here are some hyper-polluting individuals:

  • the Rolling Stones’ Boeing 767 (5,046 tonnes of CO2)
  • Lawrence Stroll (1,512 flights)
  • Thirty-nine jets linked to 30 Russian oligarchs – (30,701 tonnes of CO2)

relevant quote:

But I will say this, a movement can’t get along without a devil, and across the whole political spectrum there is a misogynistic tendency to choose a female devil, whether it’s Anita Bryant, Hillary Clinton, Marie Antoinette, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or J.K. Rowling [or Taylor Swift]. And there’s always gonna be people who seize on any opportunity to be misogynistic. So I would advise trans people and our allies [or environmentalists] to keep in mind, that J.K. Rowling [Taylor Swift] is not the final boss of transphobia [anti-environmentalism]. She’s not our devil. The devil is the Republican Party, the Conservative Party.

Natalie Wynn (emphasis and bracket text mine)

edit: if you can’t respond to this without using the c*nt expletive it is not helping your case lmao. mods are we okay with this? in any case, please don’t feed the trolls.

edit 2/FAQ: “but why did she threaten legal action against that college kid though?” still shitty, but refer to this comment for a good explanation of the context behind that decision.

She only threatened legal action since those memes started before when her flight movements got the attention of the right in an attempt to make her less credible of a voice speaking out against trump. And knowing how batshit insane trump cultists can be and how she’s basically the single most hated person of his base I’m not surprised that she feared for her security. Those records were public for years but the legal action only happened after someone created that meme and even fox news suddenly cared about plane emissions…

and another good comment

[…] For Swift, this is legitimate fear. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced actual fear for your life, but it’s crippling, and it effects your psyche. To experience that on a daily basis because of an app? You bet your goddamn ass I’m going to talk to my lawyers about what my options are.

sources/timeline for the above:

  • iAmTheTot
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    1469 months ago

    Levying valid criticism on someone is not scapegoating. You can criticize more than one person for the same thing.

    • @Geobloke
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      539 months ago

      You can, but no one is

        • @Spiralvortexisalie
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          9 months ago

          Taylor has long had criticism for her jet use, the meme explosion is just about the media wanting to use her as hype prop while at the same time her team sued to shutdown the flight tracker kid. Posts that seem obsessed with possible damage to Taylor’s reputation sound like it is coming from a PR firm. Does Op genuinely believe that someone sees a Jet Meme and think differently of Taylor? Is Op against Taylor being the poster child for Aviation reform? I do not understand why an uninterested third party feels the need to prevent Taylor from suffering consequences of her actions merely because other heads should roll first.

          ETA: I had to check if OP was a PR FIRM, check OP’s own response to Taylor Jet Memes: https://lemmy.cafe/comment/4651417

          • @kautau
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            149 months ago

            I agree with you but “lol maybe Taylor herself is a jet, that’s funny” is far from PR material

            • @Spiralvortexisalie
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              59 months ago

              I viewed it as an answer to my question “Does Op genuinely believe that someone sees a Jet Meme and think differently of Taylor?”, I only saw the post because I checked if it was PR firm.

          • @[email protected]OP
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            99 months ago

            thanks for your commentary.

            1. taylor swift absolutely should face the consequences for her actions. there is no good billionaire.
            2. these memes kicked off in 2022, and Swift reduced jet use (significantly, but not perfectly) in response, something i have never seen from any other individual. she is still worthy of criticism but i question if what she is getting is proportionate.
            3. it is now 2024. i am concerned to see that Fox News is using this debacle to discredit her (good and positive) call to increase voter participation.
            • @Droggelbecher
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              139 months ago

              She isn’t getting the most hate because she is the worst offender, she is getting the most hate because she is the most famous and most beloved offender right now. People already hate the likes of Musk. Not saying this is the only reason and there’s no sexism etc involved, but it certainly is part of it. And I’d argue if calling attention to rich people’s environment sins, it’s going to get more attention the more famous and well liked the offender is. It’s ‘yes ALL billionaires are bad, even the one who’s likeable and pretty and makes good music and never says unhinged right wing stuff’.

        • Annoyed_🦀
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          229 months ago

          Totally no one memed Jeff Bezos nor Zark Muckerberg nor Tonald Drump. No one.

        • @gmtom
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          69 months ago

          No one memed on Elon when he shut down his tracker?

          Yes they did? When he announced he was buying twitter/everyone/ was miming on him because they knew he was buying it to shut down that account.

      • @BluesF
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        609 months ago

        The only reason this has blown up is because she threatened that tracker with legal action. It’s the Streisand effect 100%. The same shit happend when Elon Musk shut down the account that was tracking him.

      • @Odelay42
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        139 months ago

        Objectively and demonstrably false

    • @Poppa_Mo
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      129 months ago

      This isn’t wrong, but the uptick in these memes coincides ridiculously with Trumps recent desire to latch on to her name.

      The narrative is constantly being spun by these fucking goons.

      • @474D
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        299 months ago

        The uptick is due to her threatening legal action against the flight tracker dude and being all over TV for football this season. I find it hard to believe the trumpers give a shit about the environment. But I suppose they could hop on the bandwagon if it fits their “enemy”

        • @Stovetop
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          9 months ago

          They do give a shit about people who give a shit about the environment, at least.

          Following the whole Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce/Superbowl nonsense where conservatives were worried it would provide a platform for Swift to be more vocal about her opposition to Trump, this whole “scandal,” if one can call it that, is mighty convenient in that it drowns out any other message she would have to say.

          Now if she says anything against Trump, anyone can just point to her jets and claim “Democrats are supposed to care about the environment, yet Taylor Swift can’t stop flying everywhere in her two private jets. Is a hypocrite someone you should take political advice from?”

        • @[email protected]OP
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          9 months ago

          this is a common misconception i am seeing, where people are getting the timeline reversed.

          The uptick in memes kicked off most significantly in December, and while, yes, the cease and desist was embarrassing fuel for the fire, there is no evidence that it was causal in any way.

          • @474D
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            79 months ago

            Please show me an onslaught of memes even 1/10 comparable from December to this past month. I’ll wait. Just because Trump is shit doesn’t mean we stop criticizing others who are wrong as well, even if they are against him. Trump is a billionaire asshole, Swift is a billionaire asshole, neither gets a pass.

            • @[email protected]OP
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              9 months ago

              will you actually change your position if i provide the requested information?

              because here you go. documentation of an onslaught of conspiracy memes tracing back to September 2023 but continuing into December. and, as you correctly note, it transitions to the airplane memes again in late January 2024.

              edit: make no mistake, i do not defend her. just clarifying the order in which things occurred. conservative anti-Swift sentiment was strong well before the Sweeney cease and desist, which provided the strong foundation for recent trends.

              • @474D
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                69 months ago

                Thank you for providing that first source with no mention of plane memes at all, which is the entire point of the conversation.

                • @[email protected]OP
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                  9 months ago

                  i mean good news if you are looking for a significant numbers plane memes in December 2023 you are chatting with the choir lol. i don’t claim that those exist in any significant number at that time so i think there was some misunderstanding and we may agree on this point.

                  my analysis is that a resurgence of plane memes arose out of pre-2024 conspiracy sentiment, to put it shortly. this is in parallel with Pappa_Mo’s comment. i hope we can recconnect and see eye to eye on this. because yeah i do agree that there was a 2024 uptick in memes, though i had originally worded it in a “fuel-to-the-fire” way, your wording is not wrong.

                  • @474D
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                    89 months ago

                    I’m not denying that conservatives haven’t targeted her. I’m saying she drew fire from both sides and it’s not fair to write it off as just trumpers because she deserves flak from both sides with her shitty practices.