Last August, I asked you for your heroes. Then I named mine:
Some years ago I discovered that
nearly all my heroes were American and Black. All were involved, as was I, in
the Civil Rights struggle. From memory, they were Louis Lomax, John Lewis,
Martin Luther King, Gloria Richardson, maybe Fannie Lou Hamer.
Today, I discover, with one
exception, they're white folks and either on radio or TV — not, as I'd expect,
in print like me. They are, in reverse order …
Keith Olbermann He fights with one more employer,
he’ll be broadcasting from a phone booth, but Keith is the man who took on the
right-wing media bullies, including Limbaugh and O’Reilly.
Rachel Maddow Find her in the dictionary under
Elegance, Humor, Steadfastness, Communication, Smartness and Decency.
Jon Stewart There's a reason
America’s most trusted news commentator is a comedian. He embodies raucous wit
and righteous outrage, two of my favorite character traits.
Barack Obama Every time I say “He's way too
cautious” or “He’s being crushed by the opposition,” things magically turn
around at the last minute, and he wins the case, the bill, the fight, the
election. Barack Obama will, I believe, be remembered as one of our finest
presidents.
Garrison Keillor Understated humor. Love of
poetry. Quiet, Midwestern decency. Unparalleled staying power. The ability to
write something funny, moving, touching and original, then produce it, then
host it, then sing and act it, week in, week out, since 1974.And
all while writing books and articles, doing voiceovers, starting and running a
bookstore, and traveling far and wide. He is the Mark Twain of our time, and I
feel privileged to breathe the same air as he does.
Looking
over both my lists, they remain the same. And today I'm adding a new hero.
Welcome to the pantheon, Taylor Swift.
Taylor
Swift: singer, songwriter, actress, performer … and the Joan of Arc of writers.
She stood strong against mighty Spotify. She stood strong against even mightier
Apple. And, pen in one hand, mic in the other, she won.
But not
just for herself. She won for all artists. And she won it with a single letter
in a single day. Saint Taylor, I worship at your temple.
Here's
how the New York Times described the victory:
On
Sunday morning, Ms. Swift wrote a diplomatic but stern Tumblr post taking Apple to task for not
paying royalties on test drives of its new streaming music service … “We don’t
ask you for free iPhones,” she wrote. “Please don’t ask us to provide you with
our music for no compensation.”
By
midnight Sunday, Apple — one of the most powerful companies in the world — had
capitulated to the 25-year-old pop star, saying it would pay royalties on all
music for the three-month trials.
Please,
please note her words: “We don’t ask you for free
iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.”
That's
what we all must do. To the billionaires at examiner.com, Hearst Corp,
Huffington Post, and all the other corporations and conglomerates, we have to
say, “No mo.” We must Swiftify them.
If
you're thinking, Oh, fine for her; she's
an international star with 60-million Twitter followers, and I'm just a lowly …
cut it out. Writer up. Become your own Taylor Swift. Be a hero.
— jules
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