Getty ImagesIt's time for a harsh dose of reality.
And yes, we ourselves, who bring you this very story, are not exempt from needing said dose of reality. And it's all because of what's happened in the aftermath of the feud between Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian. By now this never-ending back-and-forth has grown into a beast almost too big for society to understand—what started as a simple he-said, she-said has turned into an opportunity for Internet haters to run rampant.
You see, it turns out that everyone, even those who choose to devote their lives to the ins and outs of celebrity news, has a breaking point. And this is mine. I can't possibly pick a side in this fight because it's all just too much.
For starters, let's look at all the time and energy that we, and all of America (and, even more so, Twitter), have devoted to this cause already. We all have an opinion! And we all magically have time to read every last tweet and watch every last snapchat and comment on every last Instagram. Outside our collective windows the world is falling apart at the seams, and inside we're all cozied up watching a real-life soap opera.
Now we completely understand why both Kim and Taylor are upset. It's Taylor's opinion that she was blindsided by the lyrics of "Famous," saying "You don't get to control someone's emotional response to being called ‘that bitch' in front of the entire world." For Kim's part, she stated "I swear, my husband gets so much s--t for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved"—and she has a right to fiercely protect her family. But the second that an argument begins to play out on social media, it gets taken from the players themselves and handed over to the Internet at large.
Twitter and Instagram are venues that breed passive aggressiveness and give haters and attackers the freedom to say whatever they want. Just take a look through the comments on either woman's social media accounts if you want to really feel bad about where society is going—things turn catty, and it fuels a very upsetting societal norm that women relate to each other through judgment and attacks, instead of by mutual respect, understanding and a willingness to lift each other up. We all owe it to Kim and Taylor not to let trolls get the last word.
Now of course, we're not letting ourselves off scot-free. And no one should feel guilty for the fact that they, too, gaped open-mouthed as they tapped through all several hundred seconds of Kim Kardashian's Snapchat story. This kind of celebrity drama is fascinating and ridiculous, and (usually) all in good fun. We had a blast speculating over Taylor and Tom Hiddleston's beach photos, for example. But any attempt to declare a winner at this point would just be in vain.
Except for Katy Perry.
Katy Perry might very well be the one person who comes out on top. Considering that she's been dragged into this confrontation against her will (we can all thank Calvin Harris for that), as well as had a feud reignited that she presumably thought was put to bed years ago, she's shown considerable restraint. We've heard barely a beep out of her, save for that epic GIF after Harris' tweet-fest. Until now.
In the shrewdest move to capitalize on a scandal we've seen in 2016, she chose to take this moment of strife to promote her own single. Just last night, she offered her own two cents on the feud: To rise above it all. Rise above, and buy her new single, of course.
If everyone else is going to take themselves down around her, at least she's going to collect a paycheck thankyouverymuch. We can do nothing but laugh and offer up our most sincere impressed face at her timing.
Because if you can't laugh, well, then what?