My thoughts on that Eve Barlow article
First of all, did you guys know that Eve is here on tumblr? And that back in 2012, she wrote a pretty shitty post in response to the criticism towards the lack of racial diversity in Lena Dunham’s show Girls, charmingly called “WTF is a WOC? Weapons of Color?”, that’s chock full of racism and white privilege? She’s since deleted it, but you can see a reblog of it here, and I’ll post a screencap of that reblog under a cut at the end of this post, in case that reblog disappears.
But that’s about Eve Barlow personally, although I do think it’s an important insight into her character, but let’s get to the actual article about Taylor.
I’m sorry, but the article comes off as a revenge hit-piece. There’s a flow to it, and it follows the plot of every butt-hurt complaint story I’ve ever heard or read. Eve gets invited into one of Taylor’s inner circles - something every celebrity and artist has, btw; and to single out Taylor for criticism of something that comes with fame and is at times a necessity because once you get famous, everyone wants a piece of you, that’s just disingenuous at best. She starts to enjoy privileges that other journalists don’t have - like being introduced to Calvin Harris backstage at a concert.
Then she writes a bad review of the kick-off of Taylor’s 1989 tour - something that she has every right to do as a journalist, I will grant her that. But then here comes the shock, that she gets dis-invited to a private awards after party hosted by Taylor and Ed Sheeran.
Gasp! The horror! You mean to tell me, after saying bad things about Taylor in a review, that she doesn’t want you at a party that she’s co-hosting? You don’t fucking say!
Of course, Eve gate-crashes the party anyways, and I have to recognize the balls that took.
But then her invites to, to use her words, “Swift-related special events dried up.” And claiming that thus she can’t do her job.
Her job is a music critic, yes? Has she been banned from attending Taylor’s concerts, listening to Taylor’s music, and writing reviews of that? No, she hasn’t. She’s just lost her “special access” privileges.
Yes, I said privileges. Those aren’t her right, her due as a journalist. She’s acting as if Taylor is somehow abridging the freedom of the press. But nowhere is it stated that journalists are entitled to interviews, to glimpses into their subject’s personal lives, or access to their subject’s inner circles/trust.
Time and time again, for various reasons, journalists have been denied those special privileges. (And generally, no one gets pissy about it, unless the famous person is a)already being hated on or b)a woman.) Being granted an interview with someone famous? That’s a privilege. It’s not a right you get handed when you become a journalist. You have to work for it. And you can work really, really hard and still not get it. That’s the job. That’s life.
The article starts off with Eve crowing about knowing a “friend of Taylor,” and recognizing how that’s a privilege that not many people enjoy (thus recognizing that those other people, those other journalists, don’t have the same access she does), and is something highly sought after, and the article ends with Eve bemoaning how she’s lost that privilege. This article is basically a hissy fit, in print form.
And I’ve talked about this before, but the reactions I’ve seen to this article and all the other smear-pieces written about Taylor in the media, it’s all part and parcel of not only the media manipulation of the situation, but also the propensity to hop on the latest trendy “hate” bandwagon to “look cool.” This thing with Taylor isn’t the first time I’ve seen the hate bandwagon in action, and it probably won’t be the last, sad to say. (The themes in that blog post I just linked to also brings to mind these two important scenes from the movie Dead Poet’s Society: one and two.)
I’m gonna go ahead and say it, this article was highly irresponsible of Eve as a journalist, and calls into question her journalistic integrity. Journalists investigate facts. They deal in facts, not emotions. And they generally don’t treat themselves as a subject when they report those facts, which Eve has done here (and also painted herself as a victim). At least the journalists who want to be taken seriously. (People like Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly, on the other hand…) The pinnacle of this can be seen in Walter Cronkite’s coverage of the JFK assassination. Dispassionate coverage of the facts.
Well, this Eve Barlow article is an opinion piece, some would say. To which I would respond: exactly. It is Eve’s opinion. Not something to be taken as fact, which many seem to be doing. Why would people take someone’s opinion as fact? Well, one reason is the hate bandwagon thing I pointed out above. Another is that the media has already been manipulating our views of Taylor, for years now. So if you’ve already fallen for the media’s manipulation of Taylor’s reputation, then in that light Eve’s opinion here seems plausible to be facts instead of just an opinion.
I would also like to quote this text post, which puts it very succinctly: “i hate it when people look at female celebrities after they do something wrong and say “i knew i disliked her for some reason” maybe it was ur misogyny.”
I’ve also seen people saying that Taylor is wrong for controlling the media’s access to her, to which I would ask: did you think it was wrong when Prince did it? When Michael Jackson did it? When Justin Bieber did it? When Tom Cruise did it? Or any of the other long, long line of celebrities who have refused to grant interviews, refused to grant reporters and critics access to their inner circles and personal lives? No? Then you have to ask yourself, what is it about Taylor that makes you think her doing it wrong, when you didn’t think the countless others before her who have done the same thing weren’t in the wrong? Why is it that only now you have a problem with it? Why is it only now, in this particular situation, with this particular celebrity, that it’s suddenly “controlling the media?”
I have a few ideas of why, but you’re probably not going to like them.
(screencap of the reblog of “WTF is WOC?” behind the cut)
