Let’s start by admitting I too am not a Taylor Swift fan. Even the one song I like I like done by others. BTW, most of the time I feel the same way about the Beatles. The difference being some renditions when it comes to the Beatles done by others are horrendous. (Bill Shatner, anyone?) The Piano Guys do two great versions of perhaps her best song: Begin Again.
    But I am all for ANY celebrity expressing their opinions, though I would never change an opinion due to one doing so.
    Why?
    Free speech. DUH. And, yes, their position gives them a much louder platform from which to speak. So what? Still free speech. Whether Ted Nugent, Kid Rock, Fonda or Swift.
    For a deeper explanation I have to go back to my youth. Of the groups I loved a big one was Peter, Paul and Mary. My father, with a smile, once said, “You do realize they are liberals and give their money to liberal causes, right? You’re purchases give them money for those causes.” My response was, “I buy their records because I love their music. I am rewarding their talent. I have no control over where thewy spend their money, and no one should have that kind of control. I may not agree with those causes, but they have the right to support causes they agree with.”
    Dad smiled and said that was logical.
    I also commented I tend not to be a fan of boycotts. I’m still not a fan of boycotts.
    However, immediately my mind goes to the question, “Well, would you have bought Hitler’s art?” Before I knew who and what he was, maybe, it wasn’t as bad as some claim, IMO. But on a deeper level the comparison is absurd. We’re not talking Hitler, no matter how many stupid comparisons like that there are out there. These days we delve too much into those kinds of inane comparisons. Everyone who we disagree seems to automatically be is a Nazi, or a Commie. Some people never grew up. IMO, it’s a sign of mental derangement, sometimes driven by pundits, pols and media, when everything is framed only in extreme terms.
    But going back to those times to make a point: Dad and I were conservatives in the William F. Buckley/Goldwater/National Review sense. We worked the 64 election and the 67 election in the Nyacks, as in Nyack, NY. Dad ran. I manned the phones and helped with door to door contacts, participated in meetings.
    We even discussed this phenomenon and we all agreed we liked, even bought, the music. We just disagreed with them politically.
    My how things have changed.
    Since the I slowly flipped to the left. It started with the group from a fundamentalist church that gave the group money, then had the police go after the head of our ticket, Paul, when he told them after the election, “Thanks for the support, but next time we’re heading in a different direction.” Demanding everyone be anti-choice was another change that I was unhappy with, along with anti-birth control. Extreme drug policies… At one time publications like NR ran articles side by side where one conservative writer considered themselves prochoice, another considered themselves prolife. I could go on, but let’s just say I saw my party being corrupted and becoming more a religious party of little but extreme absolutes than one who was in favor of freedom of belief and respect differences within their own movement. Political correctness gone mad. Now, somehow, Liz Cheney is a “liberal?”
    I don’t think it any accident that a good portion of the right frames anyone who disagrees, and whole groups, as stupid, evil… etc. And so often it’s counter productive in the long run. I’ve seen their jihad against gays result in a volent murder and the suicide of a good friend, his significant other. I’ve seen where the jihad against gay marriage result in gay marriage being legalized. Sometimes the end result is suicidal, in that it achieves short term gains (maybe) but eventually the opposite result.
    Taylor is just one more example of demanding political correctness and inflicting self harm on themselves. Swift has a right to support whatever causes she supports. My dislike for much of what she does musically has nothing to do with it. Hell, Frank Zappa never really appealed to me musically, but I often found his commentary fascinating. I don’t like Ted Nugent’s music, but that has nothing to do with my opinion regarding his political social commentary.
    I doubt much of anyone will ever vote for anyone simply because they are a celebrity and what they say. In fact I would say the inability to separate the two a sign of immaturity. Celebrities have a right to support what and who they support. And no one has to sit down and shut up. If you rag on celebrities who speak out you disagree with them, but cheer when you agree it has nothing to do with, “Celebrities shouldn’t… (or “should sit down and…” It has to do with hypocrisy.

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    “Inspection” is a column that has been written by Ken Carman for over 50 years. Inspection is dedicated to looking at odd angles, under all the rocks and into the unseen cracks and crevasses that constitute the issues and philosophical constructs of our day: places few think, or even dare, to venture.
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