Meghan Murphy got railed for her opinion of Taylor Swift. At the time, I couldn't understand the disconnect between what Meghan was saying, and what her critics were saying she was saying.
I recalled Murphy's opinion of Swift wasn't that she was bad, but that she was
boring. So I took another look at Murphy's xitter comments and her article. For whatever reason, Murphy's critics are
still mischaracterising her views. I've just reread her Swift article in full. And my recollection of Murphy's views, which match mine, was correct.
Meghan was real fucking clear:
I have mentioned my bafflement at Taylor Swift fame
numerous times at this point, not because I think she’s necessarily a bad person (unlike the rest of you, I don’t know her), but because I am
baffled.
Taylor Swift does not write great songs. She does not have a single great song. She writes bland songs about bland themes and sings them in bland ways.
I’m no music snob. I don’t care about impressing anyone with my playlist. I really don’t care what the rest of you are listening to. I listen to what I like, end of.
What I am judgemental of are those who ingest what is given to them and don’t seem impassioned about any of it. The music I listen to is chosen or sought out, not forced down my throat, alongside billions of other throats, beaks stretched wide, awaiting whatever bile comes down the pike.
She is not a musician, she is a pop star. Her goal was never to be an amazing musician, but to be famous. And I’m afraid that is never going to be a respectable aim to me.
You can be a compelling, talented, engaging, interesting, fun to dance and listen to artist without being an amazing singer (or lyricist). But Taylor Swift is none of those things. She is boring as fuck. Her personality is boring, her face is boring, her life story is boring, her boyfriends are boring, her style is boring, and her music is boring.
As for Meghan mindlessly repeating moid opinions:
there are literally thousands of female artists who are literally a thousand times more talented, compelling, and enjoyable to listen to, in a wide variety of ways, than Taylor Swift
Maybe she’s good at selling her own product, but selling yourself as a product is not cool or commendable. It’s sad and makes me feel sad about the state of the world.
by playing an innocent
victim all the time — of Kanye, of the music industry, of the boyfriends and the mean girls who steal her boyfriends, of the
cameramen at football games… Is this the strong female rolemodel we’re told we must be enamoured by?
what Taylor Swift and her team did: create a boring, poor quality, disposable thing that would make a lot of money.
Fuck that.
Developing real skill and talent and living with authenticity and integrity is a respectable goal that will also (conveniently!) make you like yourself. Celebrity, in and of itself, is toxic and pointless. Not only as a thing to put out into the world, but for your own development, priorities, and mental health.
I don't agree with all of Meghan Murphy's opinions. I don't agree with a lot of anyone's opinions. But Murphy, like a lot of strong women, holds her views because she believes in them, because she's thought about them and can defend them, even if she's the only one in the room to do so.
We need more women like this. I've been the only woman in the room holding an opinion, and I will back up other women in the same position.
It's easy to say fibromyalgia is fake in a room where everyone agrees with you. It's easy to say fibromyalgia is real in a room where everyone agrees with you.
It is never easy to say either in a room where no one agrees with you.
It's even worse when you say something else entirely but people are bent on not only mischaracterising your views, but in isolating you in the hopes you'll shut the fuck up.
Attack Meghan's views on their merits. Don't force a male's words into her mouth and then expect her to account for them. What a bunch of Grade-A misogynistic bullshit.
bizarre
