Like all of you, I was amused by the sight of Taylor Swift getting booed at the Super Bowl. I thought it was a nice little jab at the Establishment, i.e. the little people telling the self-declared elitists that they're not as popular as their sycophantic groupies tell them they are. It was peaceful and harmless. Leftists shoot you in the back as you're leaving a hotel; conservatives boo you.
But not everyone saw things in that light. Over at Glamour Magazine, writer Stephanie McNeal was barely able to wipe away the cold sweat fast enough at the cacophony of all those unshaven, quadruped MAGA gorillas grunting and howling their testosterone-fueled rage at the sight of Swift on the Jumbotron.
- It was "even more chilling than you think," she warns.
- It was a "new low" which reflected a "rapid increase in misogyny."
- It means the Super Bowl has been "reclaimed by Trump" and by "toxic masculinity."
- It's a reaction to a theoretical NFL that "isn't just for men," and that male fans "hate this."
- It's a warning that "the era of inclusivity in the NFL is over."
- It's proof that "Trump is singlehandedly dismantling decades of diversity, equity, and inclusion."
- It shows, obviously, that male football fans "want to return our entire country to a time when they were in control, had all the power, and could say whatever they wanted without repercussions."
To quote Ace Ventura when he paused in alarm upon entering Ray Finkle's bedroom, "Oh boy."
More about Glamour Magazine's reaction: Taylor Swift Got Booed at the Super Bowl, and Glamour Mag is Blaming — Take a Guess
Why am I giving this article the light of day? Like you, I tire of having to point out the obvious and push back against tantrums like this. And in a time when our side is firing on all cylinders and leaving the deranged Left in our dust, one is tempted to let the snivelers go unanswered. Why bother? Why waste the time and breath? Why give their baseless accusations the dignity of a response?
Honestly, I'm not quite sure why rational people insist on debunking irrational claims, claims that most people, including the accusers themselves, don't believe. But if I was forced to give an answer, it would be this:
A libel has been committed, and it has been done with the purpose of manipulating a narrative. This particular narrative is that any vocal criticism against a leftist female political activist, especially by males, is self-evident proof of "misogyny." The goal behind pushing this narrative is to shame or cancel the dissenters into no longer dissenting, lest they be branded a misogynist or any other of the Left's favorite scare words.
Stephanie McNeal's article is a textbook exercise in projection. She's trying to frame her disgust towards you as your disgust towards herself. She makes it clear that the only reason she attended the Super Bowl was to cover the WAGs (wives and girlfriends of players) and Taylor Swift. "I, honestly, couldn't have cared less about the actual game play," she sniffs.
Message received. Football is for the rubes, who are far, far beneath Stephanie McNeal. It's bad enough she had to be in their vicinity in an outdoor arena, sullying herself by the grim necessity of breathing the same air. Stephanie would never stoop so low as to accept an invite to a Super Bowl party in one of their living rooms. She'd be caught dead before she's caught eating Domino's pizza and drinking Coors with any of those blue-collar slobs. Gosh, what would her fellow pedicured pescatarians at Glamour think?
Here's the thing: Taylor Swift can't be an empowered, globe-striding "grrrl boss" and at the same time be so fragile and delicate that she can't handle the occasional heckling from the unwashed masses. To Taylor Swift's credit (I've never used those four words together, so mark the date), she hasn't publicly complained about this minor and harmless incident, so good for her for having a sense of humor about it. The anger is all from Stephanie who, like a good leftist, has decided to be more outraged on behalf of the "victim" than the actual "victim" is.
Parade Magazine calculates that Taylor Swift makes about $465,753.42 per day, which is $19,406.39 per hour. Taylor Swift literally made more money sitting there watching the Super Bowl than most of the other attendees make in a year.
Taylor Swift has a voice. And a microphone. And a stage. And she gets to make her political views loud and clear, whether we want to hear them or not.
The Super Bowl attendees who booed her have none of that, and Stephanie McNeal wants to keep it that way. Stephanie doesn't write about their life stories, or their journeys, or their challenges, or their outlooks on life. Nor is she required to. There's no glamour there. There are no fancy clothes or red carpet runways.
But for a few seconds at the Super Bowl, the hoi polloi had the rare opportunity to make their voices heard. When they dared to express themselves, Stephanie McNeal did her best to beat them back down. The nerve of this rabble! The audacity of these peasants! Who are they to criticize us? Go back to the trailer park, and stay there until I call you to come fix my toilet.
If systemic misogyny is Stephanie's bugaboo, well, there seems to be plenty of it going around, far beyond the walls of Caesar's Superdome. If booing Taylor Swift at a football game is indisputable proof of systemic misogyny, how much more misogynistic would it be had a violent mob physically blocked Taylor Swift from taking the stage and speaking to her supporters at a private event? Because that's what leftists did to Heather MacDonald at Claremont College.
How misogynistic would be the specter of a female political activist advocating for women's rights being physically beaten? Because that's what leftists did to Riley Gaines at the University of San Francisco.
How misogynistic would be the doxxing, canceling, and daily murder threats to a female author and sexual assault survivor? Because that's what leftists do to J.K. Rowling.
How misogynistic would it be to deny a female refugee police protection and evict her from her house because she publicly spoke out against domestic abuse and female genital mutilation? Because that's what leftists did to Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Roughly a month ago in New Orleans itself, where Stephanie McNeal courageously braved the drunken legions of MAGA deplorables, Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar murdered fourteen people, three of them women and one of the women a teenager. Jabbar had pledged allegiance to ISIS, an organization that routinely executes women caught outside the home without a male escort or sufficient face covering, lest the shameless hussies predating the Syrian hinterlands tempt too many pious and unsuspecting "austere religious scholars."
But nary a peep from Stephanie about any of this misogyny. Were I a cynic, I might be led to suspect that her outrage is selective at best, manufactured at worst, and broadcast merely in service of an underlying political agenda that no logic or evidence beyond personal feelings is required to substantiate.
So once again, for the expensive seats, Taylor Swift wasn't heckled because she's female. Taylor Swift was heckled because she made the choice, years ago, to side-gig as a political activist and a very critical one at that. When you do that, you open yourself up for that same criticism. Misogyny has nothing to do with it, any more than misandry was behind people chanting "Let's Go Brandon" at a decrepit, white male crime don. If it makes you feel better, those boos at the Super Bowl would have been significantly louder had those same fans been subjected to the unsightly mug of David Hogg or Joe Scarborough.
Stephanie McNeal will never read this article, nor respond to any rational inquiry as to why she equates any criticism of Taylor Swift with vile bigotry. She operates under the same strategic mindset as the Deep State: keep the machine running, keep the narrative alive.
The Deep State spends Republican years laying low but nonetheless churning onward, so that when a Democrat is elected, it can return to the sunlight and keep operating as it always has. Leftist media narratives operate in the same survival mode. All of us need to continue calling them out, even in times when it seems like we're far ahead. If we don't, these narratives will be the ones that reemerge, fully intact, for the next Democrat administration.
For those of us in the stands, don't let them get away with it. Their arrogant political advocacy has caused us far more tangible pain than our heckling hurts their feelings. When we get that rare chance, let them know.
Keep booing them.
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