BreakPoint: Who Cares How Taylor Swift Votes? Our Silly Obsession with Pop Stars’ Politics

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I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d talk about Taylor Swift on BreakPoint. Just look what you made me do.

It’s not exactly a secret where the entertainment industry stands on conservative politics, especially President Trump. With few exceptions, this president has only intensified the full opposition by actors, producers, singers, and performers of all stripes to the GOP. But one pop singer—the world’s most successful pop singer, in fact—has remained strangely quiet.

A recent editorial in The Guardian called Taylor Swift an “envoy for [Donald] Trump’s values,” not because she’s ever expressed public support for the president, but because she hasn’t said much of anything about him at all. Swift, you see, isn’t much for politics. She hasn’t joined other entertainers in denouncing Trump with sufficient enthusiasm. And so that’s gotten her in trouble.

Her critic in The Guardian writes that “[Swift’s] silence is striking, highlighting the parallels between the singer and the president: their adept use of social media to foster a diehard support base; their solipsism; their laser focus on the bottom line; their support among the ‘alt-right.’”

This is just the latest in a drumbeat of demands that the 27-year-old singer take a side in this current political scrum. Some have gone much further, suggesting that she’s a secret admirer not only of President Trump, but of the less savory among his supporters. Reports surfaced last year that Neo-Nazis and other racist groups have adopted the tall, blonde pop artist as an unofficial mascot. Some even called her an “Aryan goddess,” and claim that she has secret Nazi sympathies—a charge she has flatly denied.

Still, with no college education and no political experience, this young woman is expected—purely because of her fame—to tell her millions of fans not only how to vote, but which side of the political aisle are the good guys and which are the bad.

Swift, for her part, has consistently refused. “I chose to do music,” she’s said before. Last year before the election, Swift clarified, “I don’t talk about politics because it might influence other people. And I don’t think that I know enough yet in life to be telling other people who to vote for.”

Well, good for her!

But the burning question through all of this is why on earth we should care about Taylor Swift’s political views! It’s ridiculous that so many people are obsessed with getting celebrities to take sides on candidates and policies. But we’ve got to move beyond this.

First, celebrities aren’t specially endowed with insights into good government. They have the right to express their views like everyone else. But the idea that somehow what they say matters more—well that just proves Neil Postman was right, we are amused to death.

So our celebrities have become our experts and our heroes. That’s a bad idea.

Also this unrealistic expectation of celebrities reveals our culture’s terrible spiritual thirst. Particularly its lack of religious and moral authority. Celebrities are, for too many, the closest things we have to gods.  They are idols, pure and simple.

But there’s still another, and yet more practical reason why setting our political and social compasses by the opinions of entertainers is a bad idea: It poisons entertainment itself. There must be a space that exists outside of politics if our culture is to remain sane—a place where we can set aside our debates and just live together as human beings.

I’m no fan of most pop music, but we do need cultural places where we can live together civilly in our society that are not dominated by political rancor. If everything becomes just another place for a party power struggle, we’ll stop seeing each other first as friends, neighbors and fellow citizens, and only look at one another instead as members of opposing armies.

If we can’t figure out a better source for political insights than Taylor Swift or the other celebrities that we already pay too much attention to, we’re in trouble, trouble, trouble. See what I did there?!

 

Who Cares How Taylor Swift Votes?: Our Silly Obsession with Pop Stars’ Politics

As John has pointed out, our culture’s obsession with celebrities betrays a spiritual hunger that only Christ can quench. Why not talk about that, winsomely, in one of your conversations with family, friends, or neighbors?

 

 

Resources

The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It

• Os Guinness | HarperOne Publishers | January 2008

Time for Truth: Living Free in a World of Lies, Hype & Spin

• Os Guinness | Baker Books | February 2002

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

• Neil Postman | Penguin Books Publisher | December 2005

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Mr. T: Working with Nancy Reagan ‘highlight of my career’

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OBAMA GETS SATAN CUT FROM ‘SON OF GOD’

An eerie resemblance between Barack Obama and Satan in the upcoming “Son of God” movie has prompted the film’s producers to completely banish the devil.

Roma Downey, who co-produced the film with her husband Mark Burnett, says scenes with an actor who portrayed the devil but looked like the president have now been edited out.

“It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the devil is on the cutting-room floor. This is now a movie about Jesus, the Son of God, and the devil gets no more screentime,” Downey told the Hollywood Reporter.

The 20th Century Fox film, which opens Feb. 28, is mainly a reworked version of 2013′s popular 10-hour TV miniseries titled “The Bible.”
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Miley Cyrus and kids should be encouraged to be artists not celebrities

( Below is a Breakpoint radio commentary from a few days ago. If you rather you can listen to the audio.)

Chuck Colson warned a successful young Christian artist years ago about the dangers of celebrity. How right he was. I’ll explain, next on BreakPoint.
One of the first times Americans over the age of twelve saw Miley Cyrus on television was an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show. During the Q&A, the 14-year-old

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HOLLYWOOD’S TWO-FACED STANCE ON GUN CONTROL

Leading Hollywood celebrities are speaking out in support of President Barack Obama’s push for stricter gun laws. A media watchdog group, however, says the film industry needs to look at its own role in promoting violence.

The Media Research Center’s Culture and Media Institute (CMI) has released a study of the current five films atop the American box office. Matt Philbin, managing editor of the CMI, explains that the study found 65 scenes of violence, including 38 scenes of gun violence, affecting 185 victims.
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Heights of Hollywood Hypocrisy

Listen to the commentary

October Baby

This last Friday night I was blessed to attend the movie October Baby. It was shown at my mom’s church. My oldest nephew and my niece went with us.
If you have not seen this movie you should. In fact October Baby is a movie every pro lifer and every soul who wants to see more faith and moral based movies made should run to see.
October Baby tells the story of a college young lady who finds out she survived an abortion when she was born.She retraces her pass including a trip to see who birth mother who tried to kill her. The movie not only has a strong pro life message but it is a story of forgiveness, and how God can help you through whatever trial you may face. Go see the movie. The only thing I did not like about the movie was it tried to be funny when it was not proper.
I am including with this post an audio review of the movie. I give the movie five stars.
( movie review )

Billy David Dickson All Rights Reserved, 2012
This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Billy or read more commentary on current issues at https://billydteacher.wordpress.com/.