Taylor Swift Booed at Super Bowl

12 months ago, Taylor Swift attended the Superbowl with her boyfriend Travis Kelce, and she was welcomed and cheered by the crowd. This year she was booed, and the first sitting President to watch a Superbowl live – Trump, was cheered.

What has changed in the past 12 months that has caused Swift’s reception to be so different? Some think it is the impending retirement of Kelce, and his capacity to transition to a bigger life after football because of his power couple status. But most suggest it is because of her pro-Kamala and anti-Trump comments in the recent election.

There is a pattern of stars coming out in support of Democratic Presidential candidates (e.g. Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks) or Republican candidates (e.g. Hulk Hogan, Chuck Norris). This is not new.

Nor is there anything new about people being passionate about their team, their party, their view of what a desirable future looks like and how to actualise it. There is something natural and even healthy about having a strong sense of us, working together for our vision of a better future.

What is disturbing is the increasing sense of ‘us’ versus ‘them’. That ‘they’ are the problem, and ‘we’ are the solution. It is possible and preferable to have a healthy sense of ‘us’ without having to define it against ‘them’.

It is standard for an incoming President or Prime Minister to give a speech like – you may not have voted for me, but I am here to serve everyone, and to unite and lead us forward together as fellow …. Not so Trump. His rhetoric was un-statesman-like, winners versus losers, and divisive. For me Trump is symptomatic of the increasing toxic tribalism that is pervasive in our times.

By way of contrast, the NT church is a place where diverse members (feet, eyes, ears, nose) bring different gifts to the table (sight, hearing, smell) and use their gifts to build others up. Diversity underwrites and strengthens unity when it is expressed under one Lord and in one Spirit.