It has been a resounding year of recognizing the systemic injustice ingrained in our society. As inequality continues to widen among us, we must reckon with the discrimination and entitlement that comes with it. Which is why, as someone who got tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, I’m putting in the work to acknowledge and understand my privilege.
As a Taylor Swift concert ticket holder, I am always listening and learning to make sure I use the platform I was given to amplify the voices of the less privileged. In fact, after reading about the backlash, I immediately took down my post about getting tickets and spent an hour liking and responding to those who posted about their own misfortunes. Although Ticketmaster worked smoothly for me, I am right there with all of you ticketless commoners, outraged at the company’s blatant mismanagement. Know that I, too, am an ally to your anti-Ticketmaster monopoly efforts (as long as it doesn’t affect me and my ticket).
Accepting my own privilege wasn’t an easy journey – while I was able to secure tickets, it was still an arduous hour of waiting in the queue to get there. But since doing the work, I know that my hardships are relative to those whose browsers crashed or never even got past the waiting page. Now understanding this digital inaccessibility, I am pledging to raise awareness about the concert as much as I can. And these are not just empty words – I’ve already upgraded my iPhone just to make sure I can get the best concert footage possible for my social media, so those less fortunate can still watch what is sure to be the concert of our generation.
Throughout this journey, I have sympathized with the struggles of those without tickets and have internalized lessons of anticapitalism. I’m ashamed to admit that I used my privilege to buy six tickets when I only needed one, but after putting in the work, I’ve decided to sell my extra tickets for only a partial mark-up, rather than being another greedy ticket gouger. And let me tell you, there’s no better feeling than using my privilege to bring some equality to those with less of an advantage than me while also still financially benefitting from it a little.
Thanks to the Ticketmaster debacle, the nation has finally awoken to the socioeconomic inequality so many of us face, and while I was lucky enough to be born into an email that was selected for the presale code, know that I stand by all of you unlucky ones who weren’t. Except on the day of her concert, where I will be standing in the front row, suckers.
