Not Another Story About Taylor Swift

Confessions of Swifty dad

I am still trying to figure out what this new newsletter should be, but one thing I hope Through The Fog is not is clickbait. 

With this in mind, I wrestled with whether to even broach today’s topic. I will check the email open rates later. In the meantime, a big thank you to those who have made it this far.  

As a father to two diehard Swifties and as a life-long diehard fan of the San Francisco 49ers football team, I feel I have, as the lawyers like to say, standing when it comes to this topic. 

For those of you who are not entirely sure what I’m talking about, consider yourself lucky. Here’s my attempt at abbreviated context: 

The global phenomenon that is the pop superstar Taylor Swift is in a romance with the football star Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs. They both have supposed liberal politics which has led to an unhinged reaction from the MAGA world, especially because the Chiefs are playing the 49ers (from the apparently post-apocalyptic hellhole of San Francisco) in the Super Bowl. It seems like everyone wants to chime in, which has released all the cultural, sexist, and conspiracy-laden detritus that one might expect would saturate our social-media-obsessed and divided nation during a presidential election year. 

Whew. And that’s just scratching the surface. 

Before I go further, I do want to point out that in my previous Substack life when I worked with Dan Rather on the Steady newsletter, we wrote a piece about Swift and electoral politics. That was about two months ago. Even then the take wasn’t exactly original\, but at least it wasn’t everywhere. 

Unlike today. 

But my thoughts are less about Swift herself — as impressive as she is — or her relationship choices. Or even what it might mean for American democracy. Rather I want to talk about the Swifties — the epic ranks of global fandom that, as I mentioned above, permeate my household as well. 

To be a Swifty, as far as I can tell from my “contact high," is to love the music first and foremost, and respect the artist. But it’s also about the individual and the community. It’s about young (and not so young) women (and non-women) finding respect and appreciation for themselves. It’s about resilience and strength. It’s about recognizing the difficulties of life and love, but also finding hope by believing that you are seen. 

Then, it’s to take those positive, affirming beliefs, and join a global community that is diverse, wondrous, and largely supportive. (And exchange a lot of handmade bracelets with each other!) In an era of cynicism, Swifties can often find hope and in a time of bitter divisiveness they celebrate empathy and inclusion. 

No wonder it is seen as such a threat by those who feed off anger and division. 

One of the hallmarks of the last several years is we have seen a significant section of this nation descend into true cult-like behavior in slavish devotion to a man who treats them with contempt. And yet, this group follows their leader in eagerly projecting their insecurities onto others. 

Much like those who wallow in fake news hypocritically and fallaciously bestow that phrase on responsible journalism, or a man who is eager to weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies claims he is the one unfairly targeted because of his actual misdeeds, MAGA nation likes to portray Swifties as a dangerous mob threatening American democracy. 

I mean, is any of this believable to those who aren’t marinating in Newsmax? 

I see in my daughters’ admiration for Swift a lot of what I desperately hope I can instill in them as a father. I see self-confidence and happiness. I see finding strategies for coping with setbacks and disappointments (and I’m not just talking about trying to get concert tickets). I see a spirit of civic engagement. I see connecting with others. I see uplift.

If Swift encourages her fans to vote and they come out in droves it won’t be because they will do whatever she says. 

It will be because she helped them see the power that can come from their actions. 
It will be because she has helped them see their place in a complicated and often unjust world. 
It will be because they believe that their voice matters. 

I understand why that scares people who would rather impose silence. 

But I don’t think Swifties will be intimidated; they’ll just “shake it off.”