I have to admit, Miss Americana, Taylor Swift, has given me one more reason on my list that I am happy I have a teenage boy. Especially as of late.

I was never really a fan of the singer with the oh-so-perfect little Cupid’s bow pout whose genre of dissed ex-girlfriend songs topped the charts. Too bubblegum for my taste. But of course I have mom friends that all but trip over themselves and know merciless Karens who take out second mortgages on their homes to get their daughters the best seats in the house to see T-Swizzle. I know, its a “girl mom” thing along with shopping at Justice and buying their daughters tickets to see that girl with the bow from Dance Moms who can’t sing to save her life. JoJo Siwa, I think her name is? Whatever. She’s obnoxious.

JoJo Big Bow has her youth for a little while longer. But Taylor Swift? Well, she is approaching 30 and quite frankly, aging out of her teenybopper genre really fast. Show business is rough. There is no mercy for the aging. Entertainers who remained apolitical for long stretches of time, like Swift, are eventually strong-armed into the liberal political land of zombies they must join or die, professionally and ironically. Why? It’s either this or retirement. It’s either this or be shunned and kiss your career goodbye. Go woke or go broke. Next PR move? Make a documentary about your wokeness. Enter, Miss Americana:

Nobody saw her for a year. Except her film crew and producers who filmed her in her pajamas with perfect red lips, who filmed her holding on to her catered meal whist in turbulence aboard her private jet.

Curiosity got the best of me and I watched the Netflix documentary. There is no disputing this woman’s talent and ability to sing and write her own songs. For moments, I sympathized with Miss Americana. Taylor Swift, a young woman who won the hearts of many, who fell into fame’s clutches of gossip and scrutiny. A woman who was intimidated at the VMAs by a big, dumb oaf by the name of Kanye West (and to think Beyonce-another woman-was not a part of that outburst at all is sheer ignorance). A woman who endured sexual harassment, tabloids calling her “too fat”, being “too skinny”. A woman who struggled with criticism and watching her mom suffer through cancer. There is a very human element to this Barbie-like songstress. Miss Americana does not get overtly political until about 40 minutes in when she goes on a tirade against Tennessee senator, Marsha Blackburn:

She gets to be the first female senator in Tennessee, and she’s Trump in a wig. She represents no female interests. She won by being a female applying to the kind of female males want us to be in a horrendous 1950s world.”-Taylor Swift

Thus, the fall into the abyss begins for Miss Americana, Taylor Swift. We see Taylor, with her publicist, making her very first political statement on Twitter and waiting for the fireworks. We see her arguing about not “being on the wrong side of history” anymore. Senator Marsha Blackburn, responded, in kind, before the release of the documentary:

Taylor is an exceptionally gifted artist and songwriter, and Nashville is fortunate to be the center of her creative universe.”-Marsha Blackburn

Must have been Blackburn’s “horrendous 1950’s world manners” speaking there. Swift has also spoken out recently on gay and transgender rights, stating that the gay and transgender community is “struggling for equality”. Meanwhile, local establishments such as schools are bending over backwards because of lawsuits to accommodate the gay and transgender community to the point of overturning and infringing upon the rights of others. Can we say letting boys use the girls’ locker room? Can we say lawsuits against schools when staff does not take the appropriate measures to accommodate a name change for Kyla who now wants to be Kyle? Trust me when I say this. Establishments are bending over backwards to accommodate.

People can say celebrities bring the scrutiny upon themselves. To some extent, this is true. I found myself empathizing with Taylor Swift in the beginning of Miss Americana because despite the staged scenes of vulnerability for the masses to see, I saw a fallible human being behind the facade. A vulnerable human being who had every right to give a big “eff you” to Kanye, bullies who smile on the outside but will gladly cut you on the Red Carpet like Beyonce, the tabloids, the paps, a sexist pig of a disc jockey and a system of politics in the entertainment industry that sucks every little bit of life out of you. Instead of giving the industry that commands individuals who are a part to fall in line and vote a certain way and say certain things the middle finger, Miss Americana herself, Taylor Swift, went woke at the blessing of her publicist. She caved. Taylor Swift sold out in fear of selling out, ironically. I would have had more respect for Swift had she just scrapped all politics and gave pointed her publicist and everyone else to heaven on camera but that would not have created the acclaim and applause at Sundance, I suppose. The criticism, the bullying, the pressure to make a political stance. You might say to me right now, “Who the hell cares what Taylor Swift thinks?” And to this I say, some of your daughters (or friends’ daughters) do.

Girls will watch Miss Americana and think of how “brave” Ms. Swift was to take a political stand. In reality, it’s dark. All of a sudden, Taylor Swift’s merit as a singer and songwriter in an industry does not mean anything anymore without her political beliefs? The message Miss Americana actually gives our young girls is this: you are nothing without politics no matter how talented you are, how much street cred you have and you had better make sure that if you make your politics known, (because you will have to eventually-your looks and your youth won’t cut it for long-see Katy Perry) you choose the “right side of history”. And this: you will cave under pressure and if you know what’s good for you, you, too will join the ranks of those on “the right side of history”. And by “right side of history”, we mean, the Democrats. It does not matter how uninformed you are, just repeat after them. They will even give you the script. And away and into the abyss you go.

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