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UK, are you OK?
Labour councillor calls for people to 'cut the throats' of 'Nazis and fascists'
Suspended Labour councillor arrested over video ‘urging people to cut throats’
Probably anyone reading this is familiar with the story so far: three gradeschool children in Southport were knifed to death, and ten others injured, on July 29th at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club. The alleged perpetrator, Axel Rudakubana, is reportedly the son of Rwandan immigrants and was 17 years old at the time of the incident, but has apparently since passed his 18th birthday. The events, allegedly in part as the result of some false reporting concerning Axel's identity, led to a number of protests, which led to a number of counterprotests.
Why would you counterprotest a protest against the knifing of schoolgirls? Well, apparently the original protests were racist. It's pretty important to not be racist. Sufficiently important, I suppose, that people would rather talk about that, than about the dead schoolchildren who, but for recent immigration from Africa, would likely still be alive. Not that Axel is an immigrant, of course. He was born on the magic soil of the UK, so it's apparently racist to notice that his parents weren't. I saw one article suggesting he might be autistic? Good sources are hard to find.
That brings us to the current events! Labour councillor Ricky Jones apparently found some inspiration in Axel's extracurricular activities, as he is very clearly articulating additional knife violence as the proper response to people protesting the murder of little girls. I actually had a surprisingly difficult time finding the original video; most of the articles throwing around the word "alleged" did not judge me fit to judge for myself. I assume Ricky was born tone deaf because throat cutting seems like an especially poor choice of words given the circumstances--though I guess I don't know for certain that Axel managed any literal throat cutting in the process of (EDIT: ALLEGEDLY) butchering schoolchildren. The UK does not have any particularly meaningful or toothy Free Speech legislation, either, though in this particular case I can imagine Mr. Jones facing consequences even here in the United States. Remind me, is it still okay to call for the punching of U.S. Nazis? Was it ever? I seem to have lost track.
Axel's knifework is not being treated as a terrorist attack (yet?), but here's where things get weird.
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:
Taylor Swift shows in Vienna canceled over alleged planned terrorist attack
Suspects in foiled attack on Taylor Swift shows were inspired by Islamic State group, officials say
Will we hear more about Axel's motivations? I suppose Taylor Swift is just so famous that at this point any plot to kill large numbers of people would, statistically, run into Taylor Swift events eventually. But now I'm wondering if Axel was just, you know, reading the same weird terrorist handbook as the Austrian terrorists. They were even the same age--the two arrested in Vienna are 19 years old and 17 years old. If I had a nickel for every time a 17 year old boy tried to murder Swifties en masse, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice!
I'm sure much smarter and well-connected analysts out there are way ahead of me on this one. And probably it's nothing! And it wouldn't really matter if it was something, beyond maybe bankrupting a handful of Taylor Swift event ticket scalpers in the near future. But it's all very weird.
Especially the part where counterprotesters started literally calling for and cheering on more knifings.
There is a certain kind of young man who finds Taylor swift incredibly annoying. I’m not certain why, exactly- she seems not appreciably more annoying than other pop stars of similar ilk, at least- but it is a thing. And both of these involved young men.
She’s more or less a hack. Her music is generic pop with lyrics that say nothing interesting. It’s what I would imagine would come out the other end if I asked AI to write a breakup song. Her dancing isn’t anything spectacular either. To me she’s sort of corporate pop music that I don’t like. I want music that has something to say, I want music that’s interesting in some way.
I think there's an element of old high-school social dynamics that she brings to the 'adult' world,
She's the popular girl with who is mildly talented but is also pretty and somewhat charismatic. And so the mere fact of her being popular means all the girls like her (or wish they could be her) and thus she can do no wrong even if her behavior is actually toxic in many ways.
Guys who didn't function well in the high school social environment probably have a reflexive dislike to seeing this dynamic recreated. I know I feel a bit of that when I hear about her dating the Football star who could have any girl he wants.
(I don't hold this theory strongly as I try not to have strong opinions on Taylor Swift)
Ah, so you're saying she's cheer captain and you're on the bleachers?
I kid. But there is this feeling I get from Swift where she's a massively popular and famous artist, but tailors (heh) her music to this sort of disaffected, underdog-feeling woman who's actually, if she could evaluate her life honestly, doing just fine in the world. It's the constant insecurity-feeding of it I don't like.
And it's that she's the most famous female singer in the world who sings normie songs about normie problems, but releases albums with titles like "The Tortured Poets Department" like she's some sort of radical high artist crafting poetry from Reading Gaol.
I still don't get the "not like other girls" meme, but insofar as I get it, it's that there's a huge cadre of young women who think they're different and creative and original and unique, but are actually just extremely conventional in an environment where bohemianism is conventional (and may God save us). That's what annoys me about Taylor Swift.
My girlfriend is one of the only women I know who doesn't like Taylor Swift -- but I think in part that's because she likes real country, and sees Swift as one of the pop-country sellouts who helped destroy country music. The coal miner's daughter can sing about being the underdog, the pretty girl born of stockbrokers can keep her fantasies of being downtrodden to herself.
Jesus, that is a Swift song, isn't it.
But yeah, she sells songs about emotional turmoil resulting from, bluntly, questionable decisions in life from the position of somebody who has never had to actually suffer any real traumas that I know of. This doesn't invalidate her art, but you do wonder how a normal person actually identifies with her.
I admit I like the music video, but the Song about a toxic falling-out with an old friend seems like one of the most female-coded passive aggressive screeds with the least constructive message imaginable. "Some unstated bad thing has occurred, and now we are sworn enemies for life, also I hate you."
EDIT: Wait, I forgot that she surpassed that one a couple years later, with an even MORE passive-aggressive screed with even LESS clear motivation.
Compare that to, say N'Sync's classic Bye Bye Bye (also a neat music video) which is also about the termination of an established relationship which it carries with it pangs of regret but stating a clear determination to end things because it is necessary for one's own well-being, and desiring to make it as clean a break as possible. Undertones of desire for vengeance and bubbling spite are nowhere to be found.
I'm laughing because I was driving home from work this week thinking about how "The Tortured Poets Department" sounds like it would be some high-concept, lyrically complex compilation of musical artists digging deep into their soul to perform their most profound songs with serious emotional weight.
But from what I gather, its a collection of the most privileged-white-girl laments possible set to basic guitar and piano melodies. And even the fans have it rated as her worst album overall.
Just to repeat another comment though, this is an ironically titled album and a clearly ironic lyric when read/heard in context.
The lyric (and the song specifically) is semi-ironic. There is something self-effacing about it, but it’s more of a mockery of her ex than it is her laughing at herself. ‘Look at the ridiculous characters you made us into’ is the message, it’s a diss track more than anything else.
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