TheDarkMan
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
If English is your first language or even if it isn’t, you have surely heard of Taylor Swift, but if she is nothing more than a name to you, here is a quick summary:
She was born in 1989, and while still in her teens she hit the big time as a singer-songwriter. She has now recorded a total of seven studio albums, writing or co-writing the bulk of her output, and last year was estimated to be worth around $360 million dollars.
The daughter of a stock broker, she wanted for nothing as a child, and to cap it all, she won the genetic lottery, she is a fairly tall, stunningly attractive blonde with charisma, the complete package, the ultimate trophy wife if she ever gets hitched, which is by no means certain because let’s face it, whoever she chooses as a soulmate will have to be at least her equal, and there aren’t that many men who could impress her.
Indeed, after her latest release, it seems that the man who could impress her hasn’t yet been born, and his mother is dead. If you haven’t heard The Man, the video can be found on YouTube where it ran up a staggering 22+ million views in 6 days, but as she has over 37 million subscribers, that is not too surprising.
The Man was co-written with producer Joel Little, and lyrically it includes
“I’m so sick of running
As fast as I can
Wondering if I’d get there quicker
If I was a man”
The entire song is in the same vein, and unfortunately it can’t be dismissed as tongue-in-cheek, because it echoes her real world pronouncements. While no reasonable person would dispute she deserves her success, this song begs the question how much easier does she think it should have been to become an A List celebrity and one of the biggest music stars in the world?
Taylor may be an enormous talent, but there are a lot of other talented people out there in the arts and other fields who receive only a fraction of her recognition if any.
Dani Clay is “world famous in Brentwood”. Who outside of Brentwood has ever heard of her? Michael Chapman is another singer-songwriter, a man in case you were wondering. Now 79, he has recorded no fewer than forty albums, and is still performing, but few outside his genre will recognise him.
It would be easy to dismiss her as yet another case of female entitlement, but if Taylor Swift has a big ego, she also has a big heart coupled with at times questionable judgment. In 2017, she donated a quarter of a million dollars to false rape accuser Kesha Sebert, money that eventually went into the pockets of Dr Luke’s lawyers. As for the contempt of men projected in her video, it may be she meets a lot of contemptible men in her line of work, but when she needs an electrician, a car mechanic, a plumber, it won’t be a woman who rings her doorbell at some unearthly hour. Women like Taylor may be eye candy and talented with it, but men run this world. They always have, and always will.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Oh so patronising. A plumber with an itch.
The last two sentences are unwarranted, it’s true. But the author is trying to readjust attitudes that already seem to be quite distorted.
“Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking”.
– John Maynard Keynes (New Statesman and Nation 15 July 1933)
I thought his last two sentences were perfect. And not to participate in identitarianism, I’m a woman. I don’t take any exception to his point.
If she finds no man impressive, maybe it is because she is judging by the same superficial standards by which she is thought to be so special.
There are many, many men who have fine personal qualities such as intelligence, creativity, kindness, imagination, determination and good nature.
Incidentally, she won’t get there as quickly as a man for distances up to and including the marathon (about 26 miles or 42 km). Assuming equal training, diet, health, etc.
Above the marathon, all bets are off. Women tend to show enormous courage and persistence in extremely long tests of physical endurance.
Taylor Swift is a dude.
Dark Man, good article. Thank you for writing it!
I’d never heard of her. Skimmed the article and find she’s some pop singer. Why should anyone care?
Sure, I’m American and I’ve heard of Taylor Swift but the present is all just so much dysfunctional, inconsequential, perverted fluff, political, entertainment and otherwise, that I spend my leisure time watching old Gunsmoke reruns as the only way to maintain my sanity.