothing to lose.

Note the value of foreigners in this space, especially those with assets and interests out of reach behind cultural walls.

Fen said...

Yes, like this.

Exactly. Well played

"No one ever died from reading Der Stürmer, but the culture it served caused 6 million Jews to drop dead" - George Will

Der Stürmer (pronounced [deːɐ̯ ˈʃtʏʁmɐ], lit., "The Stormer/Attacker/Striker") was a weekly German tabloid-format newspaper published by Julius Streicher, the Gauleiter of Franconia, from 1923 to the end of World War II, with brief suspensions in publication due to legal difficulties. It was a significant part of Nazi propaganda, and was vehemently anti-Semitic.[1] The paper was not an official publication of the Nazi party, but was published privately by Streicher. For this reason, the paper did not display the Nazi party swastika in its logo. - Wiki

I keep seeing the same pattern - victims of oppression, once liberated, turn out to be just as oppressive as their oppressors. It's odd because they have first-hand experience that what they are doing is wrong (or perhaps that's an invalid assumption, perhaps they merely hitched a ride on the victim train but didn't get off at Auschwitz-Birkenau, they merely pretended to so they could accrue more points for the Victim Heirarchy).

Regardless, the pattern is the same as the abuse cycle - the son who was beat by his father grows up to beat his own son.

I wonder what accounts for this? These huge blind spots that have turned blacks into the most racist demographic, turned gays into the most intolerant demographic.

Hippogryph said...

"Who should identify with these people? They're such a cartoony exaggeration, they don't look like anyone who really exists. So everyone's safe."

A kind and generous thought, from Ann. However, I'm not sure that logic holds. At the extreme, the caricatures of Jews in Der Sturmer didn't "look like anyone who really exists", either. And everyone wasn't safe.

Well, Taylor Swift isn't Julius Streicher. But: The question is whether the music video's caricatures of Flyover Country folks are merely intended for fun, or intended to promote some inaccurate stereotypes about such people. Some people are reacting negatively to the vid because they suspect the latter.

Fen said...

Same thing in these parades the more straight a participant is, the more 'clown like' they dress up in rainbow theme colors, and all the gay individuals appear well normal.

Odd relevancy - I saw the same thing at a Men's Club. I'm a veteran of the scene, figured out how to talk to them, how to appeal to them, went through the phase of trying to "save" them, established friends with benefits relationships with a few choice picks. I know them and their culture.

New girl, first day on the job. Wholesome virginal midwestern type. But she had it in her head that the girls in her new profession are slutty whores, so she acts the part and comes on the me very strong, in ways that are silly and embarrassing.

Like the straight "allies" in your post, she assumes a bigoted stereotype of the target group and role-models that stereotype, because despite what she claims, she holds ignorant and bigoted assumptions about that group.

I think it's a human thing.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ann Althouse said...Who should identify with these people? They're such a cartoony exaggeration, they don't look like anyone who really exists.

Is that how it works?! Blackface (with exaggerated lips, etc) should be OK under that standard, right? Other hugely-broad depictions of identifiable groups, ethnic and otherwise?
Seems...not true, Professor.

n.n said...

Swift outed herself as unapologetically PC (e.g. political congruent or "=").

Fen said...

Blogger made me post twice!

No worries, we have Chuck to whip for that.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

People who disapprove of whatever today's LGBTQQIAAP+ agenda or cause is = "someone who hates gay people."
Someone who hates gay people = toothless garbage person.
It's ok for anyone and everyone, including rich celebrities, to make fun of someone who hates gay people (since they're toothless garbage people), therefore it's ok to treat anyone who disapproves of anything the LGBTQQIAPP+ community in that way.

It's an easy syllogism!

Ann Althouse said...Who is being mocked?
I see only the idea of hating gay people being mocked.


Seems a little naive, Professor. When people on the Left say "it's OK to punch a Nazi" and, you know, punch people much of the Left and Media reacts by saying essentially "I only see Nazis getting punched." They ignore the fact that lots of non-Nazi people somehow get lumped into that group...

Anyway this doesn't seem like you're thinking deeply about the issue and/or symbolism here--seems like a very surface/literal take.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

As late as 2010 President Obama opposed same-sex marriage (he supported civil unions). That, by today's standards, would make him someone who hates gays. Funny!

Fen said...

Yah, Trump is actually the first President to support gay marriage *before* he was elected into office.

Nazi. You're doing it wrong.

JaimeRoberto said...

I'm reminded of a couple of sayings. 90% of everything is crap. Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one, and most of them stink.

Fen said...

Anyway this doesn't seem like you're thinking deeply about the issue and/or symbolism here--seems like a very surface/literal take.

Clickety click click!

Are you feeling used? Remember, you can purchase wipes via the Althouse Amazon portal today!

Clickety click!



Mr. O. Possum said...

"Who should identify with these people? They're such a cartoony exaggeration, they don't look like anyone who really exists."

Professor, "they don't look like anyone who really exists," really?

Visit the poor side of your town, if Madison has a poor side, and you'll see many people who look that way. Many. A growing number, too.

AMDG said...

“Shake it Off” is 1000 times better than this tripe.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

was there bleach and nooses involved?
we didnt watch.

steve uhr said...

Unknown I’m sure you have been thinking about this for years and that’s the best analogy your mind can conjure — a man in a girls shower? I remember your ilk was fear mongering about how this would destroy the institution of marriage. Of course that made no sense and the proof is in the pudding. Why does liberty have to take a back seat to your no doubt sincere religious beliefs?.

0_0 said...

I'm disappointed that Tay-Tay is using autotune. She can sing without it.

Renee said...

"— a man in a girls shower? "

What is actually occurring in multi stall / gender neutral restrooms (not just a single person restroom).

My daughter actually accidentally used one to her horror. It was gender neutral bathroom that was multi-stalled with urinals. Imagine as a man using the urinal and a teenage girl walks in.

This is up in the North East in an office building.

steve uhr said...

Renee— and what does that have to do with same-sex marriage?

William said...

As music qua music, it has a catchy beat. That should be part of the equation.....Poor people can't always afford first rate dental care. It's sad to mock poor people with bad teeth. Many of them are themselves gay or are in favor of gay marriage. There's considerable diversity in the poor people with bad teeth community......I'd have liked to see someone who looked like Buttigieg simulating anal sex with someone who looked like Pence. That would help us all look past the hate and it would have demonstrated the love and non-partisanship in Taylor's catchy tune.

Renee said...

In general as a matter of extendedpublic policy, no difference in males and females.

Narayanan said...

Didjall see Swift and Perry make peace as Burger and Fries?

Trump-tastic.

Leland said...

We got a video by Taylor Swift telling us how to think, being criticized by "The Federalist", "The Onion", and "The Atlantic" all of whom telling us how to think. I won't give into rent seeking by either watching the video or clicking through to read the articles.

I will note that Katy Perry's latest single is "Never Really Over".

readering said...

I wonder how many takes they did of that food fight?

If you refuse to watch the video you are missing out on fun.

Narr said...

Aw hell, it was catchy. colorful, and no stupider than 90% of videos I've seen.

Narr
Was hoping for some slow-motion mutual lotion

Freeman Hunt said...

The image on one computer's Windows login yesterday was for Pride Month. This stuff is all thoroughly mainstream now. The video is pretense at edginess.

Scott said...

I'm an official homosexual. And after viewing some of the video, I am really, really trying so very hard to care about it.

It's a mosaic of clichés. And the music isn't even good. Why is this dreck controversial?

Sprezzatura said...

“Nothing wrong with writing pop songs.”

Bad art is not bad. Agree.

Obnoxious Nazi Barbie, Disagree.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

I've been around so long I can (vaguely) remember when it was ugly to play video of an actual, real person exulting over the prospect of getting free stuff (an "Obamaphone" I think) thanks to the generosity of our first black President--just sharing that video was a racist act (even though it was a real person expressing their real beliefs/feelings) because it depicted a particular POV, and the people associated with it (poor, lower-class blacks), in a bad light. That simply wouldn't do!
A caricature of low class white people with hate in their hearts, ugly clothes on their backs, bad teeth, etc, though...that's fine--just mocking some ideas, nothing wrong with that!

That's what passes for cruel neutrality these days, I guess.

DeepRunner said...

Tay-Tay needs to calm down and get over herself. At least, though, she stopped singing about guys who dumped her and guys she dumped. I guess. The idea of her with Katy Perry in a video (hey, I'm sure the money was green enough) is silly. Katy, after all, "kissed a girl."

One other observation...Tay-Tay could never have made a video like what is purported here when she was singin' country songs. Her pop fans, I would guess, are probly more "woke"

chickelit said...

The Swift video is rather one sided, don't you think? Or she's blind to her own bigotry.

Shrug

chickelit said...

I see only the idea of hating gay people being mocked.

There once were mock-worthy gays at this very site. Downtownlad, and Andy (the guy with the crooked hat avatar which Palladian mocked).

Sprezzatura said...

chick,

It's a double neg thingy.

bigot re bigot = no bigot.

Science says so.

Yes, this thing re homos does mean that the big guy upstairs be a bigot. But it won't be the first time. And maybe he/she didn't mean it re the homos. Like he/she didn't mean it re caring about domestic poors and the folks in the shit house geographies of the seven day project.

I dunno. But I'm sure the local baby saviors gots it all figured out.

Nichevo said...

6/19/19, 3:25 PM
Eleanor said...
Will she just come out all right already so we can all stop hearing about her?


I came here to say this.

Sprezzatura said...

BTW, re the fussing re it's supposedly not nice to say bigots re homos are toothless hicks, is Crowder better?

A dude who harps re homo lisps re Mexican queer. And then uses YouTube text box to sell FAGS shirts where A fig is used.

And his only punishment is that he gotsta remove the selling of the Faggot shirt from the YouTube text

If not him what exactly do you want the sophisticated bigotry re homos to look like? You think you see it in a mirror?


Yikes!

n.n said...

Or she's blind to her own bigotry.

She's a PC ideologue. Specifically, politically congruent ("=").

n.n said...

I will note that Katy Perry's latest single is "Never Really Over".

Not until people discover principles or political congruence ("=") is overturned. #LoveLost

In contrast to the PC's #TooManyLabels, #SelectiveJudgment bigotry, the libertarians had a #NoLabels, #NoJudgment alternative that was suitable for consenting adults in a civil society.

Anonymous said...

Christopher: Althouse, sometimes I truly don't understand you. How more obvious can it be that this is the cloud-people's stereotype of gay-marriage protestors as ugly, ignorant hate-filled people. It's a subtle as a mallet.

The obtuseness is quite breathtaking sometimes, no?

stlcdr said...

Sounds like the writer and subsequent commentary have hit in the face with an iron but didn’t see it.

Amadeus 48 said...

"They're such a cartoony exaggeration, they don't look like anyone who really exists. So everyone's safe."

Is that the way I am supposed to feel about the media's description of Trump fans? Well, all right, then.

Nothing to see here. Sticks and stones, I guess.

Six million European Jews were not available for comment.

Sydney said...

The thing is, whenever I see protesters holding mean signs in the news and on social media, or read hateful things, it’s usually not the kind of protesters in that video. It’s more likely to be someone asserting LGBTQ rights or whatever leftist agenda is on the calendar that month. The video has reality upside down.

Tina Trent said...

"Who is being mocked?" Seriously?

People who hold religious objections to gay marriage are being mocked as:

1. Angry, ignorant protesters
2. "Toothless," "malnourished" "rednecks"

Poor/rural whites are being mocked as:

1. Homophobes
2. Angry
3. "Toothless," "malnourished" "rednecks"

And, "they don't look like anyone who really exists"?

I live in the rural south. I work with and know many people who are missing teeth. It costs five to seven thousand dollars per tooth to get an implant, and three grand for a bridge if you don't get taxpayer-subsidized wraparound insurance for pennies like the university and school and government people do. Which most people don't.

So yes, people do look like that, and they are to a person ashamed of it if they can't afford to fix it. Compounding their shame is the socially sanctioned racist slurring about "toothless rednecks." It is genuinely shocking that anyone wouldn't know these things.

Poor and rural southerners of all races are statistically more likely to mate and marry interracially than any other class. They also, in my experience, at least, and confirmed by a few gay people I know, seem more accepting of nontraditional sexual arrangements. What you see in pop culture and the media slurring the whites among them as reactionary haters is not accurate.

Black people are statistically more likely to oppose gay marriage. But Swift certainly wasn't going to put black people in a bad light when there are rural whites to hate on.

Jesus wept.