As a Swift fan I have grown tired of hearing “I can’t name a single Taylor Swift song and she is not attractive.” Thank you for actually being familiar with her work. I appreciate that you can see the beauty in the lyrics that come from the heart of a modern woman. A woman who is trapped in the web of feminism and seems so close to freeing herself. When I listen to her, I am transported back to that broken hearted girl in my younger days. I reflect on how happy I am to be where I am now. I recognize in my maturity that I need to treat my spouse with respect and appreciation. And, I hope that Taylor is realizing this for herself.
Wow, excellent analysis. I have loved Swift from her country days. You capture her genius in your work here, while also showing how much the masculine and feminine need one another. Also showing how Trump, another favorite of mine, is similar in his craft and calling as well.
Brilliant essay. I admire your ability to analyze current events while drawing on the western canon, too often people can do one or the other, but it’s important that we don’t fully retreat from current events to our old books. We need to engage with the world as it stands and you do a great job of applying timeless principles to our current era.
Thoughtful and interesting piece. Thanks. I do not follow current music so have no opinion of Swift or her genre. I do have an interest in what drives individuals, and culture. Generally, we don't listen to what people are saying, they are often speaking about the hole in their hearts and their inability to fill it.
One expects shallow, two dimensional thinking from the Left. One wishes there was less of it on the Right and there is no excuse for it among professing conservatives. One should not ignore the cry, especially when it becomes a wail.
I think there is value in simply paying attention to what is happening in the world and taking a moment to try and understand it. Swift's work is, I think, one of the most compelling condemnations of feminism in our time.
Art in all its forms has always come from the deep place of the heart knowing that something is missing. Every substitute is a fraud and deepens the wound. Several have mentioned Lana Del Rey in a similar vein. Many others.
And yes, I know of the Origen story. And yes, I did not shy away from its controverdy because I live in the Kingdom of Heaven, which leaves open the door nuances and comprehensible complexity and the nature of the human experience. I honestly pray for you that you might find that in your faith.
How do you know? Clearly it is not provable. It must be quite difficult for you being so dogmatic and controlling, like a Pharisees. I think the subject is complicated, tragic, and concerning. But I knew a teacher once who had that problem; and he was the kindest, most empathetic person, regardless of his travail. Dogmatically claiming that every single one of their hearts could not reach the state of a loving heart is kinda crazy, in my opinion. That said, the current “craze,” which I read yesterday is ninety percent females, is also completely crazy.
So, just a theoretical question: Did Origén, one of the most profound of the early church writers, have no love of God? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen
"Origen, however, never mentions anything about having castrated himself in any of his surviving writings,[38][49] and in his exegesis of this verse in his Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, written near the end of life, he strongly condemns any literal interpretation of Matthew 19:12,[38] asserting that only an idiot would interpret the passage as advocating literal castration.[38]"
Did you read the link you sent me? Origen did not believe in self castration and was not, in any case, a tranny.
I did a Fermi calc: if these folks are (I have no idea) 0.05 of the population. That’s 1.8M people. I have a hard time with your fundamentalist assertion that none of them know love.
That’s not my point. That’s like saying, what’s the most compelling work on love by a golfer? What I was objecting to was the preclusive quality of the statement, rendering it bigoted, an Archie bunker post. I have no expertise on the matter of transgender poetry, but I’m sure it exists. There is plenty of poetry on love by gay writers though: CP Cavafy’s “in The Tavernas,” which I read in Catholic high school. and perhaps Rumi. The problem is the idea of its impossibility.
I do not believe that someone with a heart full of hate for nature is going to write compellingly about love. That was why I made that claim. You are welcome to contradict me if you have evidence. Otherwise you are simply making an assertion that I am bigoted. My point is a serious one backed by my observation of reality.
I was enjoying the piece until this: “No tranny is ever going to make even marginally compelling art about love.” That statement is as misanthropic as anything said by the loons like Kirk.
Wow! There was a lot of good thoughts and points being made here. I completely agree that the right-wing influencers dismissing Swift or thinking that she's a psy-op are missing the point and being silly. I also think that that rise of Taylor Swift in pop culture has something to say about our society and where it is. And you're right to conclude that we should reach out to her fans--millennials and Gen Z--instead of mocking them and/or pretending they don't exist.
That said, I can't be convinced that Swift is some kind of genius. Yes, she took initiative and write palatable lyrics for her songs, but I think circumstances played a major role in her current stardom. She has an army of songwriters, rich parents (I didn't even know her father invested in her record label), and a whole media apparatus promoting her. You call her poppy stuff "cotton candy," but this is the thing that makes her so big, and she doesn't even write that stuff (it's usually some Swedish dudes). It's a corporate product.
And in all likelihood, it's these vapid ditties that will still be played long after her celebrity fades. As for her ballads about her breakups and all the rest, those will only be cherished by the diehard Swifties. I don't necessarily say this as a condemnation of her writing abilities (I personally don't really listen to people's lyrics), but as what today's listeners have become. Millennials may be the last audience to care about what their pop stars say. The others, as you say about Cardi B and Sexy Reddd, can truly say any trash and most young people will groove to the beats.
Is Swift the feminine and Trump the masculine? I think here the argument starts stretching a little bit. Trump and Swift are celebrities. Trump will sell his product and appeal to all audiences. Swift has to fit in and not rock the boat with unpopular opinions--since politically speaking, she, like her peers, is a total bimbo. Really, all we should do is call off the blockheads at Turning Point, stop being dorks, and as T-Swizzle would say, "shake it off."
Taylor Swift is the Joni Mitchell of our generation. They're both competent and prolific craftsman of tonal music in 4/4 or 3/4 with rhyming lyrics. Both are fun and enjoyable, but I wouldn't call them artists.
As a Swift fan I have grown tired of hearing “I can’t name a single Taylor Swift song and she is not attractive.” Thank you for actually being familiar with her work. I appreciate that you can see the beauty in the lyrics that come from the heart of a modern woman. A woman who is trapped in the web of feminism and seems so close to freeing herself. When I listen to her, I am transported back to that broken hearted girl in my younger days. I reflect on how happy I am to be where I am now. I recognize in my maturity that I need to treat my spouse with respect and appreciation. And, I hope that Taylor is realizing this for herself.
An exciting and reasonable take. Ties in well our culture. Thank you.
Thank you!
Wow, excellent analysis. I have loved Swift from her country days. You capture her genius in your work here, while also showing how much the masculine and feminine need one another. Also showing how Trump, another favorite of mine, is similar in his craft and calling as well.
Brilliant essay. I admire your ability to analyze current events while drawing on the western canon, too often people can do one or the other, but it’s important that we don’t fully retreat from current events to our old books. We need to engage with the world as it stands and you do a great job of applying timeless principles to our current era.
Thoughtful and interesting piece. Thanks. I do not follow current music so have no opinion of Swift or her genre. I do have an interest in what drives individuals, and culture. Generally, we don't listen to what people are saying, they are often speaking about the hole in their hearts and their inability to fill it.
One expects shallow, two dimensional thinking from the Left. One wishes there was less of it on the Right and there is no excuse for it among professing conservatives. One should not ignore the cry, especially when it becomes a wail.
I think there is value in simply paying attention to what is happening in the world and taking a moment to try and understand it. Swift's work is, I think, one of the most compelling condemnations of feminism in our time.
Art in all its forms has always come from the deep place of the heart knowing that something is missing. Every substitute is a fraud and deepens the wound. Several have mentioned Lana Del Rey in a similar vein. Many others.
And yes, I know of the Origen story. And yes, I did not shy away from its controverdy because I live in the Kingdom of Heaven, which leaves open the door nuances and comprehensible complexity and the nature of the human experience. I honestly pray for you that you might find that in your faith.
How do you know? Clearly it is not provable. It must be quite difficult for you being so dogmatic and controlling, like a Pharisees. I think the subject is complicated, tragic, and concerning. But I knew a teacher once who had that problem; and he was the kindest, most empathetic person, regardless of his travail. Dogmatically claiming that every single one of their hearts could not reach the state of a loving heart is kinda crazy, in my opinion. That said, the current “craze,” which I read yesterday is ninety percent females, is also completely crazy.
So, just a theoretical question: Did Origén, one of the most profound of the early church writers, have no love of God? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen
"Origen, however, never mentions anything about having castrated himself in any of his surviving writings,[38][49] and in his exegesis of this verse in his Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, written near the end of life, he strongly condemns any literal interpretation of Matthew 19:12,[38] asserting that only an idiot would interpret the passage as advocating literal castration.[38]"
Did you read the link you sent me? Origen did not believe in self castration and was not, in any case, a tranny.
I did a Fermi calc: if these folks are (I have no idea) 0.05 of the population. That’s 1.8M people. I have a hard time with your fundamentalist assertion that none of them know love.
That’s not my point. That’s like saying, what’s the most compelling work on love by a golfer? What I was objecting to was the preclusive quality of the statement, rendering it bigoted, an Archie bunker post. I have no expertise on the matter of transgender poetry, but I’m sure it exists. There is plenty of poetry on love by gay writers though: CP Cavafy’s “in The Tavernas,” which I read in Catholic high school. and perhaps Rumi. The problem is the idea of its impossibility.
I do not believe that someone with a heart full of hate for nature is going to write compellingly about love. That was why I made that claim. You are welcome to contradict me if you have evidence. Otherwise you are simply making an assertion that I am bigoted. My point is a serious one backed by my observation of reality.
What evidence do you have that they have a heart full of hate for nature?
They mutilate their own genitals
I was enjoying the piece until this: “No tranny is ever going to make even marginally compelling art about love.” That statement is as misanthropic as anything said by the loons like Kirk.
What is the most compelling work on love by a transgender in your view?
An interesting piece. I think that Trump & Swift, however, embody more *corrupted* masculine & feminine qualities than anything else.
We live in a corrupted time. I cannot think of any major political or celebrity figures who are not corrupted versions of the ideal. Perhaps Bukele.
All times in human history are corrupted.
Too much about Swift. Not enough about Trump.
The Right has said most of what it needs to say about the figure of Trump.
Less has been said about Swift and what she means to many young White women.
thank you, CJ. This is right, I think. I have written A LOT about Trump but nothing on Swift. This piece is an attempt to address that gap.
Wow! There was a lot of good thoughts and points being made here. I completely agree that the right-wing influencers dismissing Swift or thinking that she's a psy-op are missing the point and being silly. I also think that that rise of Taylor Swift in pop culture has something to say about our society and where it is. And you're right to conclude that we should reach out to her fans--millennials and Gen Z--instead of mocking them and/or pretending they don't exist.
That said, I can't be convinced that Swift is some kind of genius. Yes, she took initiative and write palatable lyrics for her songs, but I think circumstances played a major role in her current stardom. She has an army of songwriters, rich parents (I didn't even know her father invested in her record label), and a whole media apparatus promoting her. You call her poppy stuff "cotton candy," but this is the thing that makes her so big, and she doesn't even write that stuff (it's usually some Swedish dudes). It's a corporate product.
And in all likelihood, it's these vapid ditties that will still be played long after her celebrity fades. As for her ballads about her breakups and all the rest, those will only be cherished by the diehard Swifties. I don't necessarily say this as a condemnation of her writing abilities (I personally don't really listen to people's lyrics), but as what today's listeners have become. Millennials may be the last audience to care about what their pop stars say. The others, as you say about Cardi B and Sexy Reddd, can truly say any trash and most young people will groove to the beats.
Is Swift the feminine and Trump the masculine? I think here the argument starts stretching a little bit. Trump and Swift are celebrities. Trump will sell his product and appeal to all audiences. Swift has to fit in and not rock the boat with unpopular opinions--since politically speaking, she, like her peers, is a total bimbo. Really, all we should do is call off the blockheads at Turning Point, stop being dorks, and as T-Swizzle would say, "shake it off."
Taylor Swift is the Joni Mitchell of our generation. They're both competent and prolific craftsman of tonal music in 4/4 or 3/4 with rhyming lyrics. Both are fun and enjoyable, but I wouldn't call them artists.
It isn't really important what we call them. The important thing is that lots of Americans love her work. That's relevant in and of itself.