taylor swift made fox news care about climate change
we did it joe!
After years of climate change denialism and growing skepticism over environmental policies, Fox News has finally recognized that carbon emissions are in fact, real.
I guess swifities really can do anything.
Fueled by a desperate attempt to paint Taylor Swift in a negative light because of the influence she might have on the next election, the right-wing outlet inadvertently reported on CO2 emissions, by publishing an article about her private jet trip from New Jersey to Maryland, to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce play the AFC Championship game.
Fox News acknowledging pollution? I guess pigs really are flying (private that is).
And yet, I find myself perplexed by the fact that the following words are coming out of my mouth but… I’m glad Fox News brought it up.
Private jets contribute a disproportionate amount of carbon emissions, and not just by a bit. Celebrities who fly private produce 480 times more than the average person’s annual emissions. And according to a popular twitter account (that’s now been suspended hmmmm I wonder why) that tracks celebrities’ usage of personal planes, Swift was the “biggest celebrity CO2e polluter” in 2022. Her team denied these accusations, claiming that her private plane gets rented out by others and that she purchased carbon credits to offset her emissions (a questionable, if not useless solution according to many climate experts).
But what you won’t find on Fox News is a recognition that this is a systemic problem that requires transformative policy change. Progressives have proposed a wide variety of measures ranging from banning private jets all together, to increasing the taxes on them, to modifying the tax code so that celebrities like Swift can’t write off their polluting trips as business expenses.
Most of these environmentally conscious proposals have faced resistance from conservatives, who prefer to keep things as they are, or worse give private jet owners even more tax breaks and incentives. But perhaps Fox News’ newfound passion for Swift’s carbon emissions will help popularize the need for government intervention especially from a voting bloc that might not have previously cared about it.
Of course, this was just one article, but given that the Fox News audience had been fed virtually nothing about climate change, a win is a win.
And it might get even better. What if this strange MAGA obsession with Swift being a *checks notes* secret agent sent by the Pentagon to push covid vaccines, is a good thing? Let’s think about it for a minute. If this odd conspiracy theory can make conservatives care about climate change, what else can it do? What if Swift being a billionaire converts Fox News hosts into supporting a wealth tax or a decent tax code? Think of the revolutionary power that could come from this weird new passion!
How do you feel about Taylor Swift’s private jet use and the fact that she’s become a billionaire? What about the size of her political influence? Does it make you hopeful or nervous? Do you think it will invite more scrutiny and questions about her decisions and choices, or will backfire on the right like it did when Fox News tried to go after Beyoncé in 2015?
I’m dying to know what you think so let me know in the comments below!
Liz-
Of course Fox's calling our Taylor's private jet use is cynical, but they're not entirely wrong. That said, I love Taylor in general. I'm a gigantic supporter and fan. But I do worry that her level of celebrity is unsustainable and unhealthy for her as a human. I also worry about our tendency as a society to put our faith in "saviors", be they Obama, Trump, Oprah or Taylor Swift. I think our putting our faith in individuals is misplaced. We need to work on systems. We need to take responsibility ourselves to change things. I love Taylor, and while I think she uses her influence for positive change, the flip side of that very same power is a cult of personality that is not good for a society.
Taylor Swift is the type of Billionaire I want to see more of in the world.