Person of the Year, and who it should have been

It’s hard for me to argue about Taylor Swift as Person of the Year, but I’m going to do it anyway, carefully tiptoeing to the microphone in fear.

Before the Swifties come after me, it has nothing to do with my admiration for Swift as an artist and entertainer. I have a great deal of admiration for Swift. I’ve heard little of her music because I’m old and boring, but she is certainly one of the most powerful entertainers we’ve seen in my lifetime and something in her work is resonating with millions of people, many of them young women. And as is usually the case when women like something, the backlash is pretty strong, because Nothing Female is Good.

She’s also a brilliant businesswoman and has handled her massive fame with skill. And she has graced the Person of the Year pages before: as one of the “Silence Breakers” when #MeToo hit. She’s used her mega-concerts to encourage people to register to vote and it’s always hilarious when the conspiracy theories circle over something like this.

I also want to take Swift’s side when she manages not to hit everyone within 50 yards with a baseball bat when you google her and the top seven articles are focused on her boyfriend and whether or not they’re going to get married and seriously, is there nothing better to discuss in this woman’s life?

For what it’s worth, I was absolutely in favor of the controversial decision for Gannett to hire a full-time Swift correspondent. Entertainment and culture are valid beats…