Why is Taylor Swift associated with the Alt-Right movement?

Taylor Swift and neo-Nazi’s are not two things you would expect to see connected to each other. But as it turns out the pop icon is actually a much praised figure in the new right movement, which has recently been getting more attention after the march in Charlottesville in August 2017. So what is it about Taylor Swift that makes her a popular figure in the  alternative right movement? 

Marketing surrounding Swift

What is the image of Taylor Swift? Behind every major artist in our digital culture, there is a company planning every step and trying to form an identity that they want to be associated with the artist. According to Swifties, Taylor’s dedicated fans, ’’(…) Swift is an ordinary girl, and they continually suture her musical and extratextual personas by emphasizing the autobiographical nature of her songs’’ (Brown, 2012, abstract).  Brown took a look at several fan sites and found that Swift’s position as a relatable artist is a main selling point in her persona. The fans feel like they really know Taylor through her music and media presence. They see Taylor as an idol and through her lyrics they feel like they are alike, and understand one another. They can easily identify with her because of her image as an ordinary girl. 

From: https://nl.pinterest.com/pin/104286547600809795/

This image of a good, normal girl is reflected in the norms and rules of the Swift fandom (these are not explicitly written down anywhere): do not imitate, bully or curse (Swifties paper, personal information, 2017). These norms certainly comply to Swift’s nice and companionable presentation. In fact they do not deviate that much from what we expect from anybody in our mainstream society. That is not that surprising, we should remember that each sub-group ‘’ is still subjected to the rules created by society' (Becker, 1963) and in the case of the Swifties, they cannot be seen as a counterculture or subculture (Swifties, personal information, 2018). The image surrounding Swift fits perfectly well within our modern society, unlike the image surrounding the alternative right movement.

However, maybe it is exactly this sweet innocent and authentic girl persona that causes her to be attractive to the alternative right movement. The generic status as a ‘’white, middle class, heterosexual, normatively feminine girl—characteristics that are repeatedly shored up through the lyrical and visual elements of her music and music videos and through fans’ insistence that she is a ’good girl’ ’’ could be the key as to why neo-Nazi’s idolize her'' (Brown, 2012, abstract). Just like the millions of young fans do.

The generic status as a white, middle class, heterosexual, normatively feminine girl—characteristics that are repeatedly shored up through the lyrical and visual elements of her music and music videos and through fans’ insistence that she is a ‘’good girl’’ could be the key as to why neo-Nazi’s idolize her

Swift and Digital culture

Due to digital developments, the functioning of and communication within fandoms has changed. A lot of the activity within fandoms now happens online, therefore the scope of fandom has increased to crazy proportions, with millions like minded people coming together. It has become very easy to be part of a fandom: just a simple click on a button and you're a member. This ease of access has caused changes in how people construct their identities too. ‘’People define their ‘identity’ (singular) in relation to a multitude of different niches’’ (Varis & Blommaert, 2015). These different niches can include disparate cultural groups, anything from hipster culture, LGBT culture, Hip-Hop culture etc. to being a Swiftie, a Green supporter or even a Neo-Nazi. And these niches have become more easily accessible because of new technologies.

Western society has become a superdiverse world with all kinds of cultures, lifestyles, languages, ethnicities etc. meeting, and transforming our identities (Maly & Varis, 2015). These changes in society due to globalization, in other words, the interconnectedness of large parts of the globe within systems of political, economic and cultural flows and network has resulted into people having multiple identities at once.

‘’The robust hegemonies that appeared to characterize Modernity have been traded for a blending within one individual life-project of several micro-hegemonies valid in specific segments of life and behavior, and providing the ‘most logical’ solution (or the ‘truth’) within these segments’’ (Blommaert & Varis, 2015).

Being part of the Swiftie culture thus, emerges as ‘’’(…) a translocal and layered phenomenon with contextually specific claims to authenticity, and certain material infrastructures and effects emerge with the culture’’ (Maly & Varis, 2015). No one is just a Swiftie, but rather a multitude of several niches and characteristics. This means that they are not all exactly the same people but people who all have different micro-hegemonies with different layers of identity traits (Maly, 2017).

So apart from our ‘big’ modernist identities that consists of things like nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, education level etc. we construct and cherish large sets of “small” identities. We live a polycentric lifestyle with everyday ‘scripts’ for different social arenas that have a global origin and reach, local features and enactment. People have “identity repertoires”, not just one “identity” anymore. You can be a fan of Taylor Swift while at the same time being a gun enthusiast, even though you would not normally connect these two. And we can connect this polycentric lifestyle to our digitalized lives (Varis & Blommaert, 2015). Not only society has become superdiverse, but people themselves are too. A Swiftie, although it seems to be a weird combination, can actually be a Neo-Nazi too.

digital media have created ‘’new forms and scales of identity construction and culture production’’ (Maly, 2017). Swifties are clearly an example of such new forms of identity production, on a new scale. Their community  is largely formed online and it can reach more people than ever before. This has resulted in a superdiverse group of ‘fans’ that share an interest in the doings of the singer.

Swift's image and consumption culture

Swift’s image as an “all-American girl” is carefully cultivated and shows the capitalist marketing aims behind the persona. An artist is supposed to sell and in what way could they better achieve this than by creating an identifiable artist for mainstream America. The anti-sexualization in her work also makes her more approachable for younger audiences, ‘’However, the ways in which both Swift and her fans explicitly position her against girls who ‘whore themselves out’ sends the clear message that good girls do not have sex’’ (Brown, 2012). And that makes her even more sellable, particularly for younger audiences. However, some find this persona to specifically be one for white girls, which I will return to later. 

Figure 3: An active Twitter user criticizing Swift for not speaking up against racism. From: @IBJYONGI Twitter.

The Swifties are “perfectly aligned with the neoliberal structure of the world economy where, (…), mass production for all has been replaced by niched mass production catering for the (identity) needs of specific, smaller groups” (Maly & Varis, 2015). This day and age, you are the products you buy. New economic patterns, driven by the companies and markets surrounding pop-artists, shape new social structures, behavioural frames and lifestyles like fandoms (Varis & Blommeart, 2015). When fans buy Swift products, they mostly try to become like her. It is an economic niche culture where the merchandise of Swift forms the identities of the fans. They want to be like the sweet and innocent all-American girl. The economic objects are packaged as cultural ones in the form of dreams, imaginations, aspirations etc. to become like their icon, their role-model. And the place where we perform this identity is on the new media platforms (Maly, 2017).

Therefore we could maybe imagine how shocked the community around Swift was when it became clear that she was a popular figure within a movement that is actually viewed as an outsider group by a majority of people in society, certainly within the Swiftie culture. According to Becker an outsider is someone who shows deviant behaviour according to the norms and rules of a community (1963). And if we take a look at some standards and values of the alt-right, the combination of the artist and this group becomes even more peculiar.  

The emerging alternative-right and Taylor Swift

The American elections of 2016 marked the revelation of this ‘movement’. We realised what we thought was gone had just been hiding in our society. Trump gave these silent people a new voice in the form of his presidency. And with several forms being present here, what they all have in common is their fascist empathies. They also leave no doubt that they dream of a white ethno-state in America.helped Trump’s candidacy since his idealisations complied to a lot of their ideas. they played the discursive battle for Trump. ‘’They were the ideological mainstay of Trumps program’’ (Maly, 2018).

Figure 4: a new white supremacist group From: www.RT.com and www.businessinsider.com

Alt-Right can be defined as ‘’a group that supports anti-Semitic (neo-Nazi) and white supremacist ideology. The primarily online movement stands against multiculturalism, immigration, feminism and (most proudly) political correctness’’ (Fogle, 2016). Maly detected four important aspects that are connected to the alternative right movement that might give you an idea who these people are, while these aspects are also of importance for my research.

First, ‘’there is the new intellectual impetus that arises from 2008 within conservative revolutionary circles in the US. Palaeo-conservatives, race realists, white nationalists, white supremacists and extreme right-wing internet activists are building a new - internally diverse - movement through all sorts of new media and institutions’’ (Maly, 2018, pp 89).

This group of right wing political-minded people came together on the internet and started their own way of forming a new

As an example, they have taken the meme Pepe the frog as their mascot, an attempt to ‘troll’ the nation. And this seems only logical once we realise that the foundation of the group is in the online sphere (Fogle, 2016).

Thirdly, comes the Dark Enlightenment or neoreactionary flow and the red pill philosophy.

 ‘’This radical ideological foundation brings on the one hand old-fascist thinkers (…) together with a radicalized version of the so-called Californian or Silicon Valley ideology and the idea of ​​a technocratic narrow state’’ (Maly, 2018, pp 90).

The new technologies are taking over and the Dark Enlightenment embraces this idea while it is from ‘’this transhumanism that the technological authoritarianism of the Dark Enlightenment is growing. This shift will also immediately imply a firm pull towards anti-democratic right’’ (Maly, 2018, pp 96). The red pill philosophy is mostly about going against the liberal established order. They prefer the idea of knowledge, reality and truth. While the liberals are only about dreams and illusions, a form of ignorance you could say. They would represent the blue pill. The metaphors of the red and the blue pill originate from the Hollywood blockbuster The Matrix and they are present on all alt-right platforms (Maly, 2018).     

Lastly, we have the mostly online movement of conspiracy theorists and fake news websites that play a huge part in the workings of the group and most importantly, the election of president Trump. (Maly, 2018). All these aspects show the popularisation and digitalization of the alternative right movement. They are tying to reach the normal citizen who nowadays also spends a lot of time online, and phenomena like going viral play a huge part in this. They use terms and ways of communication that speak to these crowds in order to gain more support. And this obviously worked, just look at who is currently sitting in the White House.

‘’The alt-right therefore consists of a fairly solidly developed set of platforms, action groups, think tanks, institutes, publishers and intellectuals active in various ideological and thematic niches’’ (Maly, 2018, pp- 104). It is about the resisting of the dominance of the market and globalism. They are against multiculturalism and the liberal ideology, and that includes democracy, equality and freedom. And they do this mostly online, just like the fandoms did I spoke of before. But still, you might feel the connection to Taylor Swift is a bit vague, and I would not blame you if you do.

But why Taylor Swift?

Every group has their own crusaders. The LGBT community has icons like Cher and Lady Gaga, the Hip-Hop culture admires rappers like Tupac and Eminem. And while Trump is a big figure for the alternative right movement, finding a more pop figure as an idol seemed to have been of importance for some. Neo-Nazi’s and some other alt-right movements idolize Swift as ‘Aryan Goddess’. They ongs and works are very red-pilled and actually are very supportive of the conservative and fascist beliefs of the group. The singer is secretly a Nazi and she could not be happier with Trump as president (Sunderland, 2016). Swift has not really spoken out against these claims, causing dissatisfaction to some as we saw in figure 3.

Some believe it all started with some memes on Pinterest back in 2013, where pictures of Swift were combined with some Hitler quotes. Just a fun parody, but this quickly escalated to much more. It is not just a funny joke anymore, it became a real thing in which manyneo-Nazi’sbelievethatSwiftembodiestheAryanspiritunlikemanyotherartistswithNordicbloodlikeMileyCyrus. she embodies, purity, femininity and innocence (Sunderland, 2016). The singer just has many qualities that the alt-right endorse and want the entire society to have. And both of the groups have their foundations online. ‘’Taylor Swift is a pure Aryan goddess, like something out of classical Greek poetry. Athena reborn. That’s the most important thing,”  says Andre Anglin, the writer of the white supremacist blog the Daily Stormer’’ (Dodsen, 2017).

From @bardam00 Twitter.

‘’Naturally we’re talking about Taylor Alison Swift (…), a 27-year-old singer-songwriter with a rare talent for self-preservation. Taylor Swift famously maintains strict control over her brand, and has been criticized in the past for her superficiality and attention to detail’’ (Zimmerman, 2017).

Swift has the persona of a very sweet and chill girl next door. ''She realized that feminism was in and began marketing herself as a proponent of girl power, a victim of narcissistic and entitled dudes who would, nevertheless and against all odds, persist'' (Zimmerman, 2017). She might have caused her idolisation by neo-Nazi’s all by herself. Her marketing image which was carefully produced, but they did not realise it was also one one that fits with the ideals of the alt-right.'nd while it might not have been on purpose, her silence on the subject is certainly not helping her in the case. It has gotten to the point where people are theorizing about all the singer does, and finding Nazi connections like that her music would be filled with the red pill philosophy.

‘’They also claim that the line ‘I don’t trust nobody and nobody trusts me, I’ll be the actress starring in your bad dreams’ translates to ‘The Jews all us Nazis no matter what we do, simply because we’re white. Now, we will give them Nazis.’’’ (Wilkinson, 2017)

In conclusion: Breaking Persona

Old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now, why? Oh, ‘cause she’s dead (Look What You Made Me do)

With Swift’s latest album she tries to change her reputation. Her drama with the Kardashian Wests, a subject we do not need to give any attention now, plays a leading role in her new videos and music. She seems to be moving away from the American sweetheart image. In a threatening letter to Pattinson, the so-called fist creator of the parody memes on Pinterest, her lawyers state the following:

‘’The association of Ms. Swift with Adolf Hitler undisputedly is 'harmful,' 'abusive,' 'ethnically offensive,' 'humiliating to other people,' 'libelous,' and no doubt 'otherwise objectionable.' It is of no import that Ms. Swift may be a public figure or that Pinterest conveniently now argues that the Offending Material is mere satire or parody. Public figures have rights. And, there are certain historical figures, such as Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson and the like, who are universally identified in the case law and popular culture as lightning rods for emotional and negative reaction’’ (Sunderland, 2016).

So yes, her lawyers denounce the association with neo-Nazi’s. But perhaps more because it could be damaging to her image than because of what these people stand for. But why does the singer herself not speak up against the accusations, or maybe rather conspiracy theories? No one has to talk about their political views, but maybe in this case Taylor should. She knows what she wants. Having sued fans, websites, YouTubers etc in the past, who would dare to mess with her image? Maybe her new music will show that Taylor Swift is indeed more than the sweet and innocent girl next door. And could put an end to this weird situation.

A persona that was created by the team behind the singer, and then embraced by a group which was an unexpected target for an artist that global and popular as her. Also the internet has played a huge role in the connection since both of the groups foundations are mostly to be found online.  

References

Becker, H.S. (1963). Outsiders: studies in the sociology of deviance. New York: The Free Press.

Blommaert, J. & P. Varis (2015). Enoughness, accent and light communities: Essays on contemporary identities. Tilburg papers in Culture Studies 139.

Brown, A. (2012). ‘She isn’t whoring herself out like a lot of other girls we see’: Identification and “Authentic” American Girlhood on Taylor Swift Fan Forums. State University of New York at Oneonta: Networking Knowledge – Volume 5 issue 1.

Dodsen, C. (2017). It’s Time For Taylor Swift To Denounce The Nazi Nonsense. Fast Company. 

Fogle, E. (2016). What is the Alt-Right, and why have they taken Pepe? The Oakland Post. 

Maly, I. & Varis, P. (2015). The 21st-century hipster: On micro-populations in times of superdiversity.  European Journal of Cultural Studies 1 –17

Maly, I. (2015). Detecting social changes in times of superdiversity: An ethnographic linguistic landscape analysis of Ostend in Belgium. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. Peer review copy. 

Maly, I. (2017). Knowledge in the Digital World. Notes from lectures. Tilburg University.

Maly, I. (2017). Saabism and Saabists: A digital ethnographic analysis of Saab culture. Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies – 188.

Maly, I. (2018). Nieuw Rechts, Remains to be Pulished. Translated by me.

Personal information (2018). The story of the Swifties fandom, Diggit magazine.

Sunderland, M. (2016). Can't Shake It Off: How Taylor Swift Became a Nazi Idol. Broadly. 

Wilkinson, J. (2017). Taylor Swift’s new album inspires conspiracy theories. The Daily Mail.