Nearly 1 in 5 believe Taylor Swift election conspiracy theory | Hacker News Reader

Nearly 1 in 5 believe Taylor Swift election conspiracy theory

monmouth.edu

7 pointshnuser000025 comments

I do believe that 1/5 of the nation are goddamn idiots, in fact that number might be a bit low.

I've more or less arrived at a similar conclusion, it seems like about 30% of any given population is some combination of stupid, hateful, uneducated, easily mislead, prone to conspiracy theories, mentally ill, on drugs, elderly to the point of bafflement, etc.

It seems to be an issue worldwide, and I feel like social media has forced the issue of just how the other 70% of us are meant to reign in the 30% without compromising our legal systems.

My theory is that with multiple political parties and proportional representation, the middle 70% can usually form a governing coalition* either not including or outnumbering the 15% in both tails; with only two political parties and winner take all, whoever thinks they risk having 49% will be courting their extremists for all they're worth.

* Geert Wilders "won" the Dutch elections back in November, but has been unable to form a government since because the other right wing parties have been asking "if you want us to join you all (Wilders' party), which of your extreme planks are you (Wilders) going to renounce?", thus far to no avail.

That's a very good point, I suspect you're right that the current system is more or less biased towards failure.

It’s sinister, maybe even illegal, when Taylor Swift endorses Joe Biden for president.

It’s commendable and patriotic when Kid Rock endorses Donald Trump for president.

[sigh/]

Maybe such polls should start including a few "utter nonsense" questions, to check what percentage of respondents will say "yes" to anything. "Do you believe the rumors that the 2024 election will be stolen by Amish brain control space lasers hidden in a secret crater on the dark side of the moon?"

At first I was thinking Amish brain control space lasers was the best oxymoron I've heard in a long time, but upon reflection: the biggest problem the Amish have with technology is the degree to which it networks them with the English.

If they had their own secret crater on the dark side of the moon (separate from the one in Iron Sky of course), due to the gravity wells involved it would have to be self-sufficient, so even if they had had to pay some Mennonites to launch the self-replicating factories that built the brain control space lasers, operating them would presumably be cool according to at least some elders.

"Oh, you have an orbital space laser too? Any connection with the Yoder space lasers? My second cousin 3x removed's mother was a Yoder..."

The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty#Provisions (whose signatories include BR,CA,US) requires that installations on the moon (and other celestial bodies) be used for peaceful purposes, so I guess we'd have to rely on the Amish brain control not resulting in violence — but seeing as how all the violent anabaptist sects have already died out, leaving only the pacifist ones (among which are the Amish), that may not be that bad a bet.

(TIL that Amish —in order to avoid unneeded sewing time— wear cotton/poly clothing, and of course they're not synthesising polymers at home and therefore have to buy that fabric from the english, so the brain control space lasers are even more plausible)

(Edit: Amish horseshoes may have carbide and borium additions, again for durability)

Related post by Scott Alexander from 2013:

>Lizardman's Constant Is 4%

>I really wish polls like these would include a control question, something utterly implausible even by lizard-people standards, something like “Do you believe Barack Obama is a hippopotamus?” Whatever percent of people answer yes to the hippo question get subtracted out from the other questions.

https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/12/noisy-poll-results-and...

I feel the meat is:

> Just under half (46%) of the American public has heard something about Swift being part of a supposed covert government effort to help Biden win the 2024 presidential election. Just under 1 in 5 Americans (18%) believe such a conspiracy involving Swift exists. Fully 71% of those who believe this identify with or lean toward the Republican Party

What conspiracy? If anything, it's overt:

"The biggest and most influential endorsement target is Ms. Swift, 34, the pop sensation and N.F.L. enthusiast, who can move millions of supporters with an Instagram post or a mid-concert aside. She endorsed Mr. Biden in 2020 and, last year, a single Instagram post of hers led to 35,000 new voter registrations. Fund-raising appeals from Ms. Swift could be worth millions of dollars for Mr. Biden. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a top Biden surrogate, all but begged Ms. Swift to become more involved in Mr. Biden’s campaign when he spoke to reporters after a Republican primary debate in September. “Taylor Swift stands tall and unique,” he said. “What she was able to accomplish just in getting young people activated to consider that they have a voice and that they should have a choice in the next election, I think, is profoundly powerful.” The chatter around Ms. Swift and the potential of reaching her 279 million Instagram followers reached such intensity that the Biden team urged applicants in a job posting for a social media position not to describe their Taylor Swift strategy — the campaign had enough suggestions already. One idea that has been tossed around, a bit in jest: sending the president to a stop on Ms. Swift’s Eras Tour."

That's from the NYT, btw: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/us/politics/biden-trump-e... - and there are tons of other similar coverage about how they're courting her.

If something is removed from the truth, it's Monmouth University Poll's spin. I guess the thinking process was:

"We asked people how many believe this Taylor Swift used in favor of Biden story, and X% said they did. So we're going to say that 'X% believe in a 'T.S. conspiracy theory'. We don't need to clarify what they believe in exactly, or explain in what way it's a 'conspiracy theory' as opposed to overt courting with behind-the-scenes favors exchanged".

I think it's not so much that it's a conspiracy per se, as that a certain political demographic can't interpret any political activity from the Democratic party through a non-conspiratorial lens. That dark forces rigged the Super Bowl to spread Democrat propaganda, that Swift is a government plant and her relationship with Travis Kelse is a psyop. It can't simply be something as mundane as celebrity endorsement being used to drive political action, which isn't even novel, much less remotely illegal. They insist there must be something nefarious at work.

It's like one day all these people woke up and collectively decided Taylor Swift was queen of the Illuminati and it makes no sense. It smells like a meme run amok.

Swift having and voicing an opinion is not a "conspiracy". She should be able to, as any American, hold and feel free to voice her beliefs. Of course she might choose not to do so no matter who begs and that is also fine. There is no conspiracy here. You might or might not like it that she could do so, but others might like or not like that Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow can and do so.

The "conspiracy" is/was that Swift is an active psyOp warrior in the employ of the CIA and/or Pentagon, that the Super Bowl is/was rigged to get the Chiefs into the game, a game that would be scripted so that they would win. Then, in the post game celebration Swift would be whisked onto the field where she would gush in the afterglow of the Cheif's victory and then live on camera she would endorse Biden. Some additionally believed that following her endorsement Biden himself would be choppered into the stadium and appear with Swift.

Per the poll,

"Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists, or not?"

18% of people surveyed believe that Swift is a psyop warrior and that the Super Bowl and in fact the entire NFL season was scripted to get her into position to complete her mission. Presumably a mission now thwarted thanks to it's unmasking.

>"Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists, or not?"

Which doesn't need to be anything about a "CIA psyop". I believe the above is (or could very realistically be) the case, and I could very well answer "yes" to that, without any "CIA psyop" need be involved.

In other words, that people from the Biden administration and PR team, working to get Swift to endorse him publicly, and perhaps do a few stunts with him (with or without an exchange of money or favors involved), for the obvious election marketing reasons.

That's not the same as a conspiracy in the "illuminati" or "CIA is behind this" sense (as it's made to be), nor is it the same as just "Swift having and voicing an opinion".

> people from the Biden administration and PR team, working to get Swift to endorse him publicly

sounds like you're making "covert" do a lot of work here; as far as I have seen that effort is better described by "overt"

I'm not making it do anything. In fact, my opening comment reads:

"What conspiracy? If anything, it's overt"

It's the TFA that presents belief in that as if people believe in a "conspiracy".

Who/what is the TFA?

The Fine Article: https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/MonmouthP...

> 34.Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists, or not?

I guess we could spin this as "18% of people polled have an idiosyncratic definition of covert", but given the context, I find understanding of the usual def'n to be most likely.

You might not like a political party soliciting a celebrity endorsement but that does not make it a conspiracy and that is not this conspiracy. This conspiracy is being floated and propagated by people like:

Paraphrased...

Fox News host Jesse Watters: "Swift is a Pentagon PsyOp Agent"

GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy: "The Super Bowl is rigged to boost the profile of Taylor Swift ahead of her plans to endorse President Biden"

OAN News: "Swift is a “Massive Super Bowl Psy-op” a brainwashing campaign designed to indoctrinate citizens to an elite agenda and away from religion."

Try a google search for "Super Bowl Psy-op" if you have any doubts.

> 34.Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists, or not?

Do you think that anyone titled Ms. would need a covert effort to get her to endorse an alternative to the anti-Roe-v-Wade party?

Do you think that anyone titled Ms. would need a covert effort to get her to endorse anyone with fewer sexual abuse judgements than the presumptive anti-Biden candidate?

Were someone to attempt to convince me there was a government effort to get Bridget Ziegler to help Joe Biden, covert would be much more plausible!

>Do you think that anyone titled Ms. would need a covert effort to get her to endorse an alternative to the anti-Roe-v-Wade party?

You think this is about her political opinions? She can have those without endorsing anybody explicitly - and without having to low herself into overt election politics.

This is not about what she thinks personally, but more about the PR team from the Joe camp enticing her to official endorsement. Besides, it's not like she has done anything not perfectly calculated in her entire public life. She's 100% about the product.

> What conspiracy? If anything...

Beyond a certain level of anxiety / paranoia / dissociation from reality, everything can be a "conspiracy". The word ends up describing an emotional state.

Ya, calling it a conspiracy when it’s publicly discussed is very strange language. If somebody says they think there’s a conspiracy with Taylor Swift and the election, I assume their belief goes far beyond what’s publicly obvious

Or it's just casual talk about "they try to get her to promote them, and they are in talks/give her money/favors to ensore him".

That's a conspiracy (in the literal sense), people can call it a conspiracy, and it's also probably what's going on (or could very realistically go down like that).

It's not however a conspiracy in these sense of "illuminati", and it's weasely for media (or in this case, this university poll writeup) to conflate the two cases, to make those people look bad.

Good point, that’s a believable making as well in the right context

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