Thursday, September 24, 2015

Taylor Swift's latest video racist? What nonsense!

Taylor Swift's latest music video for Wildest Dreams has been predictably popular, like most of her other stuff. But unexpectedly, there has also been a weird suggestion floating around: that it is 'racist'.

What? How is it racist? That was my first reaction, and it is likely to be yours too, I think.

Apparently, they accused Taylor of not having enough Africans in the video, even though it is set in Africa.

From that accusation, you would imagine Taylor walking through a major African city, but surrounded by only white people, like in a white-only part of apartheid South Africa, for example. But no, the reality is nowhere like that. Instead, there simply are not many people at all in the video. It may take place in Africa, but the animals seem to be the other main attraction, besides Taylor herself.

So the charge of racism is nonsense after all. Not that you would expect Taylor Swift to be racist. People should stop saying nonsense like this. It distracts from the fight against real racism.