Last week, when Taylor Swift announced her engagement on Instagram, I noticed something peculiar. The reactions all over social media were unhinged, far beyond the usual Swiftie delirium. I’m so tired of constantly discovering new ways people can be awful, in this heightened awareness the universe forced upon us two years ago—the one that usually comes at the cost of witnessing people being slaughtered in front of our eyes.
Funny how mass death, livestreamed directly to your phone, can instantly hand you a litmus test; there’s nowhere to hide, nothing you can ever unsee, and no performance of authenticity can pass if it isn’t rooted in absolute honesty. Living in this world is a privilege, even as I long for the oblivion I once enjoyed before that October.
I mean, just look at the article I wrote in that October, the last one before the world changed on it…
