It's an unfortunate facet of pop culture idolatry that the most dedicated fans -- the ones who start all-caps Facebook comment wars, those who physically follow the subjects of their devotion on the road just to scream about them in large groups -- sometimes actually end up ruining their idols for everyone else.
Whether it's the sheer volume of the yelling or some other distasteful attribute, the aura (if you will) of their rabid fandom can actually distract to the point that it overshadows the beloved person or entity; it becomes difficult to judge or discuss the figure at hand's true qualities without taking into account the unpleasantness of his or her most fervent followers.
The most recently visible instance of this, of course, is the worst of the Bernie Bros -- Sanders supporters whose penchant for misogyny and verbal abuse have all but drowned out actual discourse about the candidate's policies. Another, perhaps less weighty example: Juggalos. Does anyone know if ICP's music is any good? I honestly can't recall a time I've purposefully listened to it. I'm pretty sure I don't like it, but at this point that's hard to separate from the approximately 500,000 terrible associations I already have with their fanbase.
Well, friends, this is an exciting day: A bar has been lowered; a new archetype cemented. Let May 24, 2016 go down in history as the day we learned about the neo-Nazis who are also die-hard Swifties.
Yes, according to Broadly, "Nazis and members of the 'alt right' — an Internet subculture that is best described as the venn diagram of hipster culture and white supremacy — have been spreading a conspiracy theory that [Taylor] Swift is a covert Nazi."
"Firstly, Taylor Swift is a pure Aryan goddess, like something out of classical Greek poetry. Athena reborn. That's the most important thing," explains Andre Anglin, the writer of the white supremacist blog the Daily Stormer. "It is also an established fact that Taylor Swift is secretly a Nazi and is simply waiting for the time when Donald Trump makes it safe for her to come out and announce her Aryan agenda to the world. Probably, she will be betrothed to Trump's son, and they will be crowned American royalty."
Cool theory, huh? In case you were unsure about this Anglin guy, here is another fun quote to help, uh, sculpt your feelings about him:
Anglin believes Swift Nazi memes may have existed since her "Teardrops on My Guitar" days. "Some believe it was meme magic that made her famous—though no one can be certain," he says. "We are certain that as soon as Nazis saw her, they were magnetically drawn to her sculpted Aryan form and angelic demeanor."
Meanwhile, more than 19,000 people are members of a Facebook group called Taylor Swift for Fascist Europe, to which they post memes pairing images of Swift and quotes about racial hygiene and the like. See below:
