Thursday, August 24, 2017

The Post About Taylor Swift's White Fragility

Recently, Taylor Wift shut down her Instagram and deleted many of old tweets. Then she posted a few teaser videos with snakes. Now she is supposedly dropping a new single and will be dropping a new album in November. Many people are reporting that the Internet is losing their minds over all of this news. 

I think a lot of people are just fine.

Moreover, many people are calling this a surprise album drop. Just because she hasn't said anything since the election and is now releasing an album; that doesn't qualify as a surprise album drop. 

Many of her fans are happy that Taylor is reclaiming the negative narrative that was surrounding her last year. When really this whole strategy is just another way for her to flex her white fragility in order to get what she wants. Taylor poised a black man that everyone already saw as crazy to be her enemy. They had said to have squashed their feud, but Taylor decided that she could benefit from Kanye being demonized by the media. She made a speech at the Grammy's about how no matter was thrown at this fragile white woman, she was able to survive the mean black man's hurtful words. That her success is because she rose above "people trying to take credit for your success". That's why Kanye never fought back. He knew that Taylor was seen as America's Sweetheart and that if he said anything then everyone would brush it off as him being an unstable black man. She spun the story around to benefit her and have everyone in the palm of her hand. It wasn't until Kim was fed up with this bullshit that she exposed Taylor on Snapchat for being a manipulative, soulless liar. Now Taylor is going to use this new albu as a way to portray herself as someone who was falsely accused of being a snake. She is going to make this album about how no matter what people say about her, she will remain unscathed and continue to succeed. Or in other words, no matter what you do, people will continue to believe this gentle white girl image she had spent her career building. 

Taylor knew full well about the verse in Kanye's song "Famous" and she decided to turn it around so that she would be seen as the victim. It was easy for her because everyone else was saying it was sexist and she put her stamp of approval of being against it.

Of course, there is plenty of sexism and misogyny in the music industry. Female artists face sexism everyday when they are just trying to pursue their dreams. Whether it is with Rick Ross saying he would have to fuck a female rapper if she were signed to his lable or with Dr. Luke still having a job even after the Kesha lawsuit, men have always been glorified in the music industry and given a free pass to be sexist without consequence. And yes, hip hop has been repeatedly sexist and homophobic, however, there is a huge difference with making a song that is sexist against women and contacting someone about a verse that was about them and they okayed the verse. There is big difference between the two. When Taylor heard Kanye say the line to her that mentions her voice, she was excited that he was going to mention her in his song as it was obvious in the Snapchat video from Kim. Taylor must have known from that moment that she could take her and Kanye's new friendship as an opprotunity to demonize him and position her to be the victim. 

After the Snapchat video came out, of course, Taylor Swift said that she wanted to excluded from the narrative. Mainly because she couldn't say that this never happened or what happened in the Snapchat video was misleading because everyone knew exactly what was going on in that Snapchat video. This whole feud starts when Kanye jumped on the stage at the MTV's VMAs in 2009 when he said that Beyonce should've won. It didn't help that the exact picture of the moment looks like the black man terrorising the innocent white woman. This picture also represents the idea of black men being a menance to white men is what constantly oppresses black men in larger way, such as with Emmett Till or with the Scotsboro Boys. And Taylor capitalized on that moment by using the incident to launch herself into the mainstreams consciousness. Kanye was using that moment to bring attention to the systemic racism in the mainstream music industry that repeatedly gives awards to white artists instead of to more deserving artists of color. Like with what happened at the 2016 Grammy's when Adele won Album of the Year instead of Beyonce winning it. People jumped on the train of calling Kanye crazy and an asshole even after he publically apologized for his outburst. Even after he explained that he didn't do that to offend Taylor, but to talk about how there are a lot of people in America who do not have a platform to talk about the racism that happens in our country. 

Taylor has always been quick to be the statue of victimhood and how everyone is after her and trying to undermine her fame. Of course, she does face sexism within the music industry and there may be people who want to discredit her. But Kanye is not trying to do so. However, she might use this album to talk about that and, against, position herself to the fragile white woman in the media's eyes so that she can catapult back to being America's lovable girl next door. Instead of being seen as the manipulative lying white feminist that she is. 


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