Tolerate It
Last week, Taylor Swift got married. Even those dwelling under rocks heard about it.
The details are still, somehow, pretty scarce.
Above all else, the ability to keep a high degree of privacy in the modern age, with 1000 people attending and plenty more working the event, is an impressive feat. The sums that would surely have been on offer for a waiter or security guard to spill the beans or take some sneaky snaps would have been tempting. It’s event management that only a lot of money can buy.
However, some tiny snippets have emerged. And the details that have leaked out are
(Look, The Cave knows its audience. It knows the following paragraph won’t be popular. But you can’t put the fear of unsubscribing ahead of the truth. It’s a PR agency newsletter, after all. Integrity matters.)
…tacky as hell. A castle built inside Madison Square Garden? Arcade games and a "JUST&T MARRIED" sign that looked like an ad for a telco? Embroidered "T&T" handkerchiefs? Vows read from gold books? Plenty of people plan their dream wedding in childhood, but most update the ideas by the time the big day arrives.
Anyway, if you’re still reading, these weren’t even the most controversial aspects of the wedding.
The nuptials coincided with heavy storms in the New York area that caused electrical outages stretching from Lower Manhattan to upstate Peekskill. While millions battled extreme weather and a lack of power, T&T carried merrily on.
People weren’t happy, and the situation wasn’t helped by the wedding also shutting down roads that provided access to two major train stations.
Swifties inevitably braved first the heat, then the rain to line the barricades, but for others, it was another example of the rich living in a different world that just happens to take up the same space as everyone else’s.
The fact that this narrative has barely broken through in the tidal wave of media coverage is another impressive feat of management. However, not everyone has as sure a touch when it comes to getting what they want while controlling the story.
A few short days after Tay Tay tied the knot, Donald Trump got involved in the FIFA World Cup for the first time since it began.
First, some background, as the knowledge of this particular event may not match Taylor and Travis.
During the USA’s 2-0 victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last 32 of the World Cup, star (ish) striker, Folarin Balogun, was given a dubious red card. The offence meant he was banned for the next game.
So far, so normal. Players get sent off. There is no appeals process for the World Cup, and so Balogun expected to sit out the clash against Belgium.
Enter Trump. The US President revealed that over the course of three phone calls, he personally asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review the red card. He did, ostensibly through an independent committee, and Balogun was cleared to play.
Que outrage. Pundits, supporters, players, managers, and administrators all poured scorn on the decision, which had no process and is without precedent. It transcended football, with 72 EU lawmakers demanding an investigation.
Which all led to…absolutely nothing. FIFA pointed to an arcane piece of regulation as reason to review the decision, Balogun started the game against Belgium, and a terrible USA went down 4-1 to the delight of everyone. Charles De Ketelaere would be the name on everyone’s lips if anyone could pronounce it.
There have been 13 red cards issued at the World Cup to date, more than the combined totals of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. The other 12 have neither been reviewed nor repealed.
Neither Trump or FIFA are strangers to bending or breaking the rules, then carrying on like everything is fine. If anything, it is their shared MO. To do it when the eyes of the world are on you is particularly egregious but in no way surprising.
To varying degrees, both of these recent events follow a similar theme. The rich and powerful want something, everyone else has to cop it.
Taylor Swift wanted her tacky fantasy in Madison Square Garden, and the residents of New York just had to leave it. Trump and Infantino wanted the USA to have the best possible chance of winning in their home tournament. Consequences be damned.
Everyone now has a platform to criticise, call out unfairness, and call on others to join their cause. But this is different to being able to change it. More noise does not, in most cases, lead to more accountability.
We are left with only one option. Taylor Swift said it best. We just have to Tolerate It.