likefoolsinafable

[likefoolsinafable]

well another august has in fact slipped away into a moment in time

[likefoolsinafable]

Yes hello, I just made this blog so I can talk about the Vienna situation as talking about Taylor Swift in any other context outside of the fandom just leads to annoying haters. I'm hoping to fill it with Taylor stuff once I'm a lot less angry and can bear listening to her again.

[likefoolsinafable]

Taylor Swift, Vienna & Relatability

I keep seeing people say that "Taylor only narrowly avoided being the victim of a terrorist attack" in response to Vienna Swifties being upset at her saying nothing about the situation.

And it's driving me insane, because yes, she did. But so did we.

And it would've been worse for us. Because we, the crowd, were the target. The attack was planed to happen to the crowd outside the stadium and right in front of the doors. Do you get that? If it had happened, Taylor would have probably been the safest person in that stadium and if someone had died it would've been fans.

I was in Vienna for the concert. I made my way to Corneliusgasse (Vienna's "Cornelia Street") as people were playing music and trading bracelets. I only lasted there for an hour because even the crowd there was too much, because I was on edge as the day before we had gotten the news of the foiled terrorist attack and I spent the night crying my eyes out and having nightmares about what could have happened. Not just because my concert that I was looking forward to was cancelled (that was sad, of course, but I was lucky enough to go to other dates) but because I couldn't stop thinking about how I could have fucking died and my girlfriend could have fucking died. I was terrified of leaving my hotel bed that day and I even considered cancelling the rest of my trip and booking a new flight just to come home early and feel safe.

But I went out anyway and decided to check out Corneliusgasse and make some fun memories out of this absolutely horrible experience. And in that crowd, I could see that all other other Swifties were just as shaken up by the "holy shit we could have died today" feeling as I was. You know why? Because while I was there, someone had the brilliant idea to pop open a bottle of champagne and everyone who heard that screamed and ran away in a fit of panic. We thought it was a gun/bomb/what have you.

And the rest of the day, as I said before, I couldn't stand for too long inside a crowd, because all I could think about were exit strategies. I was scared whenever I saw a car drive by too fast, because I couldn't stop thinking about how easy it would be for any madman to swerve and run over a bunch of people. I second guessed every stranger on the street, because of how easy it would be for anyone to be dangerous.

I'm saying these things because this has not just been a cancelled concert, this has been a difficult ordeal. No, nothing technically happened to us, but that doesn't make it less difficult to go through. My mind has been in danger mode for a week, and I know I'm not the only one.

Obviously, I'm sure Taylor and the team has felt this too.

So, why is it that whenever Vienna swifties talk about hoping that Taylor would give the tiniest of shout out to us (it won't happen) we get told that we feel entitled to her feelings or that she has been through enough so she doesn't owe us anything?

We know what she must be going through because we're the ones going through it alongside her. You know who is not going through it? Non-Vienna swifties who keep telling us to shut up and "omg get over it 🙄" because they'd rather make up excuses ("security reasons", "lockdown", "she must be feeling way too sad") for their favorite artist acting in a shitty way rather than recognize that the way she is acting is shitty and callous and shows no care for her fans.

You cannot claim that my feelings don't matter and then go "Imagine how hard this must be for Taylor" IT IS JUST AS HARD ON ME AS IT IS ON TAYLOR, WE WENT THROUGH THE SAME THING. SHE IS NOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN US.

Taylor Swift is an artist that has built her brand on relatability, but you cannot do that and then not expect a PR nightmare when you can't even put out the tiniest of statements when your concert is cancelled because of something as serious as a terrorist threat (and she should've put out a statement even if the concert had been cancelled because of rain by the way, it's just the thing to do). It just shows that you give the tiniest bit of a shit about the fans pouring money and time and emotions, and now even their safety, into you. It just shows an acknowledgement, a sense of respect, for the people who admire you and love you.

Yes, celebrities are often very detached from us normal people, but even if she doesn't feel any sense of genuine connection to the fans (which I don't want to believe) she should still have said something or acknowledged us in some way because she has built her brand on being relatable, not on being an aloof asshole who doesn't show care. Taylor Swift is the artist know for wearing her heart in her sleeve on her songs. It shouldn't be so much to ask that she act like a person when something so severe happened. It wouldn't hurt her image or put her in danger to even try to be a little bit genuine sometimes. Adele paused her show to put on the Olympics for a bit and everyone loved it. Taylor can survive the tiniest of statements showing love for the very fans who must be feeling the same as her.

No, I do not need her to validate my feelings, but it does make me wonder who I am a fan of and if it's worth it to be one.