I have four teenage daughters living at home. Thus, the iconic star – Taylor Swift, is a topic of discussion around our dinner table almost nightly. This week we have seen a collision of the political world and pop culture, all centering around Taylor Swift. Now, I am not a closet Swiftie (A person who secretly listens to her albums). But I am happy for my kids to blast (most of) her songs nightly as they do their chores. Her music has filled our house for years and has led to plenty of dance parties.<\/p>\n
Last week, we read about the hero\u2019s monomyth, and I was left with an unanswered question.[1]<\/a> The question I remain with is, what about the anti-hero? What if the hero does not want to be where he or she is? What about those who want to tear down the hero?<\/p>\n This week, my news reel seems to have had a new Taylor Swift story almost hourly. This will likely be increased now that google has seen my recent search history. Swift has dominated the headlines for the last week, starting with AI generated pornographic photos of her that were released. Then she found herself in the cross hairs of the right-wing media. Suddenly, according to some of the media, she is a pop star who has been put in place by the CIA and the Biden administration so that she could make a huge political announcement supporting the Democratic party while attending the Superbowl. Her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, who will be playing in the Superbowl is also a government plant for his part in endorsing vaccinations.<\/p>\n Simply writing all this out seems silly, but it has been a deliberate attempt to malign her by right-wing media. One article stated, “It’s a play for engagement. If you look at interest in Taylor Swift and the crossover with the NFL, you want to be part of those conversations online.”[2]<\/a> Essentially, it was intentional drama that was flooded into the media. The media knows that many people will simply hear these stories and believe them without much investigation or thought. It is a form of passive confirmation bias where \u201cwe simply fail to look for any information that could contradict our beliefs.”[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Harford\u2019s book comes at a time in which political discourse is infused with false narratives, or partial narratives that shape the world in which we live. He demonstrates, through the view of a statistician, the way in which information might be shaped and ways in which companies or governments might even try to question everything simply to muddy the waters.[4]<\/a> His book helps us to recognize our own biases and our emotional attitude when we investigate the truth. He encourages his reader to, “Look deeper and ask questions.”[5]<\/a><\/p>\n Harford makes many excellent points, two of which I want to highlight. He encourages us to use two perspectives, “The worm’s eye view as well as the bird’s eye view.”[6]<\/a> The second point is, “Weekly, daily, hourly – the metronome of the news clock changes the very nature of what is news.”[7]<\/a><\/p>\n These points are the points I am bringing up with my teenage daughters around the dinner table. How can they think deeply about the issues surrounding Swift? Can they discern where the information is coming from? Who is profiting off the misinformation campaign? The disinformation campaign regarding Swift might seem focused primarily on pop culture but at the heart of the matter lies numbers and dollars. Her influence is significant and what she chooses to endorse shapes the thinking and buying habits of many of her followers. I do not want my daughters to do something or believe something simply because a pop star says so, but I do want them to learn to discern and understand what is behind the headlines of the day or the week.<\/p>\n Swift has learned how to manage her fame and her influence. She has been beaten up this week but has been able to keep her own focus, allowing other media outlets to push back against the narratives of her being a psy-op for the government. She wrote a song a few years back about her own heroine journey.<\/p>\n It’s me, hi (Hi) <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces<\/em>, 1. Princeton\/Bollingen paperback print., 3. print, Bollingen Series 17 (Princeton, NJ: Univ. Press, 1973).<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Shannon Bond, \u201cHere\u2019s Why Conspiracy Theories about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl Are Spreading,\u201d NPR<\/em>, February 1, 2024, sec. It\u2019s Been a Minute, https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/02\/01\/1228373511\/heres-why-conspiracy-theories-about-taylor-swift-and-the-super-bowl-are-spreadin.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Kathryn Schulz, \u201cBeing Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error\u201d (New York: HarperCollins, 2011), 128.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Tim Harford, How to Make the World Add up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently about Numbers<\/em> (London: The Bridge Street Press, 2021), 14.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Harford, 282.<\/p>\n
\nI’m the problem, it’s me (I’m the problem, it’s me)<\/a>
\nAt teatime (Teatime), everybody agrees (Everybody agrees)<\/a>
\nI’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror<\/a>
\nIt must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero<\/a> [8]<\/a><\/p>\n