Taylor Swift holds a position of saintly reverence in the halls of western femininity. She’s generous, charitable, a hopeless romantic, a creator of beauty — an icon of virtue and wholesomeness in an age that tolerates such things less and less. So it’s all the more dreadful that Swift and her fans have become targets of terror.
First was a morbid knife attack that struck a Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England on July 29, robbing three girls of life: six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar. Eight children and two adults were injured. The next day, Swift released a statement describing her own shock on Instagram: “The loss of life and innocence, and the horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there.
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These were just little kids at a dance class. I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.” The stabber, 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana from Wales (born to Rwandan parents, but not an immigrant nor Muslim as rumours initially claimed), was not treated as a terror suspect by police.
Still, beyond the human-scale suffering he unleashed that day, Rudakubana tore at the fabric of society the way a terrorist does. Safety with the community, respect for the preservation of innocence and freedom to self-express in peace are essential pillars for any culture that respects women. The attack sent cracks up the columns.
Parents wondered: What next? It didn’t take long fo.