SAJU: Taylor Swift's advocacy made real impact
Column: Pride, Not Prejudice
I have followed Taylor Swift’s journey from a young country singer to one of the most famous pop icons of our lifetimes. From listening to “Fifteen” to get ready for my first day of high school and singing along to “Long Live” on the way home from my senior night, I am now one year away from being able to play “22” on my birthday.
Although Swift has written the soundtrack to my young adult years, I have never really known about the singer’s political positions. Her political silence was often seen as quiet support for right-wing ideology, especially when she did not endorse candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, according to an article from Refinery29.
Milo Yiannopoulos, a columnist for Breitbart, said that Swift was able to function as a symbol for the right because she came off as being born conservative, and she kept her politics out of her public image.
Neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right online labeled her as an “Aryan Goddess,” according to Vice. They claimed that through her music, Swift was “red-pilling” America. For the record, Swift has never ever expressed interest in these groups, and she was not aware of their obsession with her.
The fact that Taylor Swift operates, publicly, in mainly white spaces does not really suggest anything about her politics. It does say something about the entertainment and professional spaces we have created as a society (but this is a topic for another article).
In her Netflix documentary "Miss Americana," Swift talks about how she got into a confrontation with her management team, who was afraid of the backlash she would receive by talking about her views, according to Refinery29.
Swift, who had stayed quiet when former President Barack Obama ran against the then-Republican candidate and now-Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) because she was convinced no one cared about her opinions, was determined to say something this time.
In 2018, she notably broke her silence and endorsed Democratic candidates in Tennessee. Although she endorsed Phil Bredesen, who later went on to lose against Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) (Blackburn voted against reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and is anti-LGBTQ+), Swift helped to increase youth voter registration in Tennessee, according to Refinery29.
Conservatives dismissed Swift as a political know-nothing, and liberals celebrated, but she was only getting started, according to The New York Times.
In early October of this year, Swift announced that she would be supporting the (now) President-elect Joe Biden-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris ticket.
Swift made her views known to her 87 million Twitter followers and 140 million Instagram followers in an interview with V Magazine: “The change we need most is to elect a president who recognizes that people of color deserve to feel safe and represented, that women deserve the right to choose what happens to their bodies and that the (LGBTQ+) community deserves to be acknowledged and included … The only way we can begin to make things better is to choose leaders who are willing to face these issues and find ways to work through them,” Swift said.
For better or worse, we put our celebrities on a pedestal. Swift is a talented singer who should not feel like she has to express her political views. Obligating celebrities to speak on their perspective only leads to performative activism.
But, she should have never felt like she had to keep quiet on issues that she wanted to talk about. Her voice is particularly valuable due to her millions of fans and supporters.
Podcast host Bridget Todd said she was thrilled to hear Swift speaking out because she was “setting a strong, clear example for the millions of white women and girls who look up to her,” according to Refinery29.
Over the summer, when President Donald J. Trump responded negatively to the protests in response to the murder of George Floyd, Swift said, “After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? … We will vote you out in November.”
While her voice and music were only a fraction of the movement that got Biden to the White House, her decision to encourage voters to vote for Biden makes her that much more deserving of the place she holds in my memories.
Neha Saju is a School of Arts and Sciences junior majoring in history and political science and minoring in French and women's and gender studies. Her column, "Pride, Not Prejudice," runs on alternate Mondays.
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