Readers of the Wall Street Journal editorial page may have been surprised this past weekend to read columnist and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan extol the cultural good of singer-sensation Taylor Swift.
“Miss Taylor Swift is the Person of the Year,” wrote the Long Island native. “She is the best thing that has happened in America in all of 2023. This fact makes her a suitably international choice because when something good happens in America, boy is it worldwide news.”
The columnist’s calculus is a bit curious. She believes the Taylor phenomena has cast a positive vibe across the country, as evidenced by her sold out performances overflowing with giddy and gleeful fans. Then there is her relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, a spectacle her fans seem to love, and which NFL broadcast executives seem eager to highlight every chance possible.
According to Peggy Noonan, the relationship between Kelce and Swift “makes life feel more magical — the prince meets the princess.” She says it’s “sweet” with the potential to add “to the sum total of love in the world.”
Contrast Noonan’s column with the advice of writer and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Naomi Riley, who politely but pointedly suggests Taylor Swift may want to consider getting married. The columnist rightly notes:
“Women with more 𝑠e𝑥ual partners before marriage are more likely to divorce and women who wait until after age 32 to marry are also more likely to divorce. Training yourself to see even relationships that last years as impermanent seems to impact the way you view marriage.”
Riley notes Swift has been dating different men for 15 years.
Popular culture’s and Peggy Noonan’s lauding of Swift belies the oversized and deleterious influence she’s having on the rising generation. It’s not all magical moments, but instead sometimes subtle and often significant sharing of destructive social propaganda. Earlier this summer, the pop star celebrated “Pride Month” at her Chicago concert. She’s previously taken to social media to do the same.
“I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on 𝑠e𝑥ual orientation or gender is WRONG [emphasis in original],” she wrote. She’s also stated, “We can’t talk about Pride without talking about pain. Right now and recently there have been so many harmful pieces of legislation that have put people in the LGBTQ+ and queer community at risk.”
It’s not clear what legislation she’s referring to – and even if it were, such a preposterous claim flies in the face of reality. Recent related legislation designed to protect children’s safety and innocence, parents’ rights, and religious freedom actually reduces risk for people who are 𝑠e𝑥ually confused.
After the Supreme Court reversed Roe back in 2022, Swift retweeted a letter from former first lady Michelle Obama criticizing the decision. The singer setup the share by writing: “I’m absolutely terrified that this is where we are – that after so many decades of people fighting for women’s rights to their own bodies, today’s decision has stripped us of that.”
It’s tragic that a young woman with such a massive following and influence is not only squandering her platform but also trading in lies and propaganda that harm and confuse her fans.
Naomi Riley speaks for many parents when she explains that her motivation for encouraging Swift to deliberately consider and pursue marriage is rooted in her hunger for good cultural role models.
“I want my daughters and all the other Swifties out there to see marriage as a logical step in adulthood,” Riley writes. “I want them to know that even as they experience the heartbreak of youth — which is both inevitable and tragic — that there is light at the end of this tunnel. We don’t have to be perpetually stuck in a cycle of romantic love and loss. There is a better way.”
That better way is found in God’s perfect plan for romance and 𝑠e𝑥uality. It’s found in 𝑠e𝑥ual abstinence before marriage and monogamy within the marital relationship.
The best thing that’s happened in America in 2023 isn’t Taylor Swift or the millions who have attended her concerts – it’s the millions of couples who live and love faithfully within biblical marriage. It’s the millions of mothers and fathers who devote themselves to their children. It’s the countless number of volunteers who work tirelessly every day to encourage abortion-minded moms to carry their babies to term. It’s the hundreds of thousands of pastors who teach and preach, who celebrate our joys and join us in our grief.
The best of America isn’t found on a stage. It’s found in a humble home with loving parents whose hearts seek the Lord and His will.
