Taylor Swift’s new song shows an astounding lack of self-awareness.
Her fans like her music. But now she’s wading into political controversy.
“Only The Young” is divisive, artistically hollow electioneering.
Taylor Swift just dropped her new song, “Only The Young,” this week. The release coincides with the debut of her Netflix documentary, “Miss Americana.”
The song makes a big political statement [Rolling Stone] during a presidential election year. But making big political statements is not how Taylor Swift became a superstar.
Swift used to have the appeal of uncomplicated sweetness and wholesome charm. Her voice and image didn’t have anything to do with politics. She stood above it all.
But that’s all changed with “Only The Young” and “Miss Americana.” Now the country music icon’s business is to attack the president and one of her state’s senators.
She has hired out her voice to be employed for political purposes, corrupting the purity of her art. The boorish food fight that is U.S. politics is no place for Taylor Swift.
“Only The Young” Has No Heart
Great art is a wellspring of meaning. It doesn’t have an agenda. It certainly doesn’t have a political agenda. Art with a political agenda is hardly art at all.
It’s just propaganda.
Having a narrow agenda usually gets in the way of making truly captivating, resounding songs, or paintings, or stories. It produces third rate work like the throw-away melody and novice lyricism of “Only The Young.”
Taylor Swift’s agenda is to get more young people to vote in 2020. But she’s made it clear that she’s counting on that to push America’s political center to the left.
Taylor Swift Is Fighting Dirty
Here are some words she uses to rally the young:
You go to class, scared Wondering where the best hiding spot would be And the big bad man and his big bad clan Their hands are stained with red
She’s blaming millions of people who’ve never hurt anyone for the actions of rampage killers. The system didn’t even merely fail in her mind.
Taylor Swift is holding half of our society responsible for the choices individuals made. But society isn’t to blame. Individuals are responsible for their own actions.
This is the ugly turn American politics has taken in recent years. And it’s bad enough that politicians and their adjuncts in the media do this now.
But it’s even worse that our kids can’t even listen to pop music anymore without being exposed to this new normal of bad faith hate-mongering.
“Miss Americana” No More
Taylor Swift is finally lashing out. But not in the way that most teen pop idols do. | Source: Sundance Institute via AP
Taylor Swift’s refrain is:
Only the young Can run… Only one thing can save us Only the young
But if that’s really true, shouldn’t Taylor Swift back pro-life politicians like Sen. Marsha Blackburn? It’s just a question. I’m not going to treat Taylor Swift the way she’s treating so many Americans, and sing a song about how her hands are stained red.
What Swift needs to understand is that the most controversial issues in politics are very nuanced. And that both sides want the best and have good reasons for believing what they do. That extends to older people, who’ve had a lot more life experience than younger Americans.
There’s a lot that young Americans can learn from their elders. And if the next generation is going to save us, it won’t be by tearing our parents and grandparents down.
Here’s what “Miss Americana” seems like to me. It seems like Taylor Swift is in that phase Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera – really any aging teen pop idol – went through. Where they “grow up” by becoming very forwardly sexual with their image.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
