Taylor Swift vs Kanye West, the Ultimate Political Paradox?

Today I'm going to have a look at the recent political drama surrounding Taylor Swift, now presumed by many to be left-leaning, and her long-time critic Kanye West, now known to be a proud supporter of President Donald Trump.

Taylor the Progressive vs Kanye the Conservative? Surprise, Surprise!

We need to put this all in context. Just this time last year, Kanye West was a favourite among self-described progressives, who have seen Kanye as one of them ever since he criticised President Bush back in 2005. When Kanye started to proclaim his support for President Trump earlier this year, it disappointed many progressives. Some have even asked themselves if they should still like his music. Which is absurd, because his music has nothing to do with politics. On the other hand, Taylor Swift was often considered to be probably conservative by many people. Over the years, I have read many articles and casual comments from progressives, saying that Taylor Swift was the musical equaivalent of John McCain, whatever that meant; that she wasn't a good feminist, whatever that meant; and even that she probably didn't support gay marriage, which has been of course proven wrong last week. Conservatives also seemed to think that Taylor was likely one of their own, heaping praise on her family friendly style as far back as her second album in 2009. Needless to say, Taylor coming out to endorse two Democrats was taken as a very pleasant surprise by progressives, while conservatives have generally been disappointed. When President Trump now says he likes Taylor 25% less, I think many conservatives can't help but share his sentiment there.

But should we really have been surprised?

But let's look at all this from a cool-headed, centrist perspective, because that's what we always do here on this show. By the way, if you have any further thoughts you want to provide, please drop me a comment so we can continue this interesting conversation. From what I have observed, the fact is, we actually didn't know much about Taylor or Kanye's politics until this year. Quite a few people have assumed Taylor to be right-leaning, or Kanye to be left-leaning, based on their own prejudices, nothing more. It was always an assumption based on prejudice, based on stereotyping. The fact that Taylor did country music and presented a more traditional lifestyle didn't mean she was conservative politically, and the fact that Kanye criticised President Bush didn't mean he was necessarily left-leaning. In recent years, both progressives and conservatives have been too easily swayed by the aesthetics of personalities and ideas, and this has affected our ability to think rationally. Perhaps the twin political surprises of Taylor and Kanye are just what we need most, right now. The fact that people are surprised by Taylor and Kanye's politics says a lot about how prejudiced and irrational people have become, more than anything else.

Let's start treating Individuals as Individuals

So how can we become more rational? We need to start treating individuals as individuals, rather than stereotypes. We need to respect that individuals are unique in all sorts of ways, and that can be a good thing. This is one of the biggest themes of my work. Real freedom is based on respect for individual differences. We need to accept that the people we like aren't always going to be exactly like ourselves, because everyone is unique. For a start, progressives need to be able to respect Kanye's right to his political views without feeling differently about his music; and conservatives need to do the same about Taylor Swift. Right now, many conservatives may feel like liking Taylor 25% less, but there's really no reason to do so, because Taylor Swift is a musician, not a politician. Her politics do not matter. Furthermore, conservatives who can't agree with Taylor's politics can still praise her relatively family friendly style, like they did back in 2009. Nothing has changed in that regard. Similarly, there's no reason for progressives to stop listening to Kanye's music, if they were previously into that. His music hasn't changed.