If there is one thing we’ve learned about Taylor Swift fans, it’s that they are expert internet sleuths. They can track planes in ways that would make even the most seasoned of college football fans proud. And if you have an old tweet of interest to them, the Swifties will find it.
Travis Kelce’s Twitter/X timeline got that treatment this week, and one strikingly poetic tweet from Kelce in 2012 seemed to catch the attention of Taylor Swift fans — in a good way.
Apparently, Kelce was writing his own Taylor Swift lyrics in 2012 and didn’t even realize it. That, or he was just taking a philosophy class at the University of Cincinnati.
The capacity to live in the past by memory can also emancipate the individual from the tyranny of the present.
— Travis Kelce (@tkelce) September 4, 2012
Amazing.
Now, there was initial belief (and surprise) that Kelce came up with this sentence on his own. But a quick search would show that he was quoting American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr verbatim. Niebuhr wrote in his 1949 book Faith and History, via Skidmore College:
The capacity to live in the past by memory also emancipates the individual from the tyranny of the present. He can choose, if he wants, to reverse a present trend of history in favor of some previous trend.
So while the Kansas City Chiefs tight end isn’t the next great philosopher of our time, the old tweet still inspired plenty of jokes.
This was how Twitter reacted
trevor bowery the next collaborator on ts11 https://t.co/TyqOCCeki0
— shrey (@bloodmoonlit97) November 15, 2023
.@taylorswift13 watch out mother he is about to write woodvale https://t.co/neo1vvmfK3 pic.twitter.com/GGvdJKu9Gm
— Alex⸆⸉ (@Alex__TS13) November 15, 2023
Wait https://t.co/HeI9NPwips pic.twitter.com/Tymwbf1xNv
— Girl (@eboyanti) November 15, 2023
September 2012 was Travis's senior season at Cincinnati. This tweet would have been a couple of weeks into classes. Someone find out which philosophy class he was registered for right this second. https://t.co/Gr9ZW6Sqsn
— Philip Bunn (@PhilipDBunn) November 15, 2023
honestly if you told me this was a taylor lyric i’d believe you https://t.co/jT52px81im
— k.⸆⸉ (@kiralovestaylor) November 15, 2023
bro just wrote the fully formed chorus of betty from another room https://t.co/DpngmvZsGj
— jessie 🩵 (@antidearo) November 15, 2023
folklore and evermore be like- https://t.co/bCtYWaCGUk pic.twitter.com/8mBBYEyV1A
— Ron (@midnightstrack2) November 15, 2023
travis kelce to evermore: https://t.co/nyBLJxL3lH pic.twitter.com/OSzZwC1tfP
— c 💖💘💗🎀 (@romanticiser) November 15, 2023
oh taylor’s crown tilted a little bit here https://t.co/MkjPIoWiEG
— eric (@vericvoid) November 15, 2023
me adding a bunch of big words to my essay to make it longer https://t.co/J4luNtA2V3
— zee⁷ (@tscrystalsnow) November 15, 2023
I genuinely thought this was some random Proust quote but it seems this is Travis Kelce’s own intellectual property??? What the hell?? This is the same guy that spelled the word “squirrel” like “squirle” https://t.co/nW3vMRO4Vu
— Jameson Draper (@jamdraper) November 15, 2023
me explaining the themes of midnights: https://t.co/sW8VSvK6jZ
— hailey doesn’t like sports (@nobodynoswift) November 15, 2023
