Skip to main content

I Love-Hate Taylor Swift

I've been a legitimate fan since 2006. She really does write great songs. I have no idea really what makes a good pop singer, but suffice to say, she sings well enough to be very successful. She's one of those weird people whose biggest fans and biggest detractors are both right.

You may have noticed (even if you want to vomit at the thought) that she's really attractive. She's got that classic red lipstick look that we like, to paraphrase one of her songs. I'm still young enough to notice, and old/pious enough to know that it makes me a little uncomfortable.

She's always used the word "classy" in reference to herself as a goal in presentation, or in reference to how she wants young girls to perceive her (and themselves). We're reaching the point culturally where, if this is the modern culture's attempt at modesty, we are doomed. This is Taylor Swift; this is not supposed to be a person known for trying to shock us. She's not Madonna, or even Mariah Carey, sad to say.

If you've ever seen Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, (she played a prostitute) Taylor Swift walked on stage wearing those leg-suspender deals that are--at least in movies and TV--the sign of such things. I wasn't there; I saw a small clip. Why does anyone think that you can say "classy" and "prostitute" at the same time?

Pretty Woman won't be confused for a family film; not then, and not now. But the reasons it kind of works as a movie are: 1. it communicates that prostitution is bad; and 2. but prostitutes are people, too; and 3. wouldn't it be nice if a sweet girl in a bad way like that could "fall in love" and leave that all behind? I saw it again a couple of years back; it still works. Did you know it's still the most commercially successful "romantic comedy" of all time? It created the genre. I digress. Here's my question: Do you want to live in a culture that is so degraded that Pretty Woman doesn't make sense?

Man, I love Taylor Swift. I'm a huge fan. But I wouldn't go near that concert, unless I hated her, and myself. Those were the thoughts I had. Unchastity is a kind of self-hatred, and a kind of hatred for whoever aids you in it. So great is our dignity. This is why it offends God, who made us as the apple of His eye. Think and pray on that one. And maybe drop some Rosary bombs on Taylor Swift.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Thoughts On The Harrison Butker Commencement Speech

Update: I read the whole thing. I’m sorry, but what a weirdo. I thought you [Tom Darrow, of Denver, CO] made a trenchant case for why lockdowns are bad, and I definitely appreciated it. But a graduation speech is *not* the place for that. Secondly, this is an august event. It always is. I would never address the President of the United States in this manner. Never. Even the previous president, though he deserves it, if anyone does. Thirdly, the affirmations of Catholic identity should be more general. He has no authority to propound with specificity on all matters of great consequence. It has all the hallmarks of a culture war broadside, and again, a layman shouldn’t speak like this. The respect and reverence due the clergy is *always due,* even if they are weak, and outright wrong. We just don’t brush them aside like corrupt Mafia dons, to make a point. Fourthly, I don’t know where anyone gets the idea that the TLM is how God demands to be worshipped. The Church doesn’t teach that. ...

Dear Alyse

 Today, you’re 35. Or at least you would be, in this place. You probably know this, but we’re OK. Not great, but OK. We know you wouldn’t want us moping around and weeping all the time. We try not to. Actually, I guess part of the problem is that you didn’t know how much we loved you. And that you didn’t know how to love yourself. I hope you have gotten to Love by now. Not a place, but fills everything in every way. I’m not Him, but he probably said, “Dear daughter/sister, you have been terribly hard on yourself. Rest now, and be at peace.” Anyway, teaching is going well, and I tell the kids all about you. They all say you are pretty. I usually can keep the boys from saying something gross for a few seconds. Mom and I are going to the game tonight. And like 6 more times, before I go back to South Carolina. I have seen Nicky twice, but I myself haven’t seen your younger kids. Bob took pictures of the day we said goodbye, and we did a family picture at the Abbey. I literally almost a...

A Friend I Once Had, And The Dogmatic Principle

 I once had a friend, a dear friend, who helped me with personal care needs in college. Reformed Presbyterian to the core. When I was a Reformed Presbyterian, I visited their church many times. We were close. I still consider his siblings my friends. (And siblings in the Lord.) Nevertheless, when I began to consider the claims of the Catholic Church to be the Church Christ founded, he took me out to breakfast. He implied--but never quite stated--that we would not be brothers, if I sought full communion with the Catholic Church. That came true; a couple years later, I called him on his birthday, as I'd done every year for close to ten of them. He didn't recognize my number, and it was the most strained, awkward phone call I have ever had. We haven't spoken since. We were close enough that I attended the rehearsal dinner for his wedding. His wife's uncle is a Catholic priest. I remember reading a blog post of theirs, that early in their relationship, she told him of the p...