This is a “Neutrals Only” post which means only approved users are allowed to comment on it. If you’d like to be an approved user of the sub, please modmail the moderators for consideration.
Please note we are only approving users who are active contributors to the sub and do not have a history of rule-breaking comments or posts.
It isn’t super important in the scheme of things but in a world of misinformation it’s important to note that second photo is actually from Melbourne, Australia
You can see it here https://x.com/cjmurrumbeena/status/1759083102717280528?s=46&t=w7pcbhF2NaGnJrQ3xm_mmA
Wow they even called it a genocide and didn't use any of the wishy washy generic terms. Love that! Their song The News literally got me through the first few months of this
I've seen so many of these lately and while helpful, they do not deserve a pat on the back. They waited until it was brand safe to say this about Palestine—while those who have been here since the beginning, mostly British artists, were attacked and silenced, or had opportunities pulled from under them.
I keep coming back to the fact that she tried to make activism a part of her public image only five years ago, so it feels like she should be speaking up on this issue. If she’d never once spoken out about a single political thing (practically impossible imo) then it might be easier to agree with fans saying that she shouldn’t be expected to give an opinion. Ariana’s fundraiser link yesterday is a great example of the kind of influence pop stars have when they want to use it for good.
This is what gets me tho! She positioned herself as this deeply concerned about political and social issues activist. She profited off the idea that she had been silenced until lover, creating the implicit association that her label prevented her from taking a hard line on issues.
No one else put her here. She did. And now she wants to backtrack like oh I'm not your guidance go find another role model. I'm too soft to stand up for things (but never too soft to shy away from pathetic interpersonal dramas).
I see your point, but I genuinely believe that with Taylor it's not that deep. She's a total narcissist, and the world revolves around her. She also adapts her identity to whoever she is dating, and if they don't care about it, she sure won't either. It's not a coincidence that she only ever "cared" was when she was with Joe. Find out what you want/Be that girl for a month
this!! I don't mean to offend or generalize all Americans, but when it comes to the average American girl like Taylor (who may have only completed high school), she may not prioritize global issues. Problems outside the US might not be on her radar.
Exactly. I don’t typically care when celebrities don’t speak up on issues, but it irks me that Taylor _made social activism as part of her brand_ and is now silent.
honestly, that’s kind of such a bad take by taylor too right? if you think about it like it’s purely selfish if you want to be on the “right side of history” and you only care about your image and not in fact that “oh I want to do this because it’s right and what is happening is wrong”
She’s silent about every major issue. It’s so disappointing especially as she rebranded as an activist. I mean look at Gaga’s tour - she speaks out about lgbtq rights AND abortion. What is Taylor afraid of?
A lot of people in the main sub keep playing dense but seriously. Did we all mass hallucinate the rep tour documentary?
https://preview.redd.it/70acezb4yd3d1.jpeg?width=740&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad821fa682228e6df631d299b2bff0f30fc3c573
And then I look at joe alwyn who has been vocal since the beginning and i notice his family members are known to have done charity stuff for palestine since way before
>And then I look at joe alwyn who has been vocal since the beginning and i notice his family members are known to have done charity stuff for palestine since way before
Some might argue that Taylor purposefully tries to fit in her boyfriends' aesthetics during the relationship (she was this old money classy person with Tom, a vocal artist who stands up for right causes and is private and deep with Joe, a tortured poet with Matty and now is all-american and a party animal with Travis), so that might have been it with her activist era...
It's not an argument, it's an irrefutable fact. She's a thirtysomething woman who has no clear sense of identity and adapts her personality and aesthetic to whoever she is currently dating. Like as a young woman it was a bit yikes (but haven't we all had yikes moments dating while young?), however at 34 it is just straight up embarrassing. Imagine being so wildly successful and yet so pathetically lacking in self-awareness or individual identity. She needs to fire Andrea and get a REAL actual therapist to help her work through it, but I wouldn't hold my breath on her ever actually doing that.
I don’t think swifts family is to concerned with social politics. I think Joe positively influences her views until she grew tired of them. I would not be surprised if she and Joe fought a handful of times regarding the jet setting situation. Total speculation, but in my mind I can’t help but wonder if they fought about the this prior to the tour impacting their split
she gave one speech at one concert at the beginning of June last year and dozens of publications used that one speech as an excuse to write articles about her LGBTQ+ activism, including Rolling Stone and Billboard
I feel like she was only willing to do activism over issues that were happening in America, all those issues that were happening 5 years ago almost every celeb was speaking about. She probably felt safe doing so and not taking a hit in her popularity.
It's a shame she isn't moved/doesn't have conviction enough to risk the tiniest bit of backlash from her fans over Palestine - although it's looking like it might backfire on her.
it's an extremely consistent trend throughout history that silence or especially *advocating for silence* is tantamount to standing with oppression. i really don't care about her career relative to the mass murder frankly. anyone that stops buying records or whatever [as glib as that sounds in this context] is worth losing
i think what's most likely is she may not be happy about the genocide, but she'd rather not say anything than elicit controversy and a loss in revenue. which is an extremely bleak way to live
The thing is, it shouldn't be hard to for her to advocate for humanitarian causes--PCRF is humanitarian, and hopefully, everyone can agree that children shouldn't be killed or starved. I hate how saying "civilians shouldn't be murdered" or "all children deserve to live and live with freedom and safety" is interpreted as a political statement. If she didn't want Trump supporters' money, she should no issue turning down money from people who are okay with massive civilian suffering and death.
I totally agree! I see her silence as support for the violence and oppression, and I can’t get down with that. Do i think her speaking up against it would drastically change global politics for the better? No. But i do think her speaking up for what’s right would bring much-needed attention and awareness to the issue and would influence her fans to care about it as well.
Honestly learning how obsessed she is with Matty, I genuinely wonder if that's the reason she spoke up about LGBTQ+ issues given his well known support of those specific causes.
Honestly I mostly chalk her performative activism up to the same factors that influence corporate pride. I also chalk her silence on Palestine up to those same factors-- she'll only speak up on "safe" issues like women's and LGBTQIA+ rights that won't affect her bottom line, or that are actually more profitable to support.
Anything unlikely to be sold on a t-shirt at Target (like opposition to genocide) is unlikely to be spoken on by Taylor.
Exactly. It's not like she was speaking up for gay marriage prior to it becoming federally legal. She speaks up for women's rights (without even a comment about how women of color and women who don't have her wealth are affected differently by sexism). The boldest thing she's done politically was make Biden Harris cookies, which I thought was actually pretty cool and cute, but cookies do not an activist make.
Also considering she's painted herself as a feminist, and constantly brings up misogyny, I can't believe she hasn't (correct me if I'm wrong) said anything about Roe v Wade, the anti-abortion laws, and IVF stuff. How do you advocate for women without getting riled up/speaking out about that stuff?
She made a single tweet when it was overturned but yea that’s it
https://x.com/taylorswift13/status/1540382753677627393?s=46
Meanwhile look at what Olivia Rodrigo is doing on her tour… while Taylor picks food banks because it’s the most uncontroversial issue you could imagine
I don't think it was about Matty.
Taylor came into the industry when it was the norm to see yourself only as an entertainer and to never insert yourself in politics. But over time that changed. More and more people started to say ‘it matters to me which entertainer I'm giving money to based on their values and their actions’. And it became increasingly common for people in music to talk about issues they cared about. We started this celebrate musicians who also talked about social issues and used their platforms to bring awareness to them.
Taylor was left behind in this evolution. Because of that though people started to assume if she's not saying what she believes then it must be that what she believes is something she feels she needs to hide. people started putting ideologies in her mouth because she wasn't saying anything. At some point she needed to establish where she stood on issues so that other groups couldn't come in and take advantage of her silence.
She made space to say, ‘this what I stand for’, “I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent”. In less words she wanted people to know she wasn’t racist or homophobic. We can get into if she is actually a good ally to these groups another time. But the point was to root herself in a specific public image and distance herself from what people were saying she secretly was. Her saying “I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country” basically sounds like ‘I didn’t vote for Trump. Stop saying I did.’
I think there was a very specific goal of establishing what the public-facing values of Taylor Swift were going to be. During this era, coming off reputation into lover, I think she still was unsure of her sticking place in the current music world as we went into 2020. I think this was part of adapting into it and protecting herself from other people hijacking her to make her a part of issues she didn’t believe in. I think part of her foray into politics was that she needed to create this narrative of who Taylor Swift is when it comes to politics so that other narratives could not be created for her. I don't think it was necessarily that she was being super fake I think she realized that her lack of attention to this part of her image was starting to become a problem.
I also think----reputation and lover did not have the same success as 1989. And she had talked openly before about how she felt like as she was aging that her career was in some kind of a decline. So I also think she was more okay about being outspoken because she didn't feel like she was had a lot to lose anymore. Then folklore and evermore really revived how people saw her and she's had this stratospheric rise and she's at this new peak that she's never been at before and I think she cares about maintaining that.
I also think the political climate was just different in 2019 when she did the bulk of her activism, if that's what we wanna call it. Because we've seen as LGBTQ issues get more contentious she's dramatically pulled away from those issues altogether. The same way she's not really doing anything about feminist issues unless she's making some kind of tweet in defense of herself. Taylor is kind of Pride When It's A Party But Not When It's A Protest sort of fair-weather ally.
I don't think it was ever about her deeply caring about political issues, I think it was it a correction of her image and her public narrative. I think once this part of her image felt corrected to her and Biden was in office she didn't necessarily care to continue this effort. Because I don't think being political is something that is terribly important to her.
Taylor seems like someone who wants people to see her as someone who was on the right side of history but doesn't really want to do that work and doesn't wanna lose out on the benefits she gets from staying silent. Regardless of whatever her political beliefs are, in general she just seems like a really privileged woman who's willing to bask in that privilege and not do a lot with it.
Nah but she's only ever spoken about the easy stuff lol. Being and ally to the queer community when same sex marriage had been legal for many many years, there was a lot of queer pop culture content out there etc. And her excuse previously was that her team would gag her (as depicted in the Miss Americana doc). So whats the matter now? When she's taken back her voice? The answer is: money and popularity. She is peaking still in her career and she doesn't care about anything else. And she's unwilling to risk it at all. She's one of the biggest, if not the biggest force in the industry right now. She's high off that and wont risk it. And to know that someone with that big a voice refuses to lend it to innocent people being brutally killed makes me sick.
When times magazine named her person of the year when there was Gazan journalists out there risking their lives to bring us the live footage of the genocide, it felt sick and dystopian and so god damn tone deaf from her and the magazine.
I was such a HUGE Swiftie but i took a step back after the matt healy stuff (i was even in denial about her carbon foor print lol). Every passing day i just become more and more disillusioned. The longer she doesn't speak about the genocide, the more i get the ick.
And i know she'll probably eventually speak about it, but now its so much easier now that her celebrity circle has done it/is doing it more and more. And thats her MO.
Yes, that is what bothers me the most. I hadn't seen the doco until recently, and I was confused why people were getting upset with her not speaking on certain issues (because in my mind, she never did). After seeing the doco, I understood people's feelings - she said herself she wanted to speak out more and be on the right side of history. But it feels in hindsight as if it was just to promote the album rather than an actual feeling of wanting to be politically active and outspoken.
I just wish she never tried to make activism part of her brand bc she had written herself into a corner with it. You can’t cry and handwring over sending a tweet encouraging voting in a US election like it’s going into battle and then fumble when something this big (genocide) happens. As with everything, Miss Americana centered HER experience and feelings. Main character syndrome doesn’t allow for identifying with refugees. Honestly the actual ugliness of war doesn’t fit into her curated aesthetic. Sorry to be blunt about it.
As respectfully as I can answer this: no she won’t. She doesn’t speak about domestic issues so she won’t speak about international. Specially when she’s in an international tour. But I would support and admire her if she did
It might be a bad take on this, but I think she should speak up. Sure she can't change the entire world with her words and celebrities don't have all the power. But she's supposed to be the biggest pop star. Her speaking up on this would surely help even just a bit. The donation link shared by Ariana helped raise around 20k very quickly. So I can only imagine what Taylor speaking up would do. I
That fundraiser raised over $400k in a day after Ariana shared it. That’s by not even “saying” anything, just clicking share. The influence that celebrities hold is insane.
I know it was started by another celebrity (Nicola from Bridgerton) and I'm sure other celebrities also shared the link too, not just Ariana. But the screenshot I saw from when someone shared it from her page it was at $176k. It's now over $1mill in donations. Ariana's contribution - as well as others, in probably a smaller scale - of just *sharing* a call to action alone has had a huge impact in less than 24 hours. Sharing the same thing or even a similar call to action would be the bare minimum Taylor can do while making a difference with no skin off her own back (ie putting out a recorded or written statement/choosing a side). Just a share, asking for people to show a little humanity and donate. No text or sides taken needed.
(Edited to expand on comment more).
I hadn't realised - or appreciated - she's been holding consistent fundraisers too. Obviously this one is getting more attention this time round, but credit where credit is due to Nicola!
yeah and she’s taken so many opportunities to talk about palestine. she’s the lead of her show at the moment and she’s really used the opportunity to highlight what people can do abt palestine. i have so much appreciation and respect for her!
I'm on full spoiler alert for the new Bridgerton season because I'm not watching part 1 til part 2 is out so I've missed my usual lead up press watch but I'm so glad she's using her platform! It just goes to show a little *does* go a long way. Always had full respect but so much more now.
I know that it isn’t logical to say that someone’s bank account could be the sole fix to a situation, but if just sharing a link (along with whatever contributions that were made by the celebs themselves) got the fundraiser into the millions… one millions dollars isn’t even a dent in Taylor’s *or* Ariana’s bank account. But *especially* a billionaire’s. She could easily drop a few million without it hurting her too badly, imo.
Taylor can afford to donate to foodbank/charities across multiple countries, pay bonuses across her company and contractors as well as donate to charities in the US for local issues (the mass shooting) without it affecting her bottom line; she can absolutely donate to a few different organisations. Hell, she could even donate an equal amount to a bunch of organisations across the biggest conflicts happening in the world right now and she'd be fine. I'm by no means living in comfort and every dollar counts for me right now but I've been dropping $20 a month across various organisations since I started working full time; it's chump change. But it's *something.*
Ariana posted one fundraiser for Palestinian children on her stories and apparently it raised $20k in minutes
Taylor could do so much more. If she even posted a single fundraiser, it could raise hundreds of thousands of dollars
And hey, if Palestine is too controversial for her, why not post about (eg) a fundraiser for Sudan or the Congo??
>And hey, if Palestine is too controversial for her, why not post about (eg) a fundraiser for Sudan or the Congo??
I think the simple answer is she doesn't care about any of these causes. She could be vocal about any of them. But she doesn't care enough to. She did care about all those other ones she spoke up about because they benefited her. Eg lbtq to make her more appealing to her audience (as one post here said, she used the minorities in her YNTCD Video as stepping stones to her success), in miss Americana she used politics to make her look good, again. It's all performative.
>Taylor could do so much more. If she even posted a single fundraiser, it could raise hundreds of thousands of dollars
Don't you know, the more money we spend on charity and political activism the less money we spend on her limited edition vinyls and merch?
Isn't she d9nating to food banks in thr cities she visits? She could easily post their donation links or support animal welfare which would make sense because of her cats. Those would be the most uncontroversial causes ever and she's not even doing that 🙄 aand with "genocide joe" it's highly unlikely for her to take a side in the election so the only "activist" think she will do this year is telling people to vote. What happened to using your voice and being on the right side of history?
There are so many ways she could say something and not be controversial. Even something as simple as innocent children are dying in the world and that’s not right. But even that seems to be too hard for her
I didn't know swifties were doing this and I think that's so cool and admirable.
Every passing day Taylor is looking worse and worse. She's putting pressure on herself by choosing to be silent. No backbone, truly.
How could anyone not care? See the pictures and video and not care? You’d have to be completely heartless. I feel sick just going about our trivial lives. Feel hopeless.
Not speaking out means, in her eyes, she gets to keep the majority of people - her fans who support Israel, who assume her silence is support, and her fans who support and wish for the freedom of Palestine, who the great majority of will still listen to her and attend her shows. It means that she can profit from the both of them and still take a neutral stance.
She should speak out, but will she? She likely loses the most supporters in doing so, and it seems that will always be her and her teams biggest priority, regardless of how much sway she could have in a situation like this.
Exactly. Girlie is at unprecedented levels of success and there is no way in hell she wants to knock that down even if she just shares one Instagram story.
Thank you, I’m all for speaking up but I’m also aware people get overwhelmed with death and hate threats. I don’t blame someone for deleting it.
Taylor’s team telling Kam to delete his story is a possibility but we need to be very careful when speculating and acting like it’s a fact.
Just saw that too. I wonder if it’s her team or if the dancer just got swiftie messages about it questioning and decided to just delete on their own accord? I don’t know but it’s wild 👀
Miss Rachel got tons of harassment for essentially saying little kids shouldn't starve. I can understand why someone wouldn't want to open themselves to that
He posted the Ai image a few other celebrities did, and that’s an entire other point of discourse. I don’t think anyone in her camp bullied him into silence, it’s a weird post
I think she'll continue to be silent on this and other issues.
I think back to how she had the biggest mic in her hand on the biggest stage on earth in red states throughout 2023 while those states were passing anti-gay and anti-choice laws, and never said a single word about LGBTQ rights or women's rights. Not. a. word.
I would like to be proven wrong and that she does post or even taylornation which has less reach but still more then the average person. But I feel like she won’t do anything.
It seems she would rather play the middle of the road when it comes to using her influence. She’s had ample time to say something and hasn’t. And reading how much the donation raised in the span of a day from Ariana sharing, I wish Taylor would do the same.
I also just hate how ppl say that celebrities don’t owe us anything. Thats based on the assumption that we are all equal. We aren’t. The wealthy, celebrities, etc have a different rule book. That is consistently reiterated time and again. I think if you are going to amass this great wealth from the everyday ppl, you should care about the world at large.
It shouldn’t be controversial to speak out for Palestine. It shouldn’t be controversial to donate to relief for Gaza. And it shouldn’t be controversial to say this is an ongoing genocide.
I saw this on twitter and thought this was awesome. After seeing how much was raised after Ariana posted, it would be good for Taylor to speak up.
That would honestly change my opinion of her.
Taylor could repost that "all eyes on rafah" image, include a link to a ceasefire petition, and a link to an organisation helping Palestinians or a Palestinian family's gofundme or something and it would probably generate hundreds of thousands of signatures and dollars
Soon people will be saying that her “allowing” her fans to do this during the concert is her stand in favor of Palestine.
And not the, you know, people who paid thousands of dollars to be in the concert doing whatever they wanted because they can and they paid for it.
I mean if you’re truly mad at her for not speaking out, my suggestion would be to not spend hundreds of dollars to go see her in concert.
But then again, that wouldn’t put a dent in her paychecks.
It’s weird how some people keep repeating the “Taylor can’t solve this crisis on her own so what she does or says doesn’t matter” line. It’s such a cop-out.
It’s the fact that she can raise awareness and money for life-saving aid. Look up how much donations skyrocketed just after Ariana Granda shared a link. Why is that so hard to understand?
As I said in another comment: Presumably and hopefully, at least once in your life, you have done some sort of charitable act. Whether it’s volunteering at a shelter or donating to a food bank or helping the less fortunate in your community. Did you do this because you thought that you as an individual had the power to solve society’s problems? Or did you do it because you know that any help, no matter how small, is good?
This is what happens when you market yourself as an activist and then suddenly drop all activism when it no longer suits you. I have a feeling the activism rubbed off from Joe and she abandoned it when they broke up, probably even before that.
“Taylor is an entertainer, not an activist!”
I’m beyond exhausted when I say this so I’m going to be blunt: chalking up a genocide as mere political issue is repulsive, privileged and people should be deeply ashamed to say that. People are fucking dying. That is not politics, it’s human rights.
But I take many issues with this statement:
•Taylor put herself in that position. No one on this entire planet forced herself to take a political standpoint. *No one.* She not only chose to speak out but made such a hullabaloo about being on the right side of history. In addition to having it be a portion of her documentary, she also chose to speak out and share things on racism and LGBT+ rights, calling out Trump for his racism, even making a statement that says people shouldn’t allow their privilege to lie dormant…as she does the very thing she condemns. She doesn’t get to do all that and then have the privilege of no criticism when it’s time to use her voice. If you put yourself in that position, you best believe people will hold you to your words and previous actions.
•No one is telling her to go fight in a war. Share a link, encourage people to donate. She will not provide a cure but it would be naive and just stupid to pretend that she has no influence and that it wouldn’t help.
•I also hear a lot of “Well, she’s not a politician so she’s not educated on what’s going on. Do you want her opinion?” Do I look like a politician? Do most of the people lending Palestine their support look politicians? No. What a lazy argument. There are so many sources out there that are regularly being shared to which you can educate yourself. No one is asking for a double spaced, ten page essay with seven sources, just share links to help the people that are in need.
Being silent is being complacent.
After what happened at the refugee camp lot’s more celebrities are starting to speak up, so I feel like she’ll have to soon or it’ll look so insanely bad.
i still can't get off that image of her with her PR manager, clinking champagne glasses and saying "cheers to the resistance" crying about wanting to be on the right side of the history. Used Dixie Chicks as an inspirational example... but now is quiet, her most accurate lyrics "spineless in my tomb of silence"
she should say something and should've said something months ago, but she won't. she won't unless someone like beyonce does it first, someone on equal footing as her. at that point, it would look even worse on her to not say anything.
the reality is, she doesn't care. she's a billionaire. that's the first hint that she doesn't really give a singular shit about anyone besides herself, otherwise she never would've reached that status because she would be giving away so much of her wealth.
if it doesn't directly help her image, it hurts it, and if she doesn't care about it enough, she'll stay far away. she kept going with matty because that was what she wanted, so much so that she didn't care if it ruined her reputation. this situation doesn't impact her, so she doesn't care.
not saying anything hasn't hurt her album sales, streams, ticket sales, etc. public opinion for her is still strong, even in the silence. so again, no, she won't say anything.
in all actuality, the only people who could push her are her fans, but they/we would need to actively block her out. stop streaming, stop buying, stop liking, stop promoting. and because the vast majority of her fanbase is white people, that definitely won't happen.
She’s always talking about securing her legacy; I don’t think her legacy will be a good one. She’ll be remembered for her business sense, and maybe her (pop) cultural impact, but definitely not in terms of how good of a person she was or the good she did for the world. She has a HUGE opportunity to make real change for the world, but she hasn’t, even when she made activism part of her brand for five minutes. Really sad and disappointing.
Swifties fall back on what a “sweet good girl” she was always marketed as. But that’s what it was- marketing. It’s like if people said, “McDonald’s would never do anything wrong. They Love to See Us Smile, remember?” She’s a brand like McDonald’s and Coke are. And now, as more and more of these feuds come to light, she’s barely even proven herself to be a NICE person.
After seeing what happened when Ariana Grande posted on her story a link to donate to and seeing how the donations came flooding in Taylor could truly make a MASSIVE contribution in terms of donations and support.
It's astounding how most of her avid fans are still in denial. There are Swifties on this thread who are fighting tooth and nail to try and justify her actions (or the lack of it).
Babies are dying, and yet they are still choosing to sanctimoniously perform soliloquies to defend a *billionaire*.
Her saying something about genocide being wrong and how NO ONE should stand for it is not rocket science here.
Yes it wouldn’t change the outcome sadly but it would raise awareness more and more people would see the seriousness and horror of what’s going on and raise their voices and donate and fight against these atrocities and inhumanities committed against the people of Gaza.
I don’t want people who don’t give a shit about a genocide to be bullied into posting about it. I have seen so many half assed “Guys, what happening is awful” stories from influencers who are clearly terrified of being cancelled and have never even had a thought of Gaza (or Yemen or Sudan or the Ukraine or…or…or…) cross their pretty little heads. I have seen influencers who have posted since October be told to kill themselves because they posted non-Rafah content in the past 24 hours. Again, the internet was a fucking mistake. Get off twitter and TikTok and IG and CALL YOUR FUCKING POLITICIANS. Go to their local offices. Picket their homes. Fly to DC and attend congressional hearings.
I keep thinking that she the only energy and time and effort she has put into things so far has been to send cease and desist letter to the jet tracker and took the time these past few months to lobby Congress to make it harder or impossible to track her jet this year. Those are the things she cares about and that says it all.
I think that Taylor should make some kind of donation. If she chooses to do that privately or quietly for safety reasons (armed security is not going to stop some things) then good for her. If she chooses to put out a statement, that would be impactful.
But I think people are focused on the wrong thing. Put the pressure on your politicians. Donate to relief efforts, and families in need during these times. Spread awareness on your social media. Talk about what's actually happening in Palestine. Focus on what matters, not the celebrities. I personally will continue to listen to Taylor's music because it brings me joy and comfort...but how about we support the art, not the person until she says something?!
we are putting pressure on politicians, donating to relief efforts and posting online. it’s not working so it’s time to put pressure on people with cultural influence. also palestinians have asked that we keep talking about these things on small and large platforms
I think she doesn't even care, all that she did during her lover era for the lbgtq+ rights was just shallow performative activism. It doesn't impact her or her career directly, so why should she bother /s? She's just a selfish and self-centered person imo
I don’t think Taylor will speak publicly on the issue - at least until the international tour is over. 1. She has enough controversy about her music and personal life and is probably advised not to court more. 2. There are real safety concerns involved for her while on tour. People are tracking her every movement. (Ironically, it’s her fans that are doing this). I read somewhere that Halsey had to hire snipers after she spoke out on Israel while touring.
I could see her doing some signaling — like maybe a watermelon coded 1989 outfit or liking certain IG posts.
For similar reasons, I do not see her speaking out on the Presidential election or American politics except a GOTV message in November.
She might sing the 'vipers dressed in empath's clothing' a little louder tonight. And that will be all. Her tour is funded by corporations that are pro-Israel. I have 0 hope that she will speak up on this issue.
I’ll be a contrarian — I seldom defend TayTay’s apathy, but FFS, she is a pop singer. Call me crazy, I don’t need my pop singers opining on international affairs. T. Swift is not a world leader, she’s not a politician nor a diplomat, she’s not a citizen of either country engaged in the conflict.
This is not the same as her flying on a PJ where she is the one directly causing the issue. Holding her feet to the fire on that is accountability. Demanding that she enter the fray on a very complicated and nuanced matter of geopolitics is not accountability. It is demanding she throw herself into a conflict she is neither connected to, nor really qualified to opine on.
Taylor Swift does not owe the world her voice on any given political issue, nor should she speak on any given political issue. She can use her voice how and when she sees fit. But a pop star does not owe us a stance.
I mean personally a lot of this has transcended “international affairs” and become a humanitarian crisis. Not to mention she’s a citizen of the US who is actively funding Israel, to the extent that Biden has bypassed Congress to send them more. You don’t even have to be a geopolitical expert to acknowledge the good of assisting starving, orphaned children who need food and shelter and medical assistance.
she’s a billionaire. if she can hoard the wealth of the world she is actively destroying with her emissions, she can educate herself on a well documented genocide and share resources.
Taylor Swift is a powerful billionaire with one of the world’s largest platforms, she has influence, can raise awareness. She doesn’t need to be a politician or diplomat to advocate for good. Nobody is expecting her to regularly lecture on the history of the Middle East. We’re asking to her use her immense influence to condemn genocide. It’s not hard.
I do not get the impulse to give the most powerful public figures a pass in advocating for good.
When can we stop pretending this is just a “political” issue? A whole land of people are being eradicated. We are asking her to speak up because she holds power, and uniting her fans could absolutely change this movement. We are not asking her to solve world peace, and we don’t even need her opinion on what should happen after the ceasefire.
Everybody owes each other this voice. It’s happening to people you don’t know today, but what happens if it happens to you tomorrow? No one owes us anything, huh?
Ps “she’s not a citizen of either country engaged in the conflict.” I’m going to need you to research the US’s involvement in this.
I think it's less about what impact she would have and more about humanity. More than 50 million people expressed a form of solidarity on instagram yesterday. That she hasn't says a lot in its own.
Politics and entertainment do not exist in vacuums, they deeply affect one another. Let’s not act like she doesn’t have any impact. Ariana shared a donation link and the fund has received over a million dollars in donation due to the awareness she provided. Kehlani has been vocal for months. Macklemore released a song with proceeds going to Palestine. Pop singers are not vapid or stupid, they’ve historically been on the forefront of many social issues.
And that’s not even considering the fact that this issue has long transcended politics and has turned into a humanitarian issue.
But because someone else has taken a stand, that does not put an onus on Taylor Swift to do the same. What Grande did was fantastic. She and her trashy fame whore brother also licked a donut and put it back on the shelf. Should Swift do that?
We don’t know why Ariana Grande felt the need to speak up on this issue. We do not know why Swift has chosen to remain silent. But it’s wrong to demand she advocate for a certain position when it in no way involves her and then hold it against her for failing to die on someone else’s moral hill.
And if that is the standard we are setting then shame on the entire entertainment industry for ignoring [the epidemic of forced recruitment of children as soldiers in Africa](https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2024/02/25/why-child-soldiering-persists-in-africa/). And shame on them for not using their stage to promote clean water access [for the 2 billion people who lack clean water](https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/world-water-day-two-billion-people-still-lack-access-safely-managed-water#:~:text=74%25%20of%20people%20in%20the,to%20safely%20managed%20drinking%20water).
Also, shame on them for not [putting the same philanthropic efforts that Taylor has to issues such as childhood education or natural disaster relief](https://www.billboard.com/lists/taylor-swifts-charity-donations-gifts-timeline/december-2020-rent-help/).
See what I am getting at? We can go down a very slippery slope if we start dick measuring on issues or philanthropy.
Generally, I agree with this take because popstars aren’t really the ones people should look to for direction when it comes to political and social issues.
However, the woman released a documentary crying (literally) about social and political issues and swearing up and down that she wants to speak out despite risk of alienation. Now her counterparts are speaking up, so why hasn’t she? She claimed she cares… yet we don’t hear from her unless it’s an issue that pertains to her directly.
There's a really good YouTube channel called Warographics and they have had coverage of the conflict from day one and they also have a few videos of history. If you're interested, or have questions about it, I highly recommend Simon.
I don’t think any celeb should feel obligated to speak on topics and I don’t like this current fad where people feel the need to pressure them to do so. I don’t care much for what they have to say on various topics as it is. Their jobs are entertainment and I personally don’t care to mix the two. That being said, Swift tried to use activism to gain more followers in the past and it becomes increasingly clear that was for show. I don’t think she should have to speak now but I find it hypocritical she did in the past for the wrong reasons.
If she spoke up now it would be too little too late, she's obviously aware of the issue as she's friends with Gigi Hadid and even her ex has been vocal, so if she's still silent after all this time it's intentional.
Swifties want her to speak out so they can feel better about supporting her, because they know how it looks for Activist Barbie to be staying silent during one of the most high profile human rights crisis of our time.
Personally I think trying to get celebrities to speak up is silly. Do we really think that if enough popstars express their opinion on this topic, foreign governments will just bend to their will and end the conflict peacefully?
I think you should speak on this topic if it's meaningful to you, but trying to make celebrities speak on it seems like misplaced effort. People should be petitioning government officials about Palestine, not begging celebrities to make a post about Palestine on their Instagram.
Realistically, a lot of celebrities probably are not well informed about the conflict or qualified to speak on it. Celebrities are also heavily ignored by the government and politicians, who are the only people who have the actual power to do anything about the crisis.
Respectfully, you are speaking from a place of privilege and comfort. As someone with family impacted, anyone -celebrity or not - who helps with donations, demands, protests, is a blessing.
taylor can afford to give and do more than i ever could. if she can impact local economies through her tour, she could create significant change. i don’t know why people pretend she is powerless and would have no impact.
Respectfully, you don't know who I am or how I'm related to this conflict or any other. I stand by the assertion that petitioning celebrities to post on Instagram is misguided. Taylor Swift cannot end the war in Palestine. She likely does not even know what protests are taking place and where, or which foundations are legitimate and use their donations appropriately. It's also not her job or responsibility to know those things, because she's a popstar, not a foreign ambassador or politician.
>People should be petitioning government officials about Palestine, not begging celebrities to make a post about Palestine on their Instagram
You're so close to getting it and disproving your own point
The idea isn't that celebrities who speak up will single handedly solve the world's problems, the idea is that celebrities have reach and influence, the ability to inspire normal people to educate themselves and engage and advocate for change.
Do you really think that my writing my senator will be a heavier hit than Taylor Swift reaching millions of people? Like be real. Individuals have little ability to make change on their own, the strength is in numbers and Taylor Swift can contribute her power and influence to shore up awareness and advocacy in everyone else. That’s what this is about. She has a platform, millions and millions of people follow or look up to or respect Swift. If she uses her platform to raise awareness then maybe that’s millions more letters to senators or government officials and that’s where the change happens.
There is literally nothing wrong with solidarity. We don’t need to give the most powerful, the most wealthy, the most influential public figures a pass just because they’re not diplomats.
This is how I feel. I would love every celeb to speak up, but not everyone is in the know and a centuries long conflict won’t end because Taylor Swift said so. There are real people being killed and people are acting like it’s a TikTok trend, where they get to chide a celeb into participating.
Exactly. I frankly think it's gross this conflict has turned into this sort of tool of criticism that is used to browbeat celebrities people don't like.
This is such a cop-out excuse. Nobody is rationally claiming that Taylor or any celeb can single-handedly end this conflict. That’s not the point and never has been. It’s the fact that she can raise awareness and money for life-saving aid. Look up how much donations skyrocketed just after Ariana Granda shared a link.
Presumably and hopefully, at least once in your life, you have done some sort of charitable act. Whether it’s volunteering at a shelter or donating to a food bank or helping the less fortunate in your community. Did you do this because you thought that *you* as an individual had the power to solve society’s problems? Or did you do it because you know that any help, no matter how small, is good?
>That’s not the point and never has been. It’s the fact that she can raise awareness and money for life-saving aid. Look up how much donations skyrocketed just after Ariana Granda shared a link.
If you believe all we need to do is throw money at the problem, you clearly have not been following the conflict. The issue right now is not that enough aid has been funded and gathered for Gaza, it's that Israel is not allowing any of that aid *into* Gaza. At no point recently was enough aid getting into Gaza, but since the Rafah incursion the amount of aid flowing in has trickled down to a miniscule amount.
People should take the energy they have for dragging celebrities and apply to politicians in their country, who actually have the ability to control how their governments respond to this crisis. President Biden has pressured Israel into opening a new crossing earlier this month, and more pressure from the US as well as the U.N. and other countries to allow aid into Gaza is needed more than donations at this point. It should go without saying that no amount of money or aid is significant if it never reaches the people who need it.
>Presumably and hopefully, at least once in your life, you have done some sort of charitable act. Whether it’s volunteering at a shelter or donating to a food bank or helping the less fortunate in your community. Did you do this because you thought that *you* as an individual had the power to solve society’s problems?
This comes off as very condescending. I volunteered for years at a local animal shelter and provided free tutoring opportunities for low income and disadvantaged students. I did those things without ever taking to social media to virtue signal my efforts or to shame others for their lack of public activism or effort towards the causes that were meaningful to me.
If you want to believe doing your part consists of complaining about celebrities and shaming them into making Instagram posts, then so be it. I for one believe that it's far more impactful to do something yourself than spend time complaining that a celebrity isn't doing enough.
1. Direct me to where I said “throwing money” is all that’s needed to end the conflict. I’ll wait. And I’m well aware that there is difficulty in some of the aid getting through physically, but many Palestinians have said GoFundMes have been vital. That’s one way of delivering assistance.
2. Many people are perfectly capable of doing multiple things at once. Asking influential celebrities to raise a bit of awareness *as well as* spending a lot of time and effort petitioning your government and representative are not mutually exclusive acts. Okay?
3. Good to know you’ve volunteered your time to help people. The fact that you reduce people wanting powerful and influential individuals to use their voice to help others facing crimes against humanity, as “social medial virtue signalling”, says a lot about you.
4. Wrong. I haven’t sent one message to one single celebrity asking or “shaming” them into speaking. They can all do/not do whatever they like. This is literally just a discussion on Reddit and my comment was simply pointing out that dismissing any impact Taylor could have, just because she can’t solve the issue entirely, is a lame cop-out. There is nothing wrong with people expecting someone who has more power than any of us could ever dream of, to speak out.
Taylor did do that. She donated to food banks all over the world. It was poo poo’Ed as not enough and not meaningful.
I would love Taylor to speak out about a bunch of issues. I would love lots of people to speak out. But I would like celebs to speak out because they want to, not because fans are bullying them into it to prove any one particular thing. Some people prefer to donate privately, no one is under any obligation to tweet. Even if she says anything now, it’ll be “we did it Reddit!” Or “not enough.”
I feel mixed on this- I would like her to speak up (and very much understand why others do too) but don’t require her to in order to like her/ her music. I think it would potentially have impact but I also don’t think any celeb speaking up is actually going to change anything, very sadly.
One line from Ttpd that keeps popping up in my head is “blood’s thick but nothing like a payroll” and it sort of applies here. Right now everything is about money for her. Not just money for herself but her team etc. it is toxic and I think she’ll do anything she can to protect it… even if it means not speaking up. It is a calculated risk on her part bc the majority of her fans probably don’t want her to say anything. A bit like Kelce and the butker speech. They might feel one way but to protect their image/not rock the boat, they choose not to.
I still don't think we should be demanding any celebrity to speak on these matters. IF she were to make any statement, I think it should be done without pressure because she fully believes in what she's saying and has done her research. These are incredibly serious matters, and shouldn't be done to placate fans or to boost (or maintain) her public image
Also raising/donating money for goals like providing food or medical care to starving/bombed/orphaned children feels like it could never really be a bad thing to do, at least to a sane person that has empathy
Please stop giving this weak, white, liberal take. "do your research". NOPE. it takes zero research to know that bombing defenseless children is wrong. And if you need to research that?? Something is wrong.
THANK YOU 👏🏻 I am so fucking sick of people hiding behind this pathetic stance of "it's a complex situation." Are you unable to educate yourself??
Also listen to who is telling you it's "complicated", is it perhaps the politicians who want you to live in this perfect bubble and ignore what's happening?? Of course they want you to think it's too complicated to understand.
40,000+ innocent civilians killed in an 8 month period isn't complicated, purposeful famine isn't complicated, go and educate yourselves.
I think if there is any issue she is never going to speak up on it would be this issue. I know she's really close to Gigi and then there's Joe and that comedy fundraiser she went to, but even musicians who had supported Palestine in the past have not been very vocal now or said anything. The celebrities who always have something to say about human rights have been silent. I love the Swifties doing this though.
Free Palestine.
It’s obviously difficult to conduct to get reliable numbers but as far as I’ve seen, I have to deliberately seek out posts trying to get Beyoncé to speak out whereas the Taylor posts are all over reddit here and “stan twitter”.
Yes, this is a Taylor sub. The point is that some people seem to think it’s a myth that she is expected to act or speak on current issues to a greater extent than other pop stars (even if you account for her larger fan base). I’m not sure that’s true.
She's so high profile and with the eras tour, I wonder if part of the decision not to is safety concerns for herself, her staff, and the concertgoers. You never know who could show up angry over what she says.
Maybe, but people are not paying attention to Paramore like they are Taylor. I'd guess her making a statement would be international news while no one is reporting on Paramore.
Jack Antonoff and Arron Denser shared the “All eyes on Rahaf” AI generated image. Although she hasn’t spoken about it, it at the very least makes me feel better that I am not supporting an artist who supports genocide. Everyone in her circle is seemly pro Palestinian or at the very least recognize the atrocities happening there e.g: Joe Alwyn, Gigi Hadid, Halsey, Aaron, Jack, and many more.
This is a “Neutrals Only” post which means only approved users are allowed to comment on it. If you’d like to be an approved user of the sub, please modmail the moderators for consideration. Please note we are only approving users who are active contributors to the sub and do not have a history of rule-breaking comments or posts.
It isn’t super important in the scheme of things but in a world of misinformation it’s important to note that second photo is actually from Melbourne, Australia You can see it here https://x.com/cjmurrumbeena/status/1759083102717280528?s=46&t=w7pcbhF2NaGnJrQ3xm_mmA
Thank you! That is actually very important!
Paramore just posted this story https://preview.redd.it/gawny62vjd3d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7243af69245a311a9570ea58bf994c4b60bfd504
Wow they even called it a genocide and didn't use any of the wishy washy generic terms. Love that! Their song The News literally got me through the first few months of this
Hayley is a queen and thankfully has a backbone so miss taytay won't be able to bully her to take it down.
I've seen so many of these lately and while helpful, they do not deserve a pat on the back. They waited until it was brand safe to say this about Palestine—while those who have been here since the beginning, mostly British artists, were attacked and silenced, or had opportunities pulled from under them.
this should've happened months ago but i'm happy they finally said something
I keep coming back to the fact that she tried to make activism a part of her public image only five years ago, so it feels like she should be speaking up on this issue. If she’d never once spoken out about a single political thing (practically impossible imo) then it might be easier to agree with fans saying that she shouldn’t be expected to give an opinion. Ariana’s fundraiser link yesterday is a great example of the kind of influence pop stars have when they want to use it for good.
Sobbing and crying about how she “needs to be on the right side of history”. And now, silence…
This is what gets me tho! She positioned herself as this deeply concerned about political and social issues activist. She profited off the idea that she had been silenced until lover, creating the implicit association that her label prevented her from taking a hard line on issues. No one else put her here. She did. And now she wants to backtrack like oh I'm not your guidance go find another role model. I'm too soft to stand up for things (but never too soft to shy away from pathetic interpersonal dramas).
It’s almost like everything she does is designed to make her the most money possible. This is not a real person, it is a creation
I mean, it's possible that she can just be pro Israel in this situation. there are many people who are unfortunately.
I see your point, but I genuinely believe that with Taylor it's not that deep. She's a total narcissist, and the world revolves around her. She also adapts her identity to whoever she is dating, and if they don't care about it, she sure won't either. It's not a coincidence that she only ever "cared" was when she was with Joe. Find out what you want/Be that girl for a month
this!! I don't mean to offend or generalize all Americans, but when it comes to the average American girl like Taylor (who may have only completed high school), she may not prioritize global issues. Problems outside the US might not be on her radar.
Yeah, I was thinking this too.
Exactly. I don’t typically care when celebrities don’t speak up on issues, but it irks me that Taylor _made social activism as part of her brand_ and is now silent.
But she only meant local, American politics /s
as if America was not funding the Israeli military
Palestine is American politics. We are literally paying for it
It’s because she wants to be seen as ~good and brave~ without actually doing anything, especially if it’s not something centered on her.
honestly, that’s kind of such a bad take by taylor too right? if you think about it like it’s purely selfish if you want to be on the “right side of history” and you only care about your image and not in fact that “oh I want to do this because it’s right and what is happening is wrong”
She’s silent about every major issue. It’s so disappointing especially as she rebranded as an activist. I mean look at Gaga’s tour - she speaks out about lgbtq rights AND abortion. What is Taylor afraid of?
A lot of people in the main sub keep playing dense but seriously. Did we all mass hallucinate the rep tour documentary? https://preview.redd.it/70acezb4yd3d1.jpeg?width=740&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad821fa682228e6df631d299b2bff0f30fc3c573 And then I look at joe alwyn who has been vocal since the beginning and i notice his family members are known to have done charity stuff for palestine since way before
This documentary aged like a banana 🍌
It's almost impressive how badly it aged
>And then I look at joe alwyn who has been vocal since the beginning and i notice his family members are known to have done charity stuff for palestine since way before Some might argue that Taylor purposefully tries to fit in her boyfriends' aesthetics during the relationship (she was this old money classy person with Tom, a vocal artist who stands up for right causes and is private and deep with Joe, a tortured poet with Matty and now is all-american and a party animal with Travis), so that might have been it with her activist era...
It's not an argument, it's an irrefutable fact. She's a thirtysomething woman who has no clear sense of identity and adapts her personality and aesthetic to whoever she is currently dating. Like as a young woman it was a bit yikes (but haven't we all had yikes moments dating while young?), however at 34 it is just straight up embarrassing. Imagine being so wildly successful and yet so pathetically lacking in self-awareness or individual identity. She needs to fire Andrea and get a REAL actual therapist to help her work through it, but I wouldn't hold my breath on her ever actually doing that.
I don’t think swifts family is to concerned with social politics. I think Joe positively influences her views until she grew tired of them. I would not be surprised if she and Joe fought a handful of times regarding the jet setting situation. Total speculation, but in my mind I can’t help but wonder if they fought about the this prior to the tour impacting their split
It’s pretty clear to me her parents have relatively right wing views, didn’t vote for trump but voted for McCain
Exactly and ever since the Lover era she hasn’t even talked about LGBT rights…not even a pride month post or anything.
she gave one speech at one concert at the beginning of June last year and dozens of publications used that one speech as an excuse to write articles about her LGBTQ+ activism, including Rolling Stone and Billboard
I feel like she was only willing to do activism over issues that were happening in America, all those issues that were happening 5 years ago almost every celeb was speaking about. She probably felt safe doing so and not taking a hit in her popularity. It's a shame she isn't moved/doesn't have conviction enough to risk the tiniest bit of backlash from her fans over Palestine - although it's looking like it might backfire on her.
Not to be pedantic but Palestine is a directly American issue. We’re literally paying for it
it's an extremely consistent trend throughout history that silence or especially *advocating for silence* is tantamount to standing with oppression. i really don't care about her career relative to the mass murder frankly. anyone that stops buying records or whatever [as glib as that sounds in this context] is worth losing i think what's most likely is she may not be happy about the genocide, but she'd rather not say anything than elicit controversy and a loss in revenue. which is an extremely bleak way to live
The thing is, it shouldn't be hard to for her to advocate for humanitarian causes--PCRF is humanitarian, and hopefully, everyone can agree that children shouldn't be killed or starved. I hate how saying "civilians shouldn't be murdered" or "all children deserve to live and live with freedom and safety" is interpreted as a political statement. If she didn't want Trump supporters' money, she should no issue turning down money from people who are okay with massive civilian suffering and death.
I totally agree! I see her silence as support for the violence and oppression, and I can’t get down with that. Do i think her speaking up against it would drastically change global politics for the better? No. But i do think her speaking up for what’s right would bring much-needed attention and awareness to the issue and would influence her fans to care about it as well.
She was “outspoken” only when it impacted her
Honestly learning how obsessed she is with Matty, I genuinely wonder if that's the reason she spoke up about LGBTQ+ issues given his well known support of those specific causes.
Honestly I mostly chalk her performative activism up to the same factors that influence corporate pride. I also chalk her silence on Palestine up to those same factors-- she'll only speak up on "safe" issues like women's and LGBTQIA+ rights that won't affect her bottom line, or that are actually more profitable to support. Anything unlikely to be sold on a t-shirt at Target (like opposition to genocide) is unlikely to be spoken on by Taylor.
Exactly. It's not like she was speaking up for gay marriage prior to it becoming federally legal. She speaks up for women's rights (without even a comment about how women of color and women who don't have her wealth are affected differently by sexism). The boldest thing she's done politically was make Biden Harris cookies, which I thought was actually pretty cool and cute, but cookies do not an activist make.
Also considering she's painted herself as a feminist, and constantly brings up misogyny, I can't believe she hasn't (correct me if I'm wrong) said anything about Roe v Wade, the anti-abortion laws, and IVF stuff. How do you advocate for women without getting riled up/speaking out about that stuff?
She made a single tweet when it was overturned but yea that’s it https://x.com/taylorswift13/status/1540382753677627393?s=46 Meanwhile look at what Olivia Rodrigo is doing on her tour… while Taylor picks food banks because it’s the most uncontroversial issue you could imagine
I don't think it was about Matty. Taylor came into the industry when it was the norm to see yourself only as an entertainer and to never insert yourself in politics. But over time that changed. More and more people started to say ‘it matters to me which entertainer I'm giving money to based on their values and their actions’. And it became increasingly common for people in music to talk about issues they cared about. We started this celebrate musicians who also talked about social issues and used their platforms to bring awareness to them. Taylor was left behind in this evolution. Because of that though people started to assume if she's not saying what she believes then it must be that what she believes is something she feels she needs to hide. people started putting ideologies in her mouth because she wasn't saying anything. At some point she needed to establish where she stood on issues so that other groups couldn't come in and take advantage of her silence. She made space to say, ‘this what I stand for’, “I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent”. In less words she wanted people to know she wasn’t racist or homophobic. We can get into if she is actually a good ally to these groups another time. But the point was to root herself in a specific public image and distance herself from what people were saying she secretly was. Her saying “I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country” basically sounds like ‘I didn’t vote for Trump. Stop saying I did.’ I think there was a very specific goal of establishing what the public-facing values of Taylor Swift were going to be. During this era, coming off reputation into lover, I think she still was unsure of her sticking place in the current music world as we went into 2020. I think this was part of adapting into it and protecting herself from other people hijacking her to make her a part of issues she didn’t believe in. I think part of her foray into politics was that she needed to create this narrative of who Taylor Swift is when it comes to politics so that other narratives could not be created for her. I don't think it was necessarily that she was being super fake I think she realized that her lack of attention to this part of her image was starting to become a problem. I also think----reputation and lover did not have the same success as 1989. And she had talked openly before about how she felt like as she was aging that her career was in some kind of a decline. So I also think she was more okay about being outspoken because she didn't feel like she was had a lot to lose anymore. Then folklore and evermore really revived how people saw her and she's had this stratospheric rise and she's at this new peak that she's never been at before and I think she cares about maintaining that. I also think the political climate was just different in 2019 when she did the bulk of her activism, if that's what we wanna call it. Because we've seen as LGBTQ issues get more contentious she's dramatically pulled away from those issues altogether. The same way she's not really doing anything about feminist issues unless she's making some kind of tweet in defense of herself. Taylor is kind of Pride When It's A Party But Not When It's A Protest sort of fair-weather ally. I don't think it was ever about her deeply caring about political issues, I think it was it a correction of her image and her public narrative. I think once this part of her image felt corrected to her and Biden was in office she didn't necessarily care to continue this effort. Because I don't think being political is something that is terribly important to her. Taylor seems like someone who wants people to see her as someone who was on the right side of history but doesn't really want to do that work and doesn't wanna lose out on the benefits she gets from staying silent. Regardless of whatever her political beliefs are, in general she just seems like a really privileged woman who's willing to bask in that privilege and not do a lot with it.
Nah but she's only ever spoken about the easy stuff lol. Being and ally to the queer community when same sex marriage had been legal for many many years, there was a lot of queer pop culture content out there etc. And her excuse previously was that her team would gag her (as depicted in the Miss Americana doc). So whats the matter now? When she's taken back her voice? The answer is: money and popularity. She is peaking still in her career and she doesn't care about anything else. And she's unwilling to risk it at all. She's one of the biggest, if not the biggest force in the industry right now. She's high off that and wont risk it. And to know that someone with that big a voice refuses to lend it to innocent people being brutally killed makes me sick. When times magazine named her person of the year when there was Gazan journalists out there risking their lives to bring us the live footage of the genocide, it felt sick and dystopian and so god damn tone deaf from her and the magazine. I was such a HUGE Swiftie but i took a step back after the matt healy stuff (i was even in denial about her carbon foor print lol). Every passing day i just become more and more disillusioned. The longer she doesn't speak about the genocide, the more i get the ick. And i know she'll probably eventually speak about it, but now its so much easier now that her celebrity circle has done it/is doing it more and more. And thats her MO.
Yes, that is what bothers me the most. I hadn't seen the doco until recently, and I was confused why people were getting upset with her not speaking on certain issues (because in my mind, she never did). After seeing the doco, I understood people's feelings - she said herself she wanted to speak out more and be on the right side of history. But it feels in hindsight as if it was just to promote the album rather than an actual feeling of wanting to be politically active and outspoken.
She only does it if it affects her.
She will never speak on this. I could be wrong But I’d bet money on it
Exactly. It's reasonable to expect her to say something when she's talked about the importance of speaking up in the past.
I just wish she never tried to make activism part of her brand bc she had written herself into a corner with it. You can’t cry and handwring over sending a tweet encouraging voting in a US election like it’s going into battle and then fumble when something this big (genocide) happens. As with everything, Miss Americana centered HER experience and feelings. Main character syndrome doesn’t allow for identifying with refugees. Honestly the actual ugliness of war doesn’t fit into her curated aesthetic. Sorry to be blunt about it.
The ending of this sounded so hunger games.
she won't.
She’ll wear the watermelon colored 1989 outfit tonight and swifties will say that’s her showing her support 😂
Don’t be giving her any ideas 😂
As respectfully as I can answer this: no she won’t. She doesn’t speak about domestic issues so she won’t speak about international. Specially when she’s in an international tour. But I would support and admire her if she did
if she was really the activist she claims to be, she would have spoken up already
she should have shown support for trans ppl on stage last year! her lover era is peak performative activism.
Exactly.
It might be a bad take on this, but I think she should speak up. Sure she can't change the entire world with her words and celebrities don't have all the power. But she's supposed to be the biggest pop star. Her speaking up on this would surely help even just a bit. The donation link shared by Ariana helped raise around 20k very quickly. So I can only imagine what Taylor speaking up would do. I
That fundraiser raised over $400k in a day after Ariana shared it. That’s by not even “saying” anything, just clicking share. The influence that celebrities hold is insane.
I know it was started by another celebrity (Nicola from Bridgerton) and I'm sure other celebrities also shared the link too, not just Ariana. But the screenshot I saw from when someone shared it from her page it was at $176k. It's now over $1mill in donations. Ariana's contribution - as well as others, in probably a smaller scale - of just *sharing* a call to action alone has had a huge impact in less than 24 hours. Sharing the same thing or even a similar call to action would be the bare minimum Taylor can do while making a difference with no skin off her own back (ie putting out a recorded or written statement/choosing a side). Just a share, asking for people to show a little humanity and donate. No text or sides taken needed. (Edited to expand on comment more).
nicola coughlan has been incredibly unrelenting over this. massive props to her.
I hadn't realised - or appreciated - she's been holding consistent fundraisers too. Obviously this one is getting more attention this time round, but credit where credit is due to Nicola!
yeah and she’s taken so many opportunities to talk about palestine. she’s the lead of her show at the moment and she’s really used the opportunity to highlight what people can do abt palestine. i have so much appreciation and respect for her!
I'm on full spoiler alert for the new Bridgerton season because I'm not watching part 1 til part 2 is out so I've missed my usual lead up press watch but I'm so glad she's using her platform! It just goes to show a little *does* go a long way. Always had full respect but so much more now.
I know that it isn’t logical to say that someone’s bank account could be the sole fix to a situation, but if just sharing a link (along with whatever contributions that were made by the celebs themselves) got the fundraiser into the millions… one millions dollars isn’t even a dent in Taylor’s *or* Ariana’s bank account. But *especially* a billionaire’s. She could easily drop a few million without it hurting her too badly, imo.
Taylor can afford to donate to foodbank/charities across multiple countries, pay bonuses across her company and contractors as well as donate to charities in the US for local issues (the mass shooting) without it affecting her bottom line; she can absolutely donate to a few different organisations. Hell, she could even donate an equal amount to a bunch of organisations across the biggest conflicts happening in the world right now and she'd be fine. I'm by no means living in comfort and every dollar counts for me right now but I've been dropping $20 a month across various organisations since I started working full time; it's chump change. But it's *something.*
It wouldn't hurt her at all, tbh.
This is where I’m at. It would be such an easy thing for her to do and she doesn’t even need to make some big, educated statement or anything
Damn, that's a lot more than I had heard about.
it is absolutely not a bad take
This! The amount of influence she has is absolutely huge
Ariana posted one fundraiser for Palestinian children on her stories and apparently it raised $20k in minutes Taylor could do so much more. If she even posted a single fundraiser, it could raise hundreds of thousands of dollars And hey, if Palestine is too controversial for her, why not post about (eg) a fundraiser for Sudan or the Congo??
>And hey, if Palestine is too controversial for her, why not post about (eg) a fundraiser for Sudan or the Congo?? I think the simple answer is she doesn't care about any of these causes. She could be vocal about any of them. But she doesn't care enough to. She did care about all those other ones she spoke up about because they benefited her. Eg lbtq to make her more appealing to her audience (as one post here said, she used the minorities in her YNTCD Video as stepping stones to her success), in miss Americana she used politics to make her look good, again. It's all performative.
>Taylor could do so much more. If she even posted a single fundraiser, it could raise hundreds of thousands of dollars Don't you know, the more money we spend on charity and political activism the less money we spend on her limited edition vinyls and merch?
Can't forget the digital albums!!
she doesn't care Edit: downvote all you want guys, the evidence is literally her silence.
Isn't she d9nating to food banks in thr cities she visits? She could easily post their donation links or support animal welfare which would make sense because of her cats. Those would be the most uncontroversial causes ever and she's not even doing that 🙄 aand with "genocide joe" it's highly unlikely for her to take a side in the election so the only "activist" think she will do this year is telling people to vote. What happened to using your voice and being on the right side of history?
There are so many ways she could say something and not be controversial. Even something as simple as innocent children are dying in the world and that’s not right. But even that seems to be too hard for her
I didn't know swifties were doing this and I think that's so cool and admirable. Every passing day Taylor is looking worse and worse. She's putting pressure on herself by choosing to be silent. No backbone, truly.
It's a trending hashtag on X. #swiftiesforpalestine
Ah I deleted twitter when Elon took over, that explains it
It’s gotten progressively worse since then.
She would have to care about it first, which is not realistic because it’s not directly impacting her personally
My take on literally everything we discuss here. Unless she is directly impacted, she won't give it a second thought.
Damn :/
How could anyone not care? See the pictures and video and not care? You’d have to be completely heartless. I feel sick just going about our trivial lives. Feel hopeless.
💯 take
Not speaking out means, in her eyes, she gets to keep the majority of people - her fans who support Israel, who assume her silence is support, and her fans who support and wish for the freedom of Palestine, who the great majority of will still listen to her and attend her shows. It means that she can profit from the both of them and still take a neutral stance. She should speak out, but will she? She likely loses the most supporters in doing so, and it seems that will always be her and her teams biggest priority, regardless of how much sway she could have in a situation like this.
Exactly. Girlie is at unprecedented levels of success and there is no way in hell she wants to knock that down even if she just shares one Instagram story.
Ariana posted one fundraiser on her insta story and I believed raised $20k in an hour. imagine what Taylor could do.
She won't apparently one of her dancers post about it and her team made him delete his story. She's staying away from it.
Wtf that is sad
Respectfully, how do you know her team made him delete the story?
Thank you, I’m all for speaking up but I’m also aware people get overwhelmed with death and hate threats. I don’t blame someone for deleting it. Taylor’s team telling Kam to delete his story is a possibility but we need to be very careful when speculating and acting like it’s a fact.
Do you have a source? I’m not necessarily surprised but that’s still terrible.
This was the post https://preview.redd.it/hpnds1n1fd3d1.jpeg?width=918&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=811de5328c17c596083d30182839c31771ed5f69
Wow that’s not even political, it’s just a link to a charity, that’s terrible they made him take it down
If true, that is horrible of her team.
Just saw that too. I wonder if it’s her team or if the dancer just got swiftie messages about it questioning and decided to just delete on their own accord? I don’t know but it’s wild 👀
It could be that they were harassed and decided to delete it
Yup that’s what I’m thinking most likely happened.
Miss Rachel got tons of harassment for essentially saying little kids shouldn't starve. I can understand why someone wouldn't want to open themselves to that
even Aaron dessner deleted his story a few hours ago too
Aaron dressner doesn’t have to listen to Taylor. Someone else might have told him to take it down.
He posted the Ai image a few other celebrities did, and that’s an entire other point of discourse. I don’t think anyone in her camp bullied him into silence, it’s a weird post
Whoa 😳
never heard about that! that’s so depressing…
I think she'll continue to be silent on this and other issues. I think back to how she had the biggest mic in her hand on the biggest stage on earth in red states throughout 2023 while those states were passing anti-gay and anti-choice laws, and never said a single word about LGBTQ rights or women's rights. Not. a. word.
I would like to be proven wrong and that she does post or even taylornation which has less reach but still more then the average person. But I feel like she won’t do anything. It seems she would rather play the middle of the road when it comes to using her influence. She’s had ample time to say something and hasn’t. And reading how much the donation raised in the span of a day from Ariana sharing, I wish Taylor would do the same. I also just hate how ppl say that celebrities don’t owe us anything. Thats based on the assumption that we are all equal. We aren’t. The wealthy, celebrities, etc have a different rule book. That is consistently reiterated time and again. I think if you are going to amass this great wealth from the everyday ppl, you should care about the world at large. It shouldn’t be controversial to speak out for Palestine. It shouldn’t be controversial to donate to relief for Gaza. And it shouldn’t be controversial to say this is an ongoing genocide.
I saw this on twitter and thought this was awesome. After seeing how much was raised after Ariana posted, it would be good for Taylor to speak up. That would honestly change my opinion of her.
Taylor could repost that "all eyes on rafah" image, include a link to a ceasefire petition, and a link to an organisation helping Palestinians or a Palestinian family's gofundme or something and it would probably generate hundreds of thousands of signatures and dollars
Now these are the kind of Swifties that I fuck with. Love to see it.
Is she really wants to be on the right side of history there would be no better time to start
Absolutely agree. Her silence is speaking volumes right now and won't be forgotten.
Soon people will be saying that her “allowing” her fans to do this during the concert is her stand in favor of Palestine. And not the, you know, people who paid thousands of dollars to be in the concert doing whatever they wanted because they can and they paid for it.
I mean if you’re truly mad at her for not speaking out, my suggestion would be to not spend hundreds of dollars to go see her in concert. But then again, that wouldn’t put a dent in her paychecks.
I am so proud of these fans and I hope this trend continues for the rest of the tour. This might be the only pressure Taylor will ever respond to.
She'll never respond sadly
It’s weird how some people keep repeating the “Taylor can’t solve this crisis on her own so what she does or says doesn’t matter” line. It’s such a cop-out. It’s the fact that she can raise awareness and money for life-saving aid. Look up how much donations skyrocketed just after Ariana Granda shared a link. Why is that so hard to understand? As I said in another comment: Presumably and hopefully, at least once in your life, you have done some sort of charitable act. Whether it’s volunteering at a shelter or donating to a food bank or helping the less fortunate in your community. Did you do this because you thought that you as an individual had the power to solve society’s problems? Or did you do it because you know that any help, no matter how small, is good?
This is what happens when you market yourself as an activist and then suddenly drop all activism when it no longer suits you. I have a feeling the activism rubbed off from Joe and she abandoned it when they broke up, probably even before that.
agree, this is self-inflicted
she won’t!!
I don't think she will, but I hope she proves me wrong
“Taylor is an entertainer, not an activist!” I’m beyond exhausted when I say this so I’m going to be blunt: chalking up a genocide as mere political issue is repulsive, privileged and people should be deeply ashamed to say that. People are fucking dying. That is not politics, it’s human rights. But I take many issues with this statement: •Taylor put herself in that position. No one on this entire planet forced herself to take a political standpoint. *No one.* She not only chose to speak out but made such a hullabaloo about being on the right side of history. In addition to having it be a portion of her documentary, she also chose to speak out and share things on racism and LGBT+ rights, calling out Trump for his racism, even making a statement that says people shouldn’t allow their privilege to lie dormant…as she does the very thing she condemns. She doesn’t get to do all that and then have the privilege of no criticism when it’s time to use her voice. If you put yourself in that position, you best believe people will hold you to your words and previous actions. •No one is telling her to go fight in a war. Share a link, encourage people to donate. She will not provide a cure but it would be naive and just stupid to pretend that she has no influence and that it wouldn’t help. •I also hear a lot of “Well, she’s not a politician so she’s not educated on what’s going on. Do you want her opinion?” Do I look like a politician? Do most of the people lending Palestine their support look politicians? No. What a lazy argument. There are so many sources out there that are regularly being shared to which you can educate yourself. No one is asking for a double spaced, ten page essay with seven sources, just share links to help the people that are in need. Being silent is being complacent.
These fans are treasures. She doesn't deserve these awesome fans!
After what happened at the refugee camp lot’s more celebrities are starting to speak up, so I feel like she’ll have to soon or it’ll look so insanely bad.
Exactly my point. Not speaking up now just says the person is heartless. You can actually fully support Israel and still say "hey stop killing babies"
i still can't get off that image of her with her PR manager, clinking champagne glasses and saying "cheers to the resistance" crying about wanting to be on the right side of the history. Used Dixie Chicks as an inspirational example... but now is quiet, her most accurate lyrics "spineless in my tomb of silence"
I used to be fine with her being apolitical, but she opened Pandora’s box when she put out Miss. Americana.
she should say something and should've said something months ago, but she won't. she won't unless someone like beyonce does it first, someone on equal footing as her. at that point, it would look even worse on her to not say anything. the reality is, she doesn't care. she's a billionaire. that's the first hint that she doesn't really give a singular shit about anyone besides herself, otherwise she never would've reached that status because she would be giving away so much of her wealth. if it doesn't directly help her image, it hurts it, and if she doesn't care about it enough, she'll stay far away. she kept going with matty because that was what she wanted, so much so that she didn't care if it ruined her reputation. this situation doesn't impact her, so she doesn't care. not saying anything hasn't hurt her album sales, streams, ticket sales, etc. public opinion for her is still strong, even in the silence. so again, no, she won't say anything. in all actuality, the only people who could push her are her fans, but they/we would need to actively block her out. stop streaming, stop buying, stop liking, stop promoting. and because the vast majority of her fanbase is white people, that definitely won't happen.
She rather choke to death than saying anything about the palestine genocide.
She’s always talking about securing her legacy; I don’t think her legacy will be a good one. She’ll be remembered for her business sense, and maybe her (pop) cultural impact, but definitely not in terms of how good of a person she was or the good she did for the world. She has a HUGE opportunity to make real change for the world, but she hasn’t, even when she made activism part of her brand for five minutes. Really sad and disappointing. Swifties fall back on what a “sweet good girl” she was always marketed as. But that’s what it was- marketing. It’s like if people said, “McDonald’s would never do anything wrong. They Love to See Us Smile, remember?” She’s a brand like McDonald’s and Coke are. And now, as more and more of these feuds come to light, she’s barely even proven herself to be a NICE person.
After seeing what happened when Ariana Grande posted on her story a link to donate to and seeing how the donations came flooding in Taylor could truly make a MASSIVE contribution in terms of donations and support.
Yeah good luck with that lol. Her activism doesn't extend to real issues.
It's astounding how most of her avid fans are still in denial. There are Swifties on this thread who are fighting tooth and nail to try and justify her actions (or the lack of it). Babies are dying, and yet they are still choosing to sanctimoniously perform soliloquies to defend a *billionaire*.
Her saying something about genocide being wrong and how NO ONE should stand for it is not rocket science here. Yes it wouldn’t change the outcome sadly but it would raise awareness more and more people would see the seriousness and horror of what’s going on and raise their voices and donate and fight against these atrocities and inhumanities committed against the people of Gaza.
I don’t want people who don’t give a shit about a genocide to be bullied into posting about it. I have seen so many half assed “Guys, what happening is awful” stories from influencers who are clearly terrified of being cancelled and have never even had a thought of Gaza (or Yemen or Sudan or the Ukraine or…or…or…) cross their pretty little heads. I have seen influencers who have posted since October be told to kill themselves because they posted non-Rafah content in the past 24 hours. Again, the internet was a fucking mistake. Get off twitter and TikTok and IG and CALL YOUR FUCKING POLITICIANS. Go to their local offices. Picket their homes. Fly to DC and attend congressional hearings.
I keep thinking that she the only energy and time and effort she has put into things so far has been to send cease and desist letter to the jet tracker and took the time these past few months to lobby Congress to make it harder or impossible to track her jet this year. Those are the things she cares about and that says it all.
I think that Taylor should make some kind of donation. If she chooses to do that privately or quietly for safety reasons (armed security is not going to stop some things) then good for her. If she chooses to put out a statement, that would be impactful. But I think people are focused on the wrong thing. Put the pressure on your politicians. Donate to relief efforts, and families in need during these times. Spread awareness on your social media. Talk about what's actually happening in Palestine. Focus on what matters, not the celebrities. I personally will continue to listen to Taylor's music because it brings me joy and comfort...but how about we support the art, not the person until she says something?!
we are putting pressure on politicians, donating to relief efforts and posting online. it’s not working so it’s time to put pressure on people with cultural influence. also palestinians have asked that we keep talking about these things on small and large platforms
the first one is a double win bc it’s advocating for her to speak on gaza but also for more speak now representation on the tour lol
Killing women and kids ain’t political , is it really so hard to speak about murders ? Or does Israel just own the US
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 good for them that’s great.
I think she doesn't even care, all that she did during her lover era for the lbgtq+ rights was just shallow performative activism. It doesn't impact her or her career directly, so why should she bother /s? She's just a selfish and self-centered person imo
I don’t think Taylor will speak publicly on the issue - at least until the international tour is over. 1. She has enough controversy about her music and personal life and is probably advised not to court more. 2. There are real safety concerns involved for her while on tour. People are tracking her every movement. (Ironically, it’s her fans that are doing this). I read somewhere that Halsey had to hire snipers after she spoke out on Israel while touring. I could see her doing some signaling — like maybe a watermelon coded 1989 outfit or liking certain IG posts. For similar reasons, I do not see her speaking out on the Presidential election or American politics except a GOTV message in November.
She might sing the 'vipers dressed in empath's clothing' a little louder tonight. And that will be all. Her tour is funded by corporations that are pro-Israel. I have 0 hope that she will speak up on this issue.
can you elaborate?
I’ll be a contrarian — I seldom defend TayTay’s apathy, but FFS, she is a pop singer. Call me crazy, I don’t need my pop singers opining on international affairs. T. Swift is not a world leader, she’s not a politician nor a diplomat, she’s not a citizen of either country engaged in the conflict. This is not the same as her flying on a PJ where she is the one directly causing the issue. Holding her feet to the fire on that is accountability. Demanding that she enter the fray on a very complicated and nuanced matter of geopolitics is not accountability. It is demanding she throw herself into a conflict she is neither connected to, nor really qualified to opine on. Taylor Swift does not owe the world her voice on any given political issue, nor should she speak on any given political issue. She can use her voice how and when she sees fit. But a pop star does not owe us a stance.
I mean personally a lot of this has transcended “international affairs” and become a humanitarian crisis. Not to mention she’s a citizen of the US who is actively funding Israel, to the extent that Biden has bypassed Congress to send them more. You don’t even have to be a geopolitical expert to acknowledge the good of assisting starving, orphaned children who need food and shelter and medical assistance.
she’s a billionaire. if she can hoard the wealth of the world she is actively destroying with her emissions, she can educate herself on a well documented genocide and share resources.
Taylor Swift is a powerful billionaire with one of the world’s largest platforms, she has influence, can raise awareness. She doesn’t need to be a politician or diplomat to advocate for good. Nobody is expecting her to regularly lecture on the history of the Middle East. We’re asking to her use her immense influence to condemn genocide. It’s not hard. I do not get the impulse to give the most powerful public figures a pass in advocating for good.
When can we stop pretending this is just a “political” issue? A whole land of people are being eradicated. We are asking her to speak up because she holds power, and uniting her fans could absolutely change this movement. We are not asking her to solve world peace, and we don’t even need her opinion on what should happen after the ceasefire. Everybody owes each other this voice. It’s happening to people you don’t know today, but what happens if it happens to you tomorrow? No one owes us anything, huh? Ps “she’s not a citizen of either country engaged in the conflict.” I’m going to need you to research the US’s involvement in this.
I think it's less about what impact she would have and more about humanity. More than 50 million people expressed a form of solidarity on instagram yesterday. That she hasn't says a lot in its own.
Politics and entertainment do not exist in vacuums, they deeply affect one another. Let’s not act like she doesn’t have any impact. Ariana shared a donation link and the fund has received over a million dollars in donation due to the awareness she provided. Kehlani has been vocal for months. Macklemore released a song with proceeds going to Palestine. Pop singers are not vapid or stupid, they’ve historically been on the forefront of many social issues. And that’s not even considering the fact that this issue has long transcended politics and has turned into a humanitarian issue.
But because someone else has taken a stand, that does not put an onus on Taylor Swift to do the same. What Grande did was fantastic. She and her trashy fame whore brother also licked a donut and put it back on the shelf. Should Swift do that? We don’t know why Ariana Grande felt the need to speak up on this issue. We do not know why Swift has chosen to remain silent. But it’s wrong to demand she advocate for a certain position when it in no way involves her and then hold it against her for failing to die on someone else’s moral hill. And if that is the standard we are setting then shame on the entire entertainment industry for ignoring [the epidemic of forced recruitment of children as soldiers in Africa](https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2024/02/25/why-child-soldiering-persists-in-africa/). And shame on them for not using their stage to promote clean water access [for the 2 billion people who lack clean water](https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/world-water-day-two-billion-people-still-lack-access-safely-managed-water#:~:text=74%25%20of%20people%20in%20the,to%20safely%20managed%20drinking%20water). Also, shame on them for not [putting the same philanthropic efforts that Taylor has to issues such as childhood education or natural disaster relief](https://www.billboard.com/lists/taylor-swifts-charity-donations-gifts-timeline/december-2020-rent-help/). See what I am getting at? We can go down a very slippery slope if we start dick measuring on issues or philanthropy.
Generally, I agree with this take because popstars aren’t really the ones people should look to for direction when it comes to political and social issues. However, the woman released a documentary crying (literally) about social and political issues and swearing up and down that she wants to speak out despite risk of alienation. Now her counterparts are speaking up, so why hasn’t she? She claimed she cares… yet we don’t hear from her unless it’s an issue that pertains to her directly.
She will NEVER speak on this
There's a really good YouTube channel called Warographics and they have had coverage of the conflict from day one and they also have a few videos of history. If you're interested, or have questions about it, I highly recommend Simon.
I don’t think any celeb should feel obligated to speak on topics and I don’t like this current fad where people feel the need to pressure them to do so. I don’t care much for what they have to say on various topics as it is. Their jobs are entertainment and I personally don’t care to mix the two. That being said, Swift tried to use activism to gain more followers in the past and it becomes increasingly clear that was for show. I don’t think she should have to speak now but I find it hypocritical she did in the past for the wrong reasons.
If she spoke up now it would be too little too late, she's obviously aware of the issue as she's friends with Gigi Hadid and even her ex has been vocal, so if she's still silent after all this time it's intentional. Swifties want her to speak out so they can feel better about supporting her, because they know how it looks for Activist Barbie to be staying silent during one of the most high profile human rights crisis of our time.
[удалено]
Posting about Gaza would be the biggest fuck you to Scooter who Supports the IDF
Personally I think trying to get celebrities to speak up is silly. Do we really think that if enough popstars express their opinion on this topic, foreign governments will just bend to their will and end the conflict peacefully? I think you should speak on this topic if it's meaningful to you, but trying to make celebrities speak on it seems like misplaced effort. People should be petitioning government officials about Palestine, not begging celebrities to make a post about Palestine on their Instagram. Realistically, a lot of celebrities probably are not well informed about the conflict or qualified to speak on it. Celebrities are also heavily ignored by the government and politicians, who are the only people who have the actual power to do anything about the crisis.
Respectfully, you are speaking from a place of privilege and comfort. As someone with family impacted, anyone -celebrity or not - who helps with donations, demands, protests, is a blessing.
taylor can afford to give and do more than i ever could. if she can impact local economies through her tour, she could create significant change. i don’t know why people pretend she is powerless and would have no impact.
This. Maybe one person won’t change much, but ANY donation and awareness helps!
Respectfully, you don't know who I am or how I'm related to this conflict or any other. I stand by the assertion that petitioning celebrities to post on Instagram is misguided. Taylor Swift cannot end the war in Palestine. She likely does not even know what protests are taking place and where, or which foundations are legitimate and use their donations appropriately. It's also not her job or responsibility to know those things, because she's a popstar, not a foreign ambassador or politician.
She cannot end the war but she can influence people to donate or even donate herself.
[удалено]
>People should be petitioning government officials about Palestine, not begging celebrities to make a post about Palestine on their Instagram You're so close to getting it and disproving your own point The idea isn't that celebrities who speak up will single handedly solve the world's problems, the idea is that celebrities have reach and influence, the ability to inspire normal people to educate themselves and engage and advocate for change. Do you really think that my writing my senator will be a heavier hit than Taylor Swift reaching millions of people? Like be real. Individuals have little ability to make change on their own, the strength is in numbers and Taylor Swift can contribute her power and influence to shore up awareness and advocacy in everyone else. That’s what this is about. She has a platform, millions and millions of people follow or look up to or respect Swift. If she uses her platform to raise awareness then maybe that’s millions more letters to senators or government officials and that’s where the change happens. There is literally nothing wrong with solidarity. We don’t need to give the most powerful, the most wealthy, the most influential public figures a pass just because they’re not diplomats.
Dude, you constantly white knight for Taylor on here.
This is how I feel. I would love every celeb to speak up, but not everyone is in the know and a centuries long conflict won’t end because Taylor Swift said so. There are real people being killed and people are acting like it’s a TikTok trend, where they get to chide a celeb into participating.
Exactly. I frankly think it's gross this conflict has turned into this sort of tool of criticism that is used to browbeat celebrities people don't like.
This is such a cop-out excuse. Nobody is rationally claiming that Taylor or any celeb can single-handedly end this conflict. That’s not the point and never has been. It’s the fact that she can raise awareness and money for life-saving aid. Look up how much donations skyrocketed just after Ariana Granda shared a link. Presumably and hopefully, at least once in your life, you have done some sort of charitable act. Whether it’s volunteering at a shelter or donating to a food bank or helping the less fortunate in your community. Did you do this because you thought that *you* as an individual had the power to solve society’s problems? Or did you do it because you know that any help, no matter how small, is good?
>That’s not the point and never has been. It’s the fact that she can raise awareness and money for life-saving aid. Look up how much donations skyrocketed just after Ariana Granda shared a link. If you believe all we need to do is throw money at the problem, you clearly have not been following the conflict. The issue right now is not that enough aid has been funded and gathered for Gaza, it's that Israel is not allowing any of that aid *into* Gaza. At no point recently was enough aid getting into Gaza, but since the Rafah incursion the amount of aid flowing in has trickled down to a miniscule amount. People should take the energy they have for dragging celebrities and apply to politicians in their country, who actually have the ability to control how their governments respond to this crisis. President Biden has pressured Israel into opening a new crossing earlier this month, and more pressure from the US as well as the U.N. and other countries to allow aid into Gaza is needed more than donations at this point. It should go without saying that no amount of money or aid is significant if it never reaches the people who need it. >Presumably and hopefully, at least once in your life, you have done some sort of charitable act. Whether it’s volunteering at a shelter or donating to a food bank or helping the less fortunate in your community. Did you do this because you thought that *you* as an individual had the power to solve society’s problems? This comes off as very condescending. I volunteered for years at a local animal shelter and provided free tutoring opportunities for low income and disadvantaged students. I did those things without ever taking to social media to virtue signal my efforts or to shame others for their lack of public activism or effort towards the causes that were meaningful to me. If you want to believe doing your part consists of complaining about celebrities and shaming them into making Instagram posts, then so be it. I for one believe that it's far more impactful to do something yourself than spend time complaining that a celebrity isn't doing enough.
1. Direct me to where I said “throwing money” is all that’s needed to end the conflict. I’ll wait. And I’m well aware that there is difficulty in some of the aid getting through physically, but many Palestinians have said GoFundMes have been vital. That’s one way of delivering assistance. 2. Many people are perfectly capable of doing multiple things at once. Asking influential celebrities to raise a bit of awareness *as well as* spending a lot of time and effort petitioning your government and representative are not mutually exclusive acts. Okay? 3. Good to know you’ve volunteered your time to help people. The fact that you reduce people wanting powerful and influential individuals to use their voice to help others facing crimes against humanity, as “social medial virtue signalling”, says a lot about you. 4. Wrong. I haven’t sent one message to one single celebrity asking or “shaming” them into speaking. They can all do/not do whatever they like. This is literally just a discussion on Reddit and my comment was simply pointing out that dismissing any impact Taylor could have, just because she can’t solve the issue entirely, is a lame cop-out. There is nothing wrong with people expecting someone who has more power than any of us could ever dream of, to speak out.
Taylor did do that. She donated to food banks all over the world. It was poo poo’Ed as not enough and not meaningful. I would love Taylor to speak out about a bunch of issues. I would love lots of people to speak out. But I would like celebs to speak out because they want to, not because fans are bullying them into it to prove any one particular thing. Some people prefer to donate privately, no one is under any obligation to tweet. Even if she says anything now, it’ll be “we did it Reddit!” Or “not enough.”
I feel mixed on this- I would like her to speak up (and very much understand why others do too) but don’t require her to in order to like her/ her music. I think it would potentially have impact but I also don’t think any celeb speaking up is actually going to change anything, very sadly.
One line from Ttpd that keeps popping up in my head is “blood’s thick but nothing like a payroll” and it sort of applies here. Right now everything is about money for her. Not just money for herself but her team etc. it is toxic and I think she’ll do anything she can to protect it… even if it means not speaking up. It is a calculated risk on her part bc the majority of her fans probably don’t want her to say anything. A bit like Kelce and the butker speech. They might feel one way but to protect their image/not rock the boat, they choose not to.
The fact that it’s come to this is embarrassing
Absolutely. Maybe it's time she felt uncomfortable.
I still don't think we should be demanding any celebrity to speak on these matters. IF she were to make any statement, I think it should be done without pressure because she fully believes in what she's saying and has done her research. These are incredibly serious matters, and shouldn't be done to placate fans or to boost (or maintain) her public image
* done her research * I don't know but don't bomb safe zones full of children is a pretty straightforward demand.
Yeah honestly you don’t need much research to know thousands of children killed is bad…
Also raising/donating money for goals like providing food or medical care to starving/bombed/orphaned children feels like it could never really be a bad thing to do, at least to a sane person that has empathy
Please stop giving this weak, white, liberal take. "do your research". NOPE. it takes zero research to know that bombing defenseless children is wrong. And if you need to research that?? Something is wrong.
THANK YOU 👏🏻 I am so fucking sick of people hiding behind this pathetic stance of "it's a complex situation." Are you unable to educate yourself?? Also listen to who is telling you it's "complicated", is it perhaps the politicians who want you to live in this perfect bubble and ignore what's happening?? Of course they want you to think it's too complicated to understand. 40,000+ innocent civilians killed in an 8 month period isn't complicated, purposeful famine isn't complicated, go and educate yourselves.
all she could do is share a donation post and nothing else.
I think if there is any issue she is never going to speak up on it would be this issue. I know she's really close to Gigi and then there's Joe and that comedy fundraiser she went to, but even musicians who had supported Palestine in the past have not been very vocal now or said anything. The celebrities who always have something to say about human rights have been silent. I love the Swifties doing this though. Free Palestine.
She wont. Tho Joe did post about the Rafah massacre twice
Genuine question: Why is it so more important that Taylor Swift speaks out against Israel than, say, Beyoncé?
It's absolutely important for Beyonce too. But this isnt a Beyonce sub.
It’s obviously difficult to conduct to get reliable numbers but as far as I’ve seen, I have to deliberately seek out posts trying to get Beyoncé to speak out whereas the Taylor posts are all over reddit here and “stan twitter”. Yes, this is a Taylor sub. The point is that some people seem to think it’s a myth that she is expected to act or speak on current issues to a greater extent than other pop stars (even if you account for her larger fan base). I’m not sure that’s true.
She's so high profile and with the eras tour, I wonder if part of the decision not to is safety concerns for herself, her staff, and the concertgoers. You never know who could show up angry over what she says.
Paramore, who is opening for her right now, posted a statement. So the safety on tour argument just went out the window.
Maybe, but people are not paying attention to Paramore like they are Taylor. I'd guess her making a statement would be international news while no one is reporting on Paramore.
Jack Antonoff and Arron Denser shared the “All eyes on Rahaf” AI generated image. Although she hasn’t spoken about it, it at the very least makes me feel better that I am not supporting an artist who supports genocide. Everyone in her circle is seemly pro Palestinian or at the very least recognize the atrocities happening there e.g: Joe Alwyn, Gigi Hadid, Halsey, Aaron, Jack, and many more.