Taylor Swift draws a blank (space)

Taylor Swift has become the epitome of what privilege and its accompanying blind spots look like — a sudden nosedive from how she’s been soaring over public perception in the past months.

In case you missed it, it all started when Nicki Minaj tweeted her disappointment at how her music video, Anaconda was left out of the 2015 Video Music Awards nominations for Best Choreography and Video of the Year. She connected this to the bigger picture of how black women are rarely rewarded for the influence they have on pop culture. How videos that “celebrate women with very slim bodies” hold an unspoken advantage in appealing to prevalent biases. Swift assumed this was a jab at her music video Bad Blood, and proceeded to remind Minaj that she’s done “nothing but love and support” her. She then glossed over centuries of racial struggle by trying to be besties again.

“If I win, please come up with me!! You’re invited to any stage I’m ever on,” were her famous last words.

Blithe remarks

By now, the press has thankfully been able to move deeper into the issue, after initially headlining it as just another celebrity Twitter bitch fight. As I write this, the blitheness of Swift’s remarks are now the center of discourse, along with how they betray the numerous privileges (white, skinny, from a well-to-do family) that have helped mold and carry her to her current throne.

The subject of privilege is hard to talk about because many of those who benefit from it are quick to defend the hard work, sacrifices, set-backs, and can-do attitudes they have employed to get to where they are.

When Aimee Groth of QZ.com wrote about how access to financial capital is the most commonly shared trait among celebrated entrepreneurs, there were those who were quick to cite instances of being kicked out of apartments, having to do odd jobs to make ends meet, depend on friends for meals, or even how they had to start their business by renting a tiny warehouse.

But the discussion of inequality isn’t about invalidating the hard work of those who managed to find themselves on the better side of the spectrum. It has nothing to do with proclaiming yourself and your experiences less real, and denying the dark nights of despair and the realm of sh*t that you’ve had to deal with. Proceeding to morph into a touchy ball of guilt helps nobody.

What progressive discussions ask is merely to regard the bigger picture; to hear other people’s struggles and contexts as if they were your own. To consider that maybe there are parts of your neighborhood that you’ve heard of, but in actuality know nothing about.

The perfect example

Taylor Swift’s outright cluelessness about the real issues at hand is the perfect example of the insulated ignorance that privilege affords. This is a good thing, because it’s a transgression that we’ve all been, and continue to be, guilty of.

The callous unawareness towards those of those who have to work and fight so much harder than we do does not reside exclusively in the VMAs, the music industry, or even the ridiculous display of racism happening in the US.

It was there when  a TV host singled out informal settlers, composed of classes C, D, and E. The host tweeted about how there were those (middle and upper class) who worked hard to afford prime lots plus taxes. The host wanted squatters to learn to stand on their own two feet. What wasn’t included in the picture was the huge discrepancy between the hard work of an Ateneo de Manila University graduate and the hard work of the women who do our laundry.

It was there when Vice Ganda told an It’s Showtime contestant that poverty is never an excuse to not finish school, because there are scholarships available. What wasn’t included in the picture was how there obviously aren’t enough programs to provide everyone with an education. So, as a matter of consequence, there really are people who will be left out. The person standing in front of him was probably one of them.

It was there when Caitlyn Jenner came out, and people questioned why admitting one’s sexual identity to the world had to be such a big deal. And it truly isn’t — for those of us who were born straight and cisgender, and don’t know what it’s like to be under threat of judgment or violence.

‘But life really is unfair, so it’s all about how you deal with it’

There’s a motivational school of thought that asserts that attitude is the key to success. We were dealt with whatever cards we were given, and now it’s all about how we play it. I personally think it’s a good disposition to put on. But here’s the catch: As much as possible, I only use it on myself.

It works on a personal level because I already know what it’s like to walk in my shoes. I’m well-versed in my middle-class, freelance-writer, Philippine-passport-holder-who-wants-to-see-the-world struggles. I know what it’s like to be stripped of dignity by commuting around Manila. I know the cost of my current lifestyle and how much I need to sweat to afford it. I know my dreams and the odds that stand against me. I know my own bitterness, the frames of mind I’ve grown into, my own cynicism, my darkness, I know everything — when it comes to me. So I’m in a position to tell myself to get up. More importantly, I know when I’m ready to get up.

I used to think I could easily apply this to other people who found themselves at a disadvantage. I made it work, so they can too, right? But for all the lives out there that we are not living, there is a disproportionate amount of motivational preaching and not enough listening; not enough inquiring. And while the laws of entropy suggest that perfect equality is unattainable, we’re already here. We might as well see what we can do to make things better.

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