“What is it about Taylor Swift that inspires such
extraordinarily bitchy and unsavoury reaction? Judging by social media over the
past 24 hours, you’d be forgiven for thinking she’s a conniving, selfish,
ruthless psycho marauding around breaking hearts as fast as she rakes in cash.
She’s been branded a slut, a whore, a b*tch, and a publicity-mad, man-hunting
hound after being caught kissing British actor Tom Hiddleston.
Oh, and if you believe Kim Kardashian then she’s a brazen
little liar too over that whole Kanye ‘I feel like me and Taylor might still
have sex’ nonsense.
Really? Let’s consider some facts:
Taylor Swift is still only 26.
Her gigantic award haul includes 10 Grammys, one Emmy and 22
Billboard Music Awards.
She’s great to her fans, regularly sending them holiday
gifts by post and in person, and even inviting them to her home to listen to
her new music.
She’s a serious philanthropist, donating millions of dollars
to help fund arts and education projects, and to help victims of natural
disasters or sexual and racial discrimination.
She’s the best kind of political activist, urging young
people to vote, but deliberately avoiding telling them which way to vote.
‘I try to be as informed and educated as possible but don’t
like to talk about politics because it might influence other people,’ she
explained.
I’ve met Taylor a couple of times at parties and she was
extremely polite, effortlessly charming, very natural and great fun.
No wonder that the Hollywood Reporter described her as ‘the
best people person since Bill Clinton.’
Nor that Michelle Obama said of her in 2012: ‘Taylor has
rocketed to the top of the music industry but still keeps her feet on the
ground, someone who has shattered every expectation of what a 22-year-old can
achieve.’ So why all the constant ferocious attacks on her?
Taylor herself told GQ recently: ‘I monitor what people say
about me and I see a theme. In 2010 it was, “She’s too young to get all these
awards. Look how annoying she is when she wins. Is she even good?” Then in 2013
it was, “She just writes songs about guys to get revenge. She’s boy-crazy.
She’s a problematic person.”’
Her latest ‘crime’ was to be caught in flagrante with Tom
Hiddleston on a beach.
They’re both single people, but the global vitriol poured on
their heads has been extraordinary.
They were accused of deliberately staging the photos. She, apparently, to taunt previous boyfriend Calvin Harris
and ‘rub his nose in it’.
He to promote his chances of becoming the next James Bond by
portraying himself as a seductive ladies man. What a load of balderdash!
You think either of these two major stars of their
respective industries needs to go around setting up fake kissing pictures to
promote their brands?
It looks to me like they’ve just fallen in love; an
affliction that’s been known to happen to good-looking young people when they
meet.
Unfortunately, when people are this good-looking and this
famous, such actions often provoke bitter outbursts of insane, spiteful
jealousy.
In a separate attack, Kim Kardashian branded Taylor a liar
for saying she didn’t know Kanye was going to include her in his song Famous
which included the repulsively misogynist line: ‘I feel like me and Taylor
might still have sex. Why? I made that b***h famous.’
Any self-respecting married woman should surely be far more
agitated about why her husband wants to write songs about desiring sex with
other women?
Last night, Taylor’s management issued a withering statement
reiterating her denial of knowing anything about Kanye’s sexist claptrap and
saying she felt ‘humiliated’ by the song.
It added: ‘Taylor cannot understand why Kanye West and now
Kim Kardashian will not just leave her alone.’
I think I know why. It’s that j-word again: jealousy.
Taylor Swift is everything Kim Kardashian isn’t, and it’s
driving the latter mad.
First, Taylor’s got an outstanding musical talent, for
singing and songwriting, whereas Kim – by her own admission – has no
discernible talent for anything other than shameless self-promotion.
Second, while they both claim to be feminists, only Taylor
seems to understand what this actually means, promoting talent and a wholesome,
dynamic image over the pathetic topless bird-flipping selfie nonsense which Kim
falsely claims is so ‘empowering’ and ‘liberating’ to women.
It’s not, it’s just cheap, tawdry attention-seeking and the
very last thing young impressionable women should be encouraged to do in public
by female celebrities with tens of millions of followers on social media.
Taylor, as GQ observed, ‘never gratuitously sexualises her
image and seems pathologically averse to controversy.’
By pursuing this path, she has managed to build one of the
biggest brands in the history of pop music and retained her dignity, pride and
sense of self-worth in the process.
I can’t think of anyone I currently admire more in the music
business; she’s living proof that sometimes the good guys, and girls, do come
first.
My response, therefore, to Kim Kardashian and all the other
poisonous, green-eyed monsters out there currently trying to tear down Taylor
Swift is simple: back off you sad, pathetic, envy-ridden people.
She’s a fantastic example of what every young women should
strive to be: a true feminist whose talent, success, work ethic, behaviour and
personality are all hugely positive role model messages.
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