SWIFT RETALIATION

Does Edgar Bergen know about this?

Several years ago, one of my essays briefly mentioned Tijuana Bibles. First

appearing a century ago and lasting into the early '60s, Tijuana Bibles was the nickname for a series of cheaply printed pornographic mini-comic books "starring" celebrities of the day. Al Capone, Greta Garbo, Donald Duck, Wheeler & Woolsey -- no one was safe from the anonymous "artists" creating this stuff. They provided a good laugh for people inclined to laugh at such things.

Jump ahead a few decades, and Photoshop made possible photos of your favorite movie stars in equally compromising positions. And around 2018, these same stars could now be seen in deepfake porn videos. 

You thought I was kidding.

So why after 100 years is the public now aware of this stuff? Taylor Swift! Why were celebrities ranging from Eugene the Jeep to the Olsen Twins to Dwayne Johnson ignored all this time? 

It's not like any of this was a secret. Tijuana Bibles were famous enough to be plot devices on Dragnet in 1954 and as late as 1968. Your average computer user never Googled "deepfake porn", but it was covered on legit news sites. 

Looks like Tucker's already done a real one.

Yet as soon as an AI-generated Taylor Swift starts doing the devil's tango, suddenly the White House is "alarmed". Are the deepfakes of Bill Maher, Tom Cruise, Gayle King, and Tucker Carlson not worth a mention from Joe Biden? (OK, the idea of Tucker Carlson getting caught up in this mess is both hilarious and repulsive.) Why, why, why does a deepfake Taylor Swift shock the world's most powerful leader?

If I had her power, I'd laugh like
 hyena, too.

Because Taylor Swift is pop music's most powerful leader. And the White House folks want an endorsement from her for the presidential election. Perhaps they were reading the poll saying that 18% of voters would be more likely to vote for any candidate Swift supports -- the same poll that shows 17% would be turned off by her endorsement. 

The White House, then, must be pretty desperate for that remaining 1% of Swifties. Democrats are sure to come out in favor of making deepfakes illegal, while Republicans... well, if Swift endorses Biden, you can bet that enough of the GOP will condemn such a law as antithetical to the First Amendment. 

In the unlikely event she tells her zombies to vote MAGA, Republicans will pass anti-deepfake legislation faster than Trump can say, "I will be a dictator." It's a good thing President Roosevelt wasn't depending on Eugene the Jeep to turn out the vote.

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