Taylor Swift announces new single 'Patient Zero', out Friday
I know ‘patient zero’ has now basically just entered colloquial language and it was already the title of a zombie horror movie etc. but seeing it as the title of a new Taylor Swift single still makes me cringe and will every time I hear it. that phrase has a very specific history and context!
Alex115there is a reason it showed up in the “added to the dictionary” meme in 1987 along with contact trace and off-label and anti-HIV. it is a phrase that very specifically was popularized to demonize a French-Canadian gay man who was inaccurately claimed to have “brought” HIV to North America
Nuclear Bunker Ant6Getting to the “Taylor Swift” part of this post hit me like a fucking freight train
The Jack of Cards3Me whenever anyone says they were "electrocuted"
Mark Harris166I know Swift doesn't mean anything bad by it, but...yeah. This is not great.
awl97I don't even think most people know that Patient Zero was a fake term invented by the media when they misread Patient O (as in Outside) as Patient 0 and then constructed an entirely fictional homophobic narrative around it that most people still accept as the truth.
jj skolnik69i had the same reaction. like nobody cares about this but old gays and public health/HIV prevention people but i def had a reflexive “eehhhhhhh” feeling
Too Big to Fail16The thing I've never been able to wrap my head around with the "Patient Zero" nonsense in the early AIDS history is that Gaetan Dugas was never even referred to as that until after the fact. He was Patient O, the letter "O." Somebody misread it and ran with "Patient Zero, let's all blame this guy."
Alyssa Harad15Oh thank god people who are not me are thinking and talking about this.
Bittersweet 😍😳5This is at best a complete lack of awareness and at worst on purpose and either way, it’s really, really stupid and a bad look
Taylor Swift is a 36-year-old straight woman. I don't fault her for not knowing the very bad history of the name "Patient Zero." But I'm a little stunned that apparently, nobody in her (surely vast) orbit filled her in
Mark Harris72You know...it's not a win always to assume the very worst of people. I'm not defending the choice, but I'm not automatically going to jump to the darkest, most cynical possible conclusion just because that's What We Do Here.
Brian Edits2Don't all billionaires eventually find themselves surrounded by people more afraid to tell the truth than what their benefactor wants to hear?
smurfsup | aka the sentient backpack1Maybe she *did* know the history Or maybe somebody *did* fill her in And maybe she grabbed the term anyway and didn’t care Because she didn’t *live* through the *IRL emotion* of its origin use Another reason Lived Experience—not just ‘facts’— must be kept alive and passed down
Name another song that mentions the word "Getting." 🎶 Released as the lead single from her 4th studio album on August 12, 2012, the Taylor Swift single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," topped the Billboard Hot 100 for its 3rd week on September 22, 2012.
jcbrundi.bsky.social27Getting in tune – The Who 
David Combest26Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream It’s getting near dawn When lights close their tired eyes I’ll soon be with you, my love Give you my dawn surprise I’ll be with you, darling, soon I’ll be with you when the stars start falling
aspenchef.bsky.social24Getting Better - The Beatles music.youtube.com/watch?v=EGlo...
howieschomer.bsky.social24It's getting to the point where I'm no fun anymore www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVUw...
aspenchef.bsky.social23Getting To Know You music.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlx6...
Cold Feet23I’m getting closer to my home Grand Funk Railroad
shoutout to this gaylor on twitter for this insane connection!!! the main character in Pluribus (show featured on emmy’s board) is LESBIAN PATIENT ZERO IMMUNE TO A DEADLY VIRUS
Shelby21Pluribus is connected to rep on the board just like me! Out now is connected to lesbian visibility day ive been looking for a pluribus connection!!!!
emm (they/them)21lol i have never even heard of this show but apparently it’s about a social contagion/hive mind so it’s fitting that a lesbian is immune to it
afterglowlor 🌞✨12*not deadly, the contagion was a hive mind pluribus also included the post it on the board that was the one that said "WE = US ?"
imbreezy.bsky.social10Spoiler alert!! That is right! I have to add though, she is one of 13 survivors. Because of course it's 13 😅 But yeah, I guess she is the only lesbian.
it actually pisses me off that travis mf kelce has heard patient zero and i haven’t!!!!
Any 🍂🍂 ERAS 11/119Wendy has heard it before us and she has been here like 3 months, what a poser 😡(a cute one but poser at the end)
ʅαυɾα⸆⸉ ✮˙💋ᴴ🐞 | 𓂃🪶5It pisses me off that he gets to hear everything before we do!!! I swear to God, they could hire me to be a cleaning lady or adopt me. I would be so good!!!!!
ReeseTeacher4Imagine how many songs he has heard that we will NEVER HEAR 😭😭😭😭
Stephanie (g0ddess 0f nach0s)1We ride at dawn to their KC house and demand to listen early. lol
Andrea ✨1Gonna wish my self to be a cat so Taylor will adopt me AND THEN ILL GET TO HEAR EVERYTHING
The new background of Taylor Swift’s website after “Patient Zero” was announced!
Kate Glenn32This whole aesthetic is giving welcome to my underworld where it gets quite dark
✨Libbey✨19this feels like a Rorschach test….what do YOU see in the vague grey background provided by our resident insane pop star? Personally I see tree branches and tiles
chloe 𖥔 ݁ ˖15girl i thought we were out of the depression
𝔟𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔦 mᥲrіᥱ✩8taylor said it's 👻spooky season👻
𝕯𝖎𝖗𝖊𝖙𝖆𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖊 𝖉𝖊 𝖑𝖚𝖌𝖆𝖗 𝖓𝖊𝖓𝖍𝖚𝖒4Isso é muito vibe apocalíptica
Nikki 🖤2Everyone associating this with Rep TV, death or movies.... Meanwhile I'm associating this with the new Fourth Wing book coming out next week 💀
