General Discussion

It isn't about whether or not one likes her music. I listen to her music. Music can be accessible to any age.

But the gross obsession over her personal life, to the point of scrutinizing friends of a friend of a boyfriend whose dog knows this girl who likes this tree, and so on. Mix in that this sort of thing now lands in the ostensibly serious media regularly (but not really, because most media - particularly online - are themselves living a prolonged adolescence. Particularly given how their socialization, behaviors, and subject matter would frequently not be out of place in any high school cafeteria).

Enjoying an artist and being extremely invested in an artist and their private lives on a personal level are not the same things. One is perfectly fine. The other is weird in adults - particularly older adults.

But what makes this more worthy of opprobrium is that this behavior is now apparently a part of our politics.

In an election that involves, you know, running an entire country of 340 million people, the idea that any topic surrounding her no matter how tangential gets as much attention it does is baffling. Well, not baffling - this is, after all, an America born of its own education system. Maybe dismaying is closer to the word.

It is . . . extremely cringe.