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Response to ‘If Taylor Swift says it…’ column (Sept. 19)

September 26, 2024   ·   0 Comments

This column used a selection of background material to support the idea that Ms. Swift should not be making public endorsements of political candidates before the columnist made it clear that the real target was the people who registered to vote because of her encouragement.

I too am an old white guy with little interest in her music and agree that celebrity does not convey any special insight into the politics of the day. I too do not allow my vote to be decided by any single celebrity, family member, random person in a bar, or, media columnist.

To be fair to Ms. Swift, however, she made her choice for the next President of the United States public only after an AI-created poster image of her falsely endorsing the other candidate was made public on his social media website.

As well, the United States is a free country, more or less, and there is not a supreme leader who can prevent, by using his Presidential immunity, any citizen, celebrity or not, from speaking their mind (yet?).

She did not pressure people to agree with her choice. She urged them to do their own research and make their own choice. She urged people to ensure that they can vote and cannot be turned away at the polling booth so they can take part in the democratic process. US citizens do not have a simple tick box on their income tax forms to ensure registration.

Mr. Lockhart’s column railed against the extra 370,000 or so voter registrations that occurred the next day, doubting the registrants’ competence while, perhaps only incidentally, sharing his belief that her music was geared to teenage and younger girls. I think there is a fair chance that a good proportion of the same people that responded to her urging them to register would also respond to her urging them to do their own research on the candidates and policies, perhaps even equal or greater than the proportion of the general population that do so.

Mr. Lockhart is glad that he will not be in the same voting pool as these new registrants with the implication that this group should not be voting. Voter suppression and discouragement of any group from taking part in voting is typically associated with the fear that the majority of that group will not vote for the preferred candidate.

Voting is the right and civic duty of every citizen legally permitted to do so in a true democracy. I do not agree with the choices of every voter. I do believe in their right to make their choice.

Brian Wannamaker

Caledon East

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