here are some hyper-polluting individuals:
- the Rolling Stones’ Boeing 767 (5,046 tonnes of CO2)
- Lawrence Stroll (1,512 flights)
- Thirty-nine jets linked to 30 Russian oligarchs – (30,701 tonnes of CO2)
relevant quote:
But I will say this, a movement can't get along without a devil, and across the whole political spectrum there is a misogynistic tendency to choose a female devil, whether it's Anita Bryant, Hillary Clinton, Marie Antoinette, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or J.K. Rowling [or Taylor Swift]. And there's always gonna be people who seize on any opportunity to be misogynistic. So I would advise trans people and our allies [or environmentalists] to keep in mind, that J.K. Rowling [Taylor Swift] is not the final boss of transphobia [anti-environmentalism]. She's not our devil. The devil is the Republican Party, the Conservative Party.
—Natalie Wynn (emphasis and bracket text mine)
edit: if you can’t respond to this without using the c*nt expletive it is not helping your case lmao. mods are we okay with this? in any case, please don’t feed the trolls.
edit 2/FAQ: “but why did she threaten legal action against that college kid though?” still shitty, but refer to this comment for a good explanation of the context behind that decision.
She only threatened legal action since those memes started before when her flight movements got the attention of the right in an attempt to make her less credible of a voice speaking out against trump. And knowing how batshit insane trump cultists can be and how she’s basically the single most hated person of his base I’m not surprised that she feared for her security. Those records were public for years but the legal action only happened after someone created that meme and even fox news suddenly cared about plane emissions…
[…] For Swift, this is legitimate fear. I don't know if you've ever experienced actual fear for your life, but it's crippling, and it effects your psyche. To experience that on a daily basis because of an app? You bet your goddamn ass I'm going to talk to my lawyers about what my options are.
sources/timeline for the above:
- mid 2022, the media begins scrutinizing Swift for her flying patterns
- in response, Swift’s jet drops from 19 to just over 2 flights per month
- her flights pick up slightly with the start of her massive Eras tour but still significantly less than pre-July 2022
- December 6, 2023, Swift embroiled in election conspiracy theory, basically making her MAGA’s enemy number one.
- January 30, 2024, Taylor Swift gets rid of one private jet
- February 6, 2024, news outlets first report on the cease and desist.
I'm really of two minds on the private jet thing, because she undeniably was doing it way too much and for way too short distances, but for longer distances, I can see someone of her level of fame needing to fly privately for security reasons. I doubt Taylor Swift walking through an airport and getting on a Delta flight would be especially safe for her.
I do not like the idea of celebrities traveling in private jets overall, but when you're at Beatles-level fame? The Beatles chartered private flights too. Maybe she should charter, but I can see why flying commercial is a bad plan.
Let the mass downvoting commence.
Maybe we all need to stop subsidizing the airline industry so that these rich assholes who want to fly around all the time for their convenience can pay the entire price themselves. Airlines and airports are publicly funded and utterly unsustainable without massive infusions of government cash and protection at every step along the way.
The fact that we pretend these airline companies and airports are in any way actual businesses Is just a way for the wealthy who get to fly all the time (private jets or not) to offload the cost of their convenient transportation onto the American people.
I'm fine with government-run airlines, but I don't think that would change the security issue I'm talking about.
I think the security issue is a non-issue, and there's no way to "solve" it without creating greater problems and degrading other people's rights.
The truth is, she doesn't give a flying fuck about the consequences of her wealth getting. In some ways she is opposed to the right wing noise machine, but she is still acting as though she's entitled to special treatment from the government including extra rights just because she's rich.
She only decreased the number of private jet flights she was taking, and decrease the number of private jets she owned because of the public pressure. Her security is not more important than the environment.
She volunteered to take the heat off of Elon. I don't know why she would do that, but she definitely volunteered for a lot of negative attention when she decided to target a private citizen doing something they are legally entitled to do and use her money to intimidate them out of exercising their rights.
That's who she is deep down inside, entitled.
A non-issue? You think she doesn't get mobbed wherever she goes? I'd call that a huge issue. Unless you think it's okay for fans to paw at her, tear at her clothes, etc. That is what they do.
I think her getting mobbed is not my problem.
She's rich enough that she can afford private security. She's a private citizen who can decide where she goes and where she does not go.
Nothing about anything you've described justifies stripping other people of their rights.
If she's being assaulted in public, that's an actual crime, and she should invoke the legal system then.
The legal system does not entitle her to silence people sharing publicly available information. The person who shared the movement of her private jet is not to blame for her lack of security when she gets where she's going. No one's mobbing her on the tarmac, no one's crowding into the airport past security without a ticket.
She is not special. She's just an American, she's entitled to absolutely nothing extra. Her attempt to use the law as a weapon of intimidation simply because she has money to push it around is exactly why she deserves negative attention right now.
I didn't say anything about her trying to silence people. This is purely about keeping her and others safe. Her presence in a public airport could literally cause a riot. You must know that.
It literally wouldnt, this handwringing is unneeded for someone who does not care about you and is not doing this for security reasons
What part of 'riot' are you missing here? I care about all the other people who could be injured as much as I do here. Why don't you?
What part of "airport" are you missing? People cannot flood into an airport. People in an airport cannot afford to abandon their gates to go mob some random celeb.
This is a made up problem that doesnt happen to any of the equally famous people who fly first class with zero issues.
Youre hand wringing for someone who wouldnt even give you the time of day
Got it. This never happened.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/taylor-swift-mobbed-by-fans-delays-flights-at-japan-airport/articleshow/47147634.cms?from=mdr
Because of her private flight, you mean?
Oh wait, weird, its almost like taking private flights marks your travel and makes it easier for a mob to follow you, a thing that cannot happen on public flights where you dont publicly own the plane
Kinda weird how a mob cannot spawn out of nowhere when no one in the airport knows ahead of time that youre coming, huh
It also can't happen on chartered flights.
Which is still not the same as owning a private jet.
It can and has, which is part of the lawsuit she threatened
She has a private jet. That's what was being tracked.
But yes, I still understand that you think a chartered flight and a private jet are the same thing.
Aight so lets just ignore that the 2015 mobbing happened on a chartered flight
You understand that a chartered flight doesnt stop the exact problem with the private flights? She isnt planepooling a chartered flight. Youre arguing for her to solve a problem she doesnt have with a solution that keeps the actual problem
The problem that private flights shouldn't be a thing? I'd say it does.
Oh good lord, do you think the problem with private flights is that the plane belongs to a single person?
No? I think the problem with private flights is that they exist when chartered flights would be fine.
Chartered flights do the exact same thing that is the issue with private flights.
So, yes, you do think the problem is that the plane is owned by one person.
You do know that there are many examples where commercial airlines are not practical, right?
Medical flights, for example.
Then there are indigenous communities in Alaska where chartering a flight is the easiest way off the island. I suppose we should fuck them over like we usually do.
You understand that swift isnt a doctor or someone living in a remote island town right? You grok that using charter does exactly nothing to change why she is getting criticism, yes?
Or do you think that because there is some acceptable ways to use a plane, that means all ways that use the plane must be acceptable via the transitive property?
Or are you seriously trying to call me a fucking racist because you think alaskan natives take charter planes for 15 minute car ride distances?
Got it. Since Taylor Swift isn't a doctor or on a remote island, end all charter flights.
Are you a racist? No. Do you care about indigenous people? Clearly not since you want to end charter flights due solely to Taylor Swift no matter how much it hurts their community.
As for the 15-minute distances, I said that way way too short in my very first post, and repeatedly said so other times, so you must not be only talking about 15-minute charter flights because otherwise you either didn't read what I wrote or are gaslighting me. Which of those three is it? I'm guessing it's the "ban all charter flights" one since you have suggested that multiple times. Which, again, means you don't give a fuck about indigenous people.
Also, it sometimes only takes 15 minutes to island-hop. Say... between one indigenous community to another. But since that is a bad thing, fuck them. Right?
Right, because when someone says swift shouldnt be chartering, that secretly means end the concept of chartered flights.
Lile how when your mom told you that you werent mature enough for a puppy, what she really meant was strangle all dogs to death, forever.
Really really really gross to use minorities as a meat shield for a billionaire, there, reject reddit mod. Fascinating that you think you can island hop in a car in 15 minutes, btw.
You said the issue was chartered flights, not Taylor Swift taking chartered flights. It's not my fault that would fuck over indigenous people.
But fine, let's ban Taylor Swift personally from taking chartered flights. I'm not shielding her. Problem solved?
I mean seriously, a cursory glance of my comment history would tell you that I don't defend billionaires.
Nope! Learn to fuckin read dude. I said swift changing from private to chartered does not change the problem that swift is being criticized for.
At no point at all did I make a single statement about the concept of chartering, outside of the actual topic of why swift should be using public flights.
You have spent this entire thread defending billionaires, and you threw fucking alaskan natives in front of you like a rug to walk on to do so. So, no, sorry reddit mod. Youre lying there too.
Glad you got to squeak in a little racist spew tho! Fucking freak
Nope. I did not defend billionaires once. First I said there was a security risk, then I said chartered flights should be allowed.
Also, since you have never actually explained your issue with chartered flights, I can only guess at what it is.
Is it that there should be an upper income cap on who should be allowed to take chartered flights? Is that there should be a limit to the number of times someone should be allowed to take a chartered flight? Is that you should only be allowed to take chartered flights a certain distance? Is it that rich people deserve to walk? I honestly don't know. You've brought up the climate, but none of those issues would change the necessity of chartered flights, so the climate would still be at risk from chartered flights.
So, again, what is the issue here? And how would you solve it?
I don't hold out much hope for you to answer any of that because I don't believe you're here in good faith, but feel free to prove me wrong.
"Uh oh! Someone criticized taylor swift! Better accuse them of hating a minority for using planes for necessary travel!"
Ok racist
Fucking riot for you to call me bad faith. Fuck off dude, go suck swifts toes
I knew you weren't going to explain either what your problem is or what the solution is. In other words- not here in good faith.
You can get mad at me for guessing that you don't care about indigenous people because you want to ban all charter flights, but, again, since you won't explain the issue or the solution, all I can do is guess.
Or you could read what I wrote, and not drag actual human minorities like a meat shield into an argument about wasting resources on unnecessary personal plane trips.
I cannot out-explain bad faith racist bullshit.
"Oop! I said something reeeeeeaally racist and now no one wants to talk to me! They must be BAD FAITH. I will not think critically about this ever! Yipee!!"
I am not swifts toes. Fuck off.
I did read what you wrote. And I have no idea what you think the actual problem is or what the solution would be.
And since I've asked you to tell me and you refuse, I don't think you actually know. Hence you being here in bad faith.
By the way, I can name precisely two Taylor Swift songs, I've only heard one of them, and I didn't care for it. But I'm sure you'll say that's a lie.
You clearly are not reading, as you keep lying about me not explicitly telling you what the problem is.
Just checked the mirror, racist, still not swifts toes. Fuck off.
Exactly, she's a victim. A victim of the life she chose and worked really hard to achieve. I bet she cries herself to sleep every night on her Scrooge McDuck style piles of cash.
No, she's not a victim, she's a security risk. Are you not reading what I'm writing? Do you think she would be the only one hurt if there were a riot?