Taylor’s Bullying Conundrum
By [I do not want a byline … I definitely don’t want my name on it.]
This is an ethical analysis of how Taylor Swift handles conflict and uses her fans to push her narrative, even when it isn’t the right thing to do. The right thing to do is to lead by example and actively show how to engage in conflict appropriately and without causing harm. Since Taylor Swift is world famous, she is a role model to thousands of young woman. When she is unhappy, her fans are unhappy. When her fans feel she has been wronged, they go to great lengths to “protect her”. This includes making death threats, bullying, and posting home addresses online of the people she is upset with. Is the way she uses her fans and abuse of her influence? Yes, she knows she can post online and that her fans will take up the fight for her. Luckily no one has been hurt yet, but with death threats hurled at those she is unhappy with, it seems like only a matter of time before online bullying becomes real life.
Lets start small. In 2012 Matt Nathanson wrote a tweet calling Swift a thief for stealing a song lyric. Her lyric was “And I’ll forget about you long enough / To forget why I needed to.” Which she wrote in 2012 versus his lyric written in 2003 “I’ll forget about you long enough / To forget why I need to.” She never acknowledged the incident while her fans defended her and attacked him, when he brought it up on twitter. She didn’t need to say anything. She inspires and cultivates a need for her fans to protect her. If she is going to allow that to happen then she bears a great responsibility to hold herself to a higher standard and lead by example. If you want to change the world, you have to incite change.
There was also some speculation about her “Delicate” video. There were similarities with a perfume commercial, but again she never acknowledged the criticism but she did release a different video. She actually has a habit of ignoring things or people she has a conflict with. Virtuous ethics can be seen as working to achieve your maximum potential. As a pop star she is working to reach that maximum potential, but as a role model she is lacking. She could be using these opportunities to model healthy ways to navigate conflict. Ignoring the problem doesn’t make it go away.
When Joe Jonas ended his relationship with Taylor, she said he crushed her with a 27 second phone call. She led people to believe that he treated her dismissively, when in fact Taylor is the one that ended the conversation, when he was clarifying his feelings. She panicked when he was breaking up with her, ended the conversation, and then made him out to be the bad guy. Joe Jonas was actually handling the break up in a healthy manner by talking to her and explaining how he felt, but she reshaped the narrative. She was the victim, while he was the bad guy. It wasn’t ethical for her to do that, but when you’re feeling emotional your view of the situation may be skewed. The ethical thing to do would have been to be honest and say “ I panicked and hung up on him”. Instead she vilified him and in the process the world mourned with her.
I find the Katy Perry/Taylor Swift feud very intriguing. When Taylor went on “The Red Tour” she hired dancers that had previously worked for Katy Perry. The dancers had an agreement to come back and work for Katy when she started her next tour. When she started putting her tour together, she gave the dancers a heads up. When the dancers went to talk to the Taylor Swift tour, they were immediately fired. When Katy reached out to try to talk about what was happening, Taylor Swift gave her the cold shoulder and refused to talk to her. Then led the world to believe that Katy Perry was maliciously trying to ruin her world tour, by stealing her dancers. I feel like this was an ad hominem attack. Then in retaliation Swift spent years being vindictive towards Katy Perry. Such as when she released her full catalog onto streaming avenues at the exact moment Katy Perry was releasing her album Witness. Taylor was definitely not practicing virtue ethics when this was happening. Taylor has good character traits and she can be generous, but in this instance, she wasn’t. She could have shown how to navigate conflict when you find yourself in a disagreement with a friend. Instead she chose to ignore and seek retaliation, even after Katy repeatedly tried to make amends over the years.
Ronnie Cremer is the man that spent 6 hours a week for two years, teaching Taylor Swift how to play guitar and put together songs. Her family gave him a $5000 guitar and a framed platinum record. Although the general story the Taylor Swift camp tells is that Cremer was a computer repair man, and that while working on her computer, he taught her a couple chords. When Cremer purchased the website itaughttaylorswift.com he received a letter demanding he shut down the site and threatened further legal action if he didn’t comply. If you attempt to visit itaughttaylorswift.com the site redirects you to https://www.nydailynews.com/taylor-swift-demands-tech-relinquish-domain-article-1.2109920 . It is a pretty interesting read. Sadly he also received hate mail from Taylor Swift fans accusing him of lying. This seems pretty black and white. Either he did or he didn’t teach her. Since he was gifted a framed platinum record, I believe him. Deontologism is about what you do to get the results. Ethically Taylor worked hard for years to learn guitar. She put in the time and effort and she was rewarded, she is a big star. In this sense she was ethical. Now her guitar teacher receives hate mail from her fans because she doesn’t acknowledge him. This is unethical. Lying by omission is still lying. Why does it matter who taught her guitar? Because if she acknowledged this now, she would have to admit that she lied.
On to more current matters we have the Scooter Braun debacle. In June of 2019, Big Machine records was sold, and in a nutshell bought by Scooter Braun. Taylor immediately took to Tumblr and accused Scooter of bullying and trying to dismantle her. She accuses him of bullying her through his clients and pleads with her fans to let him know how they feel. The note has since been edited because when I looked on 12/9/19, it no longer requests fans to reach out and let him know how they feel. But the drama is still ongoing as Taylor accused them of trying to stop her from playing her old songs at the AMA’s and preventing her from using her songs in the Netflix documentary about her life, which Big Machine has denied. Interestingly enough, Scooter Braun has repeatedly said that he has reached out to Taylor to try to work out a solution and she will not speak to him. Each camp’s team was negotiating to negotiate but Taylor broke that off when she made the AMA’s post.
It is unethical to “sic” your fans on people . There is a difference in standing up for yourself and the rights you think artists should have and using your fans to sway public opinion to get your way. It almost feels like she is using her fans to do the dirty work, so that her hands are still clean. When she uses her fans to bully other people, it seems like she supports bullying. Either bullying is never ok or it’s ok if you think the person deserves it. By letting her fans bully her “enemies” she is perpetuating the cycle of online bullying. Anyway you look at, that’s unethical. I think she would be a fan of Utilitarian Ethics. You become ethical by getting ethical results. If her actions resulted in artists getting to own the rights to the songs they wrote, would the bullying be ethical? No, it wouldn’t. Bullying is never ethical online or in real life.
Articles:
https://variety.com/2019/music/news/scooter-braun-breaks-silence-taylor-swift-bad-guy-1203412278/
https://www.nickiswift.com/7466/shady-side-taylor-swift/
https://taylorswift.tumblr.com/post/185958366550/for-years-i-asked-pleaded-for-a-chance-to-own-my
https://taylorswift.tumblr.com/post/189068976205/dont-know-what-else-to-do
https://www.nydailynews.com/taylor-swift-demands-tech-relinquish-domain-article-1.2109920
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IFSC 2200 Ethics in the Profession 