Taylor Swift's Friendship With Brittany Mahomes Doesn't Make Her 'Spineless'
Can we be friends with people who believe differently than we do?
Brian Friedman | Shutterstock It seems like Taylor Swift’s name is always in the news for some reason. But the excitement over her appearance at Thursday’s Chiefs and Ravens NFL game to support boyfriend Travis Kelce quickly turned sour when fans saw her hanging out with Brittany Mahomes at the U.S. Open.
Fans are in an uproar over Swift and Mahomes’ friendship because of Mahomes’ political affiliation.
Mahomes, wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, one of Kelce’s teammates, has frequently been seen with Swift since she began dating Kelce.
Initially, there was nothing amiss with this friendship that seemed only natural given the women’s newfound proximity to each other. However, those who once found Swift and Mahomes’ interactions endearing quickly changed their minds when they discovered Mahomes was supposedly a Trump supporter.
TMZ reported that Mahomes liked, and then unliked, an Instagram post from the former president outlining his policy plans for a potential second term. The outlet also said that Mahomes liked comments on her own Instagram post that praised her for standing up for her political beliefs.
This did not sit well with Swifties, who tend to be a liberal bunch. In 2020, Swift publicly declared her support for the Biden-Harris ticket and spoke out against Trump, much to the satisfaction of her fans. Swift has yet to endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential race.
Now that it has become clear that Swift and Mahomes are still close, fans are wondering how Swift can possibly be friends with someone who has different political views than her.
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Those who question Swift’s political allegiance over one friendship are indicating that one can only get along with those who think exactly the same as them.
It’s not surprising to see so many upset over Swift’s continuing friendship with Mahomes. After all, we live in a world where it is generally believed that you can and should only get along with those who have the same beliefs that you do.
In a New York Times opinion piece, Gus Wezerek, Ryan D. Enos and Jacob Brown addressed this very issue.
“Surveys have shown that Americans’ animosity toward the opposition political party is higher than it has been in decades,” they wrote. “At the same time, we’ve found that geographic political segregation has increased over the past 10 years.”
This, the writers said, created a two-fold issue. Americans are more politically divisive than ever before, but this problem is likely worsened by the fact that the United States is geographically divided along political lines.
Because of this, Americans are rarely exposed to people with political views different from their own because of where they live. Adding to the fact that most only seek out those with similar views through other avenues like the internet means that we are essentially living in our own echo chambers, only hearing our own ideals repeated back to us rather than being forced to consider something different.
While we all have our own closely held beliefs, it’s important to be open to hearing from others.
We all have views that we simply will not budge on, and that’s okay. In fact, it’s to be expected. The question is, how do we react to those on the other side of the issue?
Richard Weissbourd, a senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, told PsychCentral, “We need to disagree on issues so that we can learn and gain from different perspectives.”
Not having different opinions readily available to you means that you’re never exposed to any opposition. You never have the chance to consider that you might be wrong because there’s no one there to challenge your views.
Some have accused Swift of being “spineless” for refusing to cut off a friend who supports a different political candidate than she does. However, she is actually being the opposite.
By choosing to surround herself with people who believe differently than her, she is showing that she values people more than their opinions. She is also setting an example for fans, demonstrating that you do not have to only have meaningful relationships with people who agree with you on every issue.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.