Taylor Swift and the American Propaganda Machine

Go to our sponsor betterhelp.com/Wisecrack for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help.
Are you being brainwashed by Taylor Swift?
Approximately twenty percent of Americans believe Taylor Swift is being weaponized by the government for political ends. This is absurd, but actually kind of understandable given the American government's long history of using culture to influence minds. But what if, when we talk about propaganda, we focus on the wrong thing? That is to say, what if propaganda is even more insidious than some kind of Pentagon-sponsored brainwashing, and what if Taylor Swift can explain how? Let's find out in this video How Taylor Swift Explains American Propaganda.
Support us on Patreon! ► / wisecrack
Join this channel to get access to perks ► / @wisecrackedu
=== Watch More Episodes! ===
What Conspiracy Theories Get Right ► • What Conspiracy Theori...
How Neoliberalism Became Culture ► • How Neoliberalism Beca...
Celebrities Suck at Politics ► • Celebrities Suck At Po...
Written by Amanda Scherker
Hosted by Helen Floersh
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by Mark Potts
Produced by Olivia Redden
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
#taylorswift #culture #wisecrack
© 2024 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming

[@coolbrotherf127]

I can't escape the cancer that is betterhelp. When will these channels realize how unethical that company is?

[@lymnjuice]

PREACH! Really does not look good for a progressive channel to be promoting such shitty company. Undermines their credibility.

[@jojox3321]

They are not unethical at all. Any prove?

[@vanessamaldonado5877]

@@jojox3321 Owned by an Israeli who worked in the IDF not only as he was required to but made a career in the surveillance department, and we know what the state of ISrael is doing to the remaining Palestinian population in Gaza, so, yes, is unethical.

[@jnb22019]

​@@vanessamaldonado5877wtf, that's not proof.

[@agentzapdos4960]

When their money stops being the same in function as everyone else's money.

[@Fun_GPT]

Betterhelp: The Uber of Psychology

[@lephtovermeet]

It's a great service that totally didn't violate HIPAA laws... Psych!

[@BluntBrazenCurt_Evolved]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJu8o5x4a5qHjtksi=CrY6mcMv5Rz517cl

[@user-rd5ue6sh2s]

It’s the only mental health services available to me because of where i live in the Middle East. It’s not perfect but I’m so glad i have it.

[@lyricbot8513]

I can't believe youtubers are promoting it after the backlash only 2 years ago

[@brendanmcculloch2406]

​@@user-rd5ue6sh2syou would be better off without THAT service. they actively do far more harm than good

[@jk_lol9266]

Great video Wisecrack! George Carlin once said "You don't need a formal conspiracy when interests converge."

[@Arkantolas]

so everyone just... forgot about betterhelp and the shit they do? great.

[@kf8113]

It wouldn't hurt to give us all a reminder of why...

[@alphamorion4314]

What do they do?

[@FirestormX9]

@@alphamorion4314 Tbh, it isn't that scandalous. Back in 2018, it was discovered that the user data collected from their app is being accessed by big pharma. And big pharma used that to market specific products to these individuals. The only thing that Betterhelp did not do was notify the people that this is going happen, they thought it would be implicit. Every single bad experience that an average citizen may have had with big pharma can also be had with Betterhelp. Is that truly surprising?

[@FirestormX9]

@@alphamorion4314 can I even comment here.. Jesus... They didn't notify people that their collected data could be accessed by big pharm. It should be implicit but allegedly not. People got upset about something that they are casually practicing elsewhere anyway.

[@daudimasinde6280]

@@alphamorion4314 They were caught selling confidential patient information to other companies.

[@gamingblob2215]

So we’re back to promoting betterhelp, huh.

[@D33pEndR3cords]

😅 mmmmmm maybe

[@rickyspanish4792]

betterhelp is scammy.

[@aeoligarlic4024]

I've seen a video talking about this! Somehow palpatine (better help) returned, and people just massively forgot how terrible they are. I know making a buck in youtube is challenging, but if a sponsor is this bad people really should stop..

[@PeterSchmuttermaier]

I am asking honestly: What makes BetterHelp so terrible? I would like to know, because I am using their service and it's working well for me. Do I need to feel bad?

[@YourCapyBro_windows95_3DPipes]

Unfortunately.....

[@Raziel312]

"The future is products. I'm a product. You're a product. The end of the world.. is a product!"

[@schtuff.8207]

And we got a Fallout clip in this :) chilling

[@Bojoschannel]

That's commodity fetishism for you

[@coolioso808]

Brought to you by Capitalism! We are in Late Stage Capitalism, and it's ugly! Anybody want system change? This capitalist game sucks. I'd prefer a Library Economy or one based on Ubuntu Contributionism.

[@Raziel312]

Because I'm old, I remember music artists in the 90s were preoccupied to no small extent with questions of authenticity, and when someone could be considered a "sellout". Now? Artists look forward to when their music will be used in a car commercial. They put that in their career plan.

[@ftftyffghfvghfcht6701]

good example of that attitude in the modern day is coldplay. i think they only recently agreed for the first time ever to use their music in DHL and BMW ads but both were in exchange for fancy climate change carbon footprint reducing tech for their tour

[@_leivo]

Sadly musicians had other ways to make money back then

[@neuroisis85]

Yea a lot of Rock, Metal and Punk bands were that way. Pop artists have always been the definition of “sellout”.

[@jamesmorgan3623]

I feel you're overlooking Moby.

[@clairesmithe]

Travis Kelce did a commercial for 2 in 1. A car commercial would be legit in comparison.

[@fatcole1152]

Taylor Swift, like many performing artists is a separate fictional character divorced from their real persona. Just as Freddie Mercury was really Farrokh Bulsara, there is a video of him on KZbin in which he explains this during an interview. The person people think they know as Taylor Swift is just an onstage persona and it has to be that way otherwise she would have lost her mind trying to maintain a marketable character a long time ago. Which is why this talk of intimacy and diaries with relation to Swift's onstage persona is so incredibly cringeworthy. Swift's marketing abilities are on a psychopathic level.

[@dinglesworld]

Yeah…I have the strange suspicion you and “swifties” have been on the internet just a little much. 👀💀

[@ONETEE.HENDRIX]

@@dinglesworldbruh what

[@superonion3736]

Yessss, i love how fucking psycho her marketing is, is nuts how the world works and her marketing just comes on top of it all using Our disgusting society as it’s motor force

[@ExterminatorElite]

This nails what feels so weird about the parasocial pull of Swift. Swift is a brand, a persona as you say. This isn't at all exceptional for entertainers. But brands don't have diaries, they don't have inner lives. A persona is played by a person, but a persona isn't a person. The intimacy is an act, and apparently a very compelling one for some. For me, it's hitting the uncanny valley.

[@ONETEE.HENDRIX]

@@ExterminatorElite totally agree.. and you can see the effect its had on the youth! its p crazy

[@Moravia90s]

Helen is back!!!! 🎉🎉🎉

[@cjmedson]

Wait for her final words though!

[@themasstermwahahahah]

+

[@intellectually_lazy]

from troy?

[@rodylermglez]

Honestly it's less of a "Swift issue" or a particular celebrity issue, or even a singular corporative brand issue, but more of a consumerist systemic one just like Adorno predicted. It just happens to be that, to the credit of Swifties who prop her, Taylor is VERY good at navigating and playing the neoliberal capitalist game, but ultimately everyone plays it because if you don't you are apparently threatened to be inexorably out of a livelihood. Thusly, everyone gives in to collectively make the world a worse place by bowing to the capitalist and consumerist urge. Even this channel does it. Yeah, by getting sponsored by betterhelp which is notoriously a corporation that cares zero about the mental health of their workers and clients (they are not even patients) and cares only for profiting on desperate people to consume their "product" (which is absolutely not an online mental health help service, mhm). But I get it; Wisecrack also needs to eat. It's not like there are other more ethical sponsors out there, but, too bad that they don't pay as well, right? They just play the game better, right? 😉😉😉

[@superonion3736]

This, Swift it’s a true mastermind of this disgusting game!!!

[@GeteMachine]

It helps that she had a wealthy, banker father and all the connections to get with every other marketing team that floods the market with her.

[@GeteMachine]

Sounds like a whataboutism rant.

[@TheTm9090]

Truth.

[@Me-vn3gz]

EXACTLY

[@Bungadood]

oh no, wisecrack posted an objective analysis about taylor swift. i hope they bought swifty insurance for their company.

[@KateKuehl]

Nothing is objective. Question reality.

[@Azarath_Metrion_Zinthos]

U r naive if you think ur opinion about someone else is objective...💀 This so called "analysis" is also an opinion of someone..that doesn't make it objective...you don't know Taylor Swift in person to know for sure she's everything you have portrayed her to be.

[@intellectually_lazy]

@@Azarath_Metrion_Zinthos reowww

[@NerdStuffGaming]

No such thing as an ethical billionaire

[@calebsmith7179]

I am of the same mind. Being a billionaire is immoral. But J.K. Rowling did show us that one can become a billionaire through ethical means, as in, she didn't exploit anyone to become a billionaire. After becoming a billionaire, she gave so much of it away that she lost her billionaire status. Even though I lost respect for her because of her views on transgender people; I still admire her for how she handled being a billionaire. Will Taylor Swift follow in her footsteps? (as in purposely lose her billionaire status) I suppose only time will tell.

[@brendanmcculloch2406]

​@@calebsmith7179your premise is wrong.

[@calebsmith7179]

@brendanmcculloch2406 and I disagree with you. Glad we could have this conversation.

[@brendanmcculloch2406]

@@calebsmith7179 the fact that you believe that she became a billionaire ethically shows how little value there is in what you think

[@calebsmith7179]

@@brendanmcculloch2406 if only I cared what you thought of me.

[@matthewdavenport4030]

"I open up my diary and share it with you" bet you won't open up that wallet though

[@aspecificafricanyamdish5271]

She donates to charities, does she not?

[@selmaferdjioui5873]

@@aspecificafricanyamdish5271she does :)

[@matthewdavenport4030]

@@aspecificafricanyamdish5271 most of the obscenely rich donate to charities, and I assure you it's not rooted in benevolence lol Public image, tax savings, all kinds of gains for donating to charities.

[@lysanamcmillan7972]

@@aspecificafricanyamdish5271 Food pantries in the cities she tours through get fat checks. It may be she does other things privately, but of course, no way of knowing. If anyone sassed George Michael for being rich and not helping, they ate crow by the barrel when his real dealings came out after he died. I do not know if Taylor is that charitable. I won't guess, but she was raised rich so there's a coin flip. "Grateful to have so share with those who don't" or "I earned it, it's mine, I do enough to cut my taxes."

[@matthewdavenport4030]

@@aspecificafricanyamdish5271 Rich folks have plenty of reasons to donate to charities other than benevolence. Tax write offs, public image boost, etc.

[@darejohnson2251]

Loved this breakdown of how the commoditification of art makes the product easily malleable to propaganda

[@Sirmenonottwo]

I don't think art needs to be commodified in order to be used by the government or government affiliated agencies as propaganda. It's also probably the individuals right to commodify their art one would think.

[@rafresendenrafresenden.1644]

Probably the most capitalist artist I know.

[@FirestormX9]

then you hardly really 'know' artists. Because Banksy takes the cake for this title.

[@Leahcimmichael]

Peak white feminism artist too

[@ONETEE.HENDRIX]

@@FirestormX9because they’re price gouging the rich??

[@culture-jamming-rhizome]

@@FirestormX9 Do you know the anonymous person called Banksy? Banksy is probably living comfortably off some pieces sold by the pest control office which could be argued as hypocrisy. However a lot of the work is on walls (some are torn out of walls for sale by others) which makes no money and the visible disgust with consumerism, the anti-war and anti-capitalist messages portrayed (and being anonymous) puts my view of Banksy far from the "most capitalist artist I know". So far I see Andy Warhols representing consumerism with no critique as much more deserving of the title although I don't personally know any major artists. This can all be said to be subjective but I just don't see any value in Warhols art.

[@ziiclmn]

truthfully. i thought this essay would go a different way.

[@dentistrider3874]

"The Culture Industry"... what a disgusting idea.

[@19ars92]

I would say mostly in the US Culture it’s relevant only IF you can make profit out of it.

[@dentistrider3874]

@@19ars92 The problem is we not only manufacture culture as a commodity on the market, we also export it to the rest of the world. And unfortunately, they buy it up...

[@19ars92]

@@dentistrider3874 Right, if you can’t consume it, is culture worth it? if you think about it, many countries around the world know about other countries through the perspective of the US, a simple example is how most of the world makes American style Pizza and not the Italian way, perhaps because for Italians is a cultural traditional cuisine but for American corporations simply fast food.

[@timothyjohnson8247]

Can you guys stop being sponsored by Better Help?

[@EricGranata]

Maybe if enough of us join their Patreon for as little as $1/month.

[@deathcrunch9020]

This channel is nearly dead and complete dogwater anyway. Oh wow another diverse podcast of fat black lesbians talking about what Jackie Chan movie is most problematic. That theyre actively commiting fraud and damaging peoples mental health is zero suprise to me.

[@rickyspanish4792]

@@EricGranata chicken-egg.. I'm not going to donate to a company that supports betterhelp.

[@compfycloud9877]

Don't hate the player. hate the game. You get +1 patron. Here I come! who's with me? But to be fair, you guys aren't wrong. I thought better help was cool, until I talked to someone that had experience with better help on the work end of it. Said it doesn't give people the real help they need.

[@EricGranata]

@@compfycloud9877 🫡

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Helen! Welcome back! Love your videos as a host🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@eiondonnelly9289]

Is this why Michael is able to capitalize on the plight of the bald and blur the line of consumer and creator during Wisecrack Live stream?

[@wendypierce5621]

Actually, M&M’s rejected ET and Reeses Pieces took the opportunity to jump into the candy stratosphere.

[@aaronh6734]

Thought I was going crazy for a second. Reese's Pieces have no chocolate.

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

​@@aaronh6734oh it does have a small coating of chocolate within the candy coating. Noooooooope. I fact checked myself and apparently that another mandella effect relating to me. I'm in this section of the multiverse, that didn't properly reeces the pieces... Sigh ... Wheeeee. That was literally one of my favorite candies as a kid. I know they had chocolate where I'm from, but that's not here. Lame.

[@intellectually_lazy]

@@aaronh6734 i didn't think i was crazy. i thought they were stupid. i still do. that's not what she said or why

[@UCjNrKLyRJI-abFA8qiNo92Q]

Better Help is ilegal in my country, you need a medical license emitted by the public health care system to give any psychological advise. how are these ads allowed inside of google's, so weird

[@ExterminatorElite]

Swift must be an acquired (and apparently somewhat addictive) taste. In all clips here I get that distinct feeling of someone who's "on", really on. Skill and savviness isn't to be discouraged (much less in women), and she clearly is savvy, but there's also something uncanny about her. I'm watching someone who is so clearly a living brand attempt, apparently successfully, to pass off as authentic, to cultivate parasocial closeness en masse. I don't think she's cooperating in some covert government operation, but obviously she is her own self-promoting operation.

[@9000ck]

I don't really have much sympathy for any billionaire. Even one that is personally inoffensive. I would love it if she read Mark Fisher and Byung-Chul Han though and went through a burnout. The thing is, being a billionaire means that being burntout doesn't carry the risk of homelessness.

[@coolioso808]

Billionaires shouldn't exist and I don't mean people who are billionaires should cease to exist, I'm saying the capitalist system which creates billionaires, at the same time, massive numbers of people in poverty, debt and war-torn areas is part of the same extreme problem. It is unhealthy for society to have billionaires as much as it is to have millions in poverty. The problem is capitalism. And we can't solve that problem unless we build a better system from the bottom-up. It's going to take time, but if we start small, locally and collaboratively, we can change the world. See One Small Town is Changing The World, Michael Tellinger and crew are out of the starting blocks. Check out Zeitgeist: Requiem trailer, the film is soon to release and will be followed by an "Integral" new system change plan for people and communities who want to move beyond bloody capitalism.

[@ReclaimedDasein]

A really good and informative video. You forgot to mention that Taylor Swift's father bought her a music studio with his millions gained through working at Merrill Lynch... but all and all, great job.

[@selmaferdjioui5873]

buying a music studio doesn’t guarantee you success. sure she had some financial help from her parents at the beginning but she became famous bc people enjoyed her music, that’s all.

[@ReclaimedDasein]

@@selmaferdjioui5873 Sure. There are thousands of better artists with better music and better voices. Why does she so popular? Because Daddy bought her a music label. Look, people can like whatever music they want. I like Rise Against which is shitty pop political punk. It's NOT good music. It IS music I like. That's an ENTIRELY SEPARATE from the issue that the ONLY REASON YOU KNOW WHO TAYLOR SWIFT IS IS BECAUSE HER RICH DADDY BOUGHT HER INTO FAME. It's the same deal with Paris Hilton. Do you remember her? She was rich. She decided to be famous. She stopped like being famous when she didn't want to do it any more. There's FUNDAMENTALLY no difference between Paris Hilton and T-Swift except T-Swift is marginally more skilled due to effort. That's it.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

@@selmaferdjioui5873 Y'know what? Two of my favourite artists owned their own studios too. Queen and David Bowie. They bought those studios *after* they'd worked their way to they top with talent, innovation, and long years of hard work. Their daddies had nothing to do with their success. I miss the days when music was made as something other than a commodity, and artists considered their work to be art, rather than a product.

[@lysanamcmillan7972]

@@selmaferdjioui5873 Also? He did no such thing. The studio already existed. He owned maybe 3%. Even Wikipedia knows this. The gossip? NSM.

[@lysanamcmillan7972]

@@ReclaimedDasein WRONG. A fledgling studio Swift's father never owned heard her perform and it went from there. Also? Paris Hilton remained famous if you were one of the people who go to Ibiza clubs and heard her DJ. She vanished from American media because who gives a damn about rich people vacationing in Spain, am I right?

[@lesslycarthan956]

Taylor Swift comes from a wealthy family she can talk a good middle class game but like any business you need seed money and I know I had an inde label from 1987-2006 I used credit cards to promote my first 2 CDs and lucked up with freaknic and the Olympics in Atlanta from 94-97 if it wasn't for that I was already working 60 hrs a week to pay studio copies promotion lawyer retainer rent and bills.when you come from wealthy 🤑 all you need to do is show your pretty little self up and perform ❤

[@stickynorth]

Just like Beyonce who's dad was a Xerox exec I believe... Gee I wonder if having CEO or least Corporate Board parents helped them get ahead and master the music game? Especially when both were known to work for their daughters on the business end... So in other words? Like Jamie Spears, Britney is/was basically there to make an old man rich as much as anyone else... As was Joe Simpson in the case of Ashley and Jessica too... And even Kylie Minogue I believe...

[@shybard]

It's capitalism all the way down.

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

Late stage, terminal, all American, unsustainable and with literally zero concern for the world they leave for tomorrow to inherit, greed is good and capital is god, rearranging deck chairs and polishing brass on the Titanic, good old fashion, toxic, viral, and cancerous: capitalism, fellow bashful minstrel. panem et circenses, e pluribus unum, in cash we trust. "AMERICAAAAAA F*** YEEEEEEEEAH!"

[@johnstanczyk4030]

Sergeant York is a true story. Yes, a movie about a different subject could have been made, but the very religious Alvin York really did fight in the Argonne and do some crazy stunts while taking Hill 223. He was like the prototype version of Audie Murphy.

[@sageholla]

I’m a huge swiftie and I support every word of this video - some of us contain layers… you’re right to be afraid tho. 😅

[@intellectually_lazy]

ok, dunky

[@DiploMatt623]

I love how the barbie movie properly shows the degradation of our language by falsely calling people fascists.

[@celiacresswell6909]

There are two kinds of fascists: fascists and anti fascists

[@taxirob2248]

When "I know what you are, but what am I?" becomes an acceptable debate tactic we are really greasing the rails toward complete collapse. Fascists are fascists, and fascists calling everyone else fascists are still fascists.

[@intellectually_lazy]

there's enough real fascists

[@taxirob2248]

@@intellectually_lazy what should we call them if "fascist" is a useless term?

[@intellectually_lazy]

@@taxirob2248 who said fascist is a useless term? not me. i know what a fascist is, trump followers, for instance, bolsinaro, mohdi, marie lapenn, netenyahu. refer to umberto eco's checklist, please

[@RodrigoBarbosaBR]

This video reminded me so much of Louis Althusser's book "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses"

[@spacewad8745]

idk capitalism leads to some weird results

[@vanessamaldonado5877]

Only if you dont know how capitalism works and who it benefits, we literally had hundreds of years of capitalist history to know where it always lead, so maybe pick up a history book?

[@aeoligarlic4024]

It leads to mid non-groundbreaking art tbh. Just look at those corporate stock illustration and stock music

[@aeoligarlic4024]

​@@vanessamaldonado5877 dang, chill... spacewad is just having an epiphany

[@nalday2534]

​@@vanessamaldonado5877 aren't you the person who believes that human being are inherently greedy and it's in their nature to screw each other over?

[@demeterontheinternet]

Tbf the hitting “I know nothing” is Socrates vibes - it’s like when you think it can’t get worse it gets worse. We need an exit plan for this capitalism business

[@thestrangeone5921]

On the bright side, wisecrack is getting a lot of engagement on this video lmao

[@intellectually_lazy]

so?

[@haroldoftherock8973]

Her fans were foolish enough to buy the same albums twice wow...

[@kevinmcqueenie7420]

Rewriting Animal Farm to be anti-communist? Um, have you read the original book?

[@lysanamcmillan7972]

You haven't. Orwell pointed out how Lenin's goals and intentions were re-written by his successors with malicious intent. Snowball's manifesto was closer to Marx and Engels. The pigs who usurped him twisted it into what is frankly a neo-fascist wet dream.

[@Sebas-fu1if]

Food for thought, thanks for the video!

[@sleepysteev2735]

7:31 Correction: Reese's Pieces do not contain chocolate

[@comedienne_historian]

anyone remember that old Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoon where they sung “a-haunting we will go”?

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Algorithm bump for engagement!

[@FirestormX9]

This channel kinda needs it and you know what, it's not a total sell out type of a video. They still keep their standards.

[@intellectually_lazy]

@@FirestormX9 tf you talking about? they have over 3million subscribers

[@FirestormX9]

@@intellectually_lazy tf are YOU talking about? Do you even know the monthly view count channels need? Do you even know how many views they get at the time of posting that vastly uninformed comment?

[@rozatl]

Helen, I absolutely adorno you... lol silly joke. I apreciate so much your commitment to analize the Taylor Swift fenomenon. Thank you. Because I have always felt something suspicious of the way she presents herself, and now I know why. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be the most rich person in the planet, we all need money to live in this society, I perfectly understand the Betterhelp situation, but I'm more of an ars gratia artis kind of girl. I love when artists do their thing and don't give a fuck about sales or pleasing the public. Because then you can express all of your feelings and emotions without restiction, from the most beautiflu ones to the most disgusting and sinful ones. And I do love some darkness and sin. I think those extreme artistic explorations can help society in the long run than plain, simple heartbreak and "you do you girl" kind of art. Honestly, sometimes I'm overwhelmed with all this love for Taylor Swift. I went to a party where someone put the obligatory Taylor Swift hour and was impressed to hear a girl wearing an Iron Maiden hoodie saying "There is a Taylor Swift song for any occasion" and it really made me feel out of place. But, now I understand why absolutely everybody (but my husband and I) really like Taylor Swift. Thank you for making me understand more this crazy world we live in. Love from Mexico City.

[@Lonesurvivor256]

Just here to tell you I giggled at your adorno joke. 😂

[@simplethings3730]

I think forming political opinions based on popular culture puts a glaring spotlight on the intelligence of the average voter.

[@pavelandreev4727]

What intelligence?

[@intellectually_lazy]

don't break your arm off

[@TheDevilsbard]

Whoa whoa whoa. Reese’s pieces are not chocolate.

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

Not in this multiverse

[@stickynorth]

Candy at best, nighmare-ish ultra processed food stuff that should be banned or at least contain a carcinogen warning on it at its worst...

[@kaleidokai11]

what an incredibly brave video to post

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

I hope they contacted Miss Swift behind the scenes so the drama that results wont get out of hand and be on the up and up lol But seriously don't she like mess brands and people up?

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

3:08 me too! Charlie chaplin is classic! Which is your favorite film of him? Mine is the circus!

[@T_Dot94]

Her answers to those question were just ugh. Capitalism and this entrepreneurial mindset has infected her personality.

[@stickynorth]

She was born into it... Rich executive parents. As if they were going to let their daughter not be a billionaire from her talent. If anyone could commodify pain and misery it would be the children of corporate raider types...

[@Petch85]

Lets hope this get big for the Swifties, I thought it was a good video and it might help people understand the world they are living in.

[@Garbimba1900]

Hi Helen!!! So happy to see you again!

[@somerszaule]

How did she get away with trademarking "players gonna play" 😭

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

I believe, she may or may not have accidentally unintentionally allegedly stolen that long along with others from the hook or chorus from a not where Swifty level fame and finances. I think he was from Houston maybe? He sued, she countersued and money wins. The end. "what is your advice to someone wanting to become a songwriter?" "Get a good lawyer."

[@stickynorth]

A good lawyer like she said... Very gross... As much as Paris Hilton's unsuccessful bid for "That's Hot"...

[@GeteMachine]

If she copyrights shake-it off next....

[@GeteMachine]

Only Taylor Swift can copyright something she never came up with. 💀💀Now everyone has to pay her people to just use a phrase.

[@selmaferdjioui5873]

@@GeteMachinei’m pretty sure she already has 😂

[@veritasnon]

Babe, wake up... New BetterHelp Propaganda just dropped

[@WisecrackEDU]

talked at length about this on our stream today, fwiw.

[@Malcadon]

While I understand her appeal with her fans, I never related to her as she feels too old to sing about middle-school drama. As for those people who think she is a psyops, those people are so desperate for the touch of grass, that to them, EVERYTHING is a psyops... I mean: EVERYTHING!!

[@GeteMachine]

I honestly think she's mentally stuck in junior high-school. Her songs sound like she never got over a lot.

[@SpaceTimeTurtle]

I've tried to listen to TS's music several times. And I've always found it to be painfully average and surface level catchy. I think TS plays the game(s) better than anyone else, and thus is paid handsomely for it: well done.

[@GeteMachine]

One of the wealthiest mediocre artists who made it work. Unfortunately. She just knows how to compensate it with money and the business.

[@pavelandreev4727]

Same here, a few years ago I gave it a try as I kept hearing how great she is but couldn't see it. It sounds like any other song that would play on a pop radio or in store, nothing remotely remarkable, a few catchy lines and that's it. I don't mind people liking the music or the singer, I just don't get how they get so crazy about her. Videos like this help me understand though.

[@jacobturnerart]

It doesn't matter how mediocre Swift is because the PR machine has told us that she's a genius.

[@brandonmaddox4862]

@@jacobturnerartI’m Tired of being told that she’s some modern day icon

[@taxirob2248]

@@jacobturnerart her twelve songwriting collaborators are geniuses, they've hitched their wagon to the right horse

[@RaySquirrel]

There is a point where Helen uses the phrase “lived-experience.” “Lived-experience” as opposed to what? “Unlived-experience?” If you’ve had an experience it is implied that you lived through it.

[@Alaryicjude]

I TRULY hate TS and now you've given me more concrete reasons as to why I've always instinctively hated her. The more of her I see the more intense my instincts.

[@comicbrandon]

Michael, your hair is back!

[@WhenIsItUs]

When someone shoots somebody, we don't throw the gun in jail. We look at the person wielding it. Who is wiedling these media tools? Who are the ones with the money? I dont really listen to her music so I know nothing about her. I'll leave that to the people who feel influenced by her to decide.

[@ocumstweezers]

Taylor could, but hasn't commoditized her fans. Every dollar they have spent on her products, merchandise, performance or media she has more than earned. I'm a socialist, but she is the only billionaire that I truly feel can't have too much money. As long as she continues to earn it by being an ethical entrepreneur.

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

Bad gun! 😂 Although to be pedantic the gun is locked up... In evidence.

[@theTeleforce]

...Huh. It's not like the CIA needed to buy the rights to Animal Farm to make sure it was anti-Soviet, unless the producers were going to significantly alter the story.

[@GeteMachine]

She is the modern embodiment of mass consumerism, and how to flood the market. Wish people would call her out more. She is wasteful, very for-profit motivated, and her people actually try to crackdown on press that doesn't outwardly praise her at all times.

[@brandonmaddox4862]

Flooding the market often leads to consumer exhaustion and a watering down of quality, but as long as her followers, because fans don’t act like hers do, she’s basically a brand that pumps out middle of the road pop and as long as magazines and you tube bloggers keep propping her up as some modern day icon (which makes me sick to think of) she’ll be around

[@stickynorth]

T-Swift is the most calculated pop entertainer in history and I do mean that as both an compliment and a slam... I've never seen an artist who is so viciously pro-business, especially her own and while that's admirable from a personal power standpoint it's also sickening when it leads to an eerie Cult of Personality that rivals T-Rump at this point... People paying thousands to see her in stadium with 70,000 people to me seems insane. As much as I love music I can't think of an artist dead or alive worth that kind of cash especially one so meh... $100? Sure why not... $1000? AYFKM?

[@GeteMachine]

People pretending she is a self-made girlboss, when her father is a banker and grew up already wealthy, and has people who plant her in the media all the time now. And of course liberals are in-love with her, as they all are in the media. They love her for the exact reasons why people think shes fake and her fans will defend anything she does to gouge them of cash, and they will by her re-re-reeleases to boost her sales, then brag about her sales.

[@WeHadEro]

Love the vid! It's so difficult to tell about propaganda to people... Its reinvigorating seen some good work about the theme.... Love Helen!

[@DC-wk7yo]

Does anyone have source for that Hays quote? I cannot find it

[@globalrevolution]

"They rewrote Animal Farm to make it anticommunist?" Did you read the original?

[@alejandroramirez8233]

Glad to see Helen back

[@Pooh0Bear8]

Insightful, and thought provoking

[@Jason-dh3ku]

Debate Destiny

[@SamHeesen]

Great work guys, one of your best.

[@matthewmoser1852]

Wow! 10/10 vid! More please!

[@osvaldorivera1134]

Great breakdown!

[@alittlewasted3869]

Is anything propaganda if everything is propaganda?

[@Catthepunk]

This is why i am trying to work on decomercialising art, and making being an artist a viable thing without people having to sell their art.

[@The_Broke_Gamer]

Swift's celebrity is so powerful that her fans will happily do whatever it takes to please her.

[@DanielKingMusic01]

I was about to watch and then I saw the better help ad.

[@TheThagenesis]

I've never seen this through a neoliberal lens! this is Wisecrack at its best. providing a nudge in a new direction and food for thought!

[@Kitchwamon]

Where are you Micheaaal. Where you hiiidiiing. The swifties won't hurt yah 😈

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

I think Michael is right to fear the swifties.....

[@agnishom]

Re Betterhelp: “Capital has the ability to subsume all critiques into itself,” it reads. “Even those who would critique capital end up reinforcing it instead”

[@devantelove6546]

It shows us that some Americans are slow when it comes to propaganda and don’t look beyond the point 😂

[@stickynorth]

Bingo! I bet the vast majority don't even know that most mainstream movies are just one long product placement advertisement that is entirely paid for by corporations. Turn on any MSM from Hollywood and do the old "label to camera for 5 seconds" trick cum drinking game.. Miss Congeniality ALONE in the first 15 minutes had placements from Starbucks, Lays, Everlast, Budweiser, Pepsi, Ben & Jerry's and Swanson's Hungry Man dinners... Or the fact that if you see a glowing Apple logo in a film means that person is a hero and won't be killed due to the contracts the company makes filmmakers sign so that villains are NEVER depicted using their products on screen, only heroes who survive.. Once you see that it kinda ruins most modern plots....

[@cabthegreat87]

Didn't expect to see an old Malaysian McD ad in today's video.

[@therestingrancor8259]

0:32 How many people know this toad is Hypnotoad from Futurama? Or does everyone think it's just a generic 'mindcontrol meme'?

[@RubeusArchos]

My answer to this is Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. And our perceptions are influenced by various things. Known and unknown to us.

[@rashadb954]

Swift out here putting on a master class of how to be an effective businesswoman and artist

[@AnnPorkins]

Lovely video, and it’s great to see Helen back. She should join one of the live streams some day. I’m curious what her 666 voice would be like

[@adamiotime]

At first i was rolling my eyes at the premise of this episode... And then I ended up fully convinced.

[@nishidohellhillsruler6731]

Ha! I told you all there was something weird about "Animal Farm"! Who's crazy now, eh?

[@stickynorth]

Bingo! Want an example of real propaganda in modern times? Top Gun 2... That movie was absolute garbage but damn near cleared $1B so at least the government recruitment team got their money back and then some with that project...

[@simplethings3730]

I read the book. I didn't watch the movie. A good general rule of life. Read books. Skip movies.

[@danielschaeffer1294]

@@simplethings3730This is especially true of “1984,” which ought to be on every high school reading list.

[@darkagerush3098]

Stop doing better help sponsorship

[@7davesanchez]

Not gonna memtion the Rambo 3 dedication to "the brave Mujaheddin fighters [of Afghanistan]?"

[@floydwhatchacallit6823]

Rambo First Blood was a harsh criticism of American military, police and society. Nobody ever wants to talk about First Blood, it never fits their narrative.

[@stevecinneide8183]

I can't imagine any straight, normal guy being attracted to her physically or musically.

[@awolpeace1781]

Your local K-pop artist says 'lose lips sink ships' 😂😂😂

[@Stake2]

The logic behind (U.S.) emotionalist productions is akin to Fascism.

[@Taycatte]

Can you explain more?

[@Stake2]

In Fascism, what counts are emotions and morals, but mainly emotions. It's an antithesis to modernism because it has little faith in Enlightenment values such as reason. Instead, it's like no emotions barred in rhetoric and practice. When we consider Swift, the focus is all on what she is, what she does, and how. It's not so much on her music, structures, and mainly on an individual and their "pure" feelings. In art history, this impulse can be considered antimodernist in that it defocuses on structures (abstract representing) and reinvigorates and celebrates the individual and their emotions and morals. Walter Benjamin mentions that this yearning aligns with a thirst for something genuine and real that are impeded by modernism. That's why in a Fascist mindset according to him there's an experience of aura surrounding these phenomena that are thereby destructured.

[@liltoaster4397]

She's back!!!

[@blue51]

Anyone know where I can learn more about that CIA 1984 stuff?

[@nwsportstilidie]

Oh yes tough on crime, but crappy mass transit.

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

Ummm crappy everything really imo. That the tough on crime is for fun and profit and control of minorities and the poor.

[@awolpeace1781]

Narrative in every crime drama: all criminals are serial rapists who sell drugs to children in order to fund elder abuse crime rings.

[@notkimpine]

i got brainwashed by the fans of taylor swift because i don't like new taylor's songs anymore because i'm just fucking sick of it

[@avppr3451]

Sorry for being late, but hey Helen is back!! :)

[@simonArmenia1]

Great vid

[@BradsPitts.]

You know what’s actually propaganda? BetterHelp sponsorships

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

*Does the dance Tyler Durden does not attracting attention in the hallway with Marla Singer, and one of his many crazy laughs*

[@Uriel238]

Sponsors remind us we can't have nice things without something terrible supporting it behind the scenes.

[@johntaylor9381]

I don’t dislike Taylor Swift because I think she’s a psyop, I dislike her because I think everything she does is ostentatious.

[@elf6765o]

i love that u used the word ostentatious. every time I hear someone say it I can’t help but think “gosh people who use the word ostentatious sound so ostentatious”. and then i realize i fell for it again, and i just insulted myself. the true equalizer.

[@johntaylor9381]

@@elf6765o It’s a two-edged sword

[@Licardo7]

Better help…the company that gave free therapy to the IDF instantly

[@1cynicalsaint]

It's really disappointing to see you guys still doing spots for Better Help

[@fairycat23]

This video gets _my_ Swiftie stamp of approval. Well, except for the BetterHelp sponsorship.

[@songerie846]

Great video! Helen is awesome 😎