Check out !eurovision@lemmy.world if you’re interested in an (Israel-less) contest!
Only way we have to no finish in the bottom
…with blackjack and hookers.
Stupid American here. Never watched Eurovision, but thought it was a competition for European countries?
It is for countries in the European Broadcasting Union on the map in blue.
The Arabs do not like to join, but they could if they wanted to. Also Australia was part of it one time, due to money.
This actually makes sense. The colony argument didn’t since that could apply to half the world! Y’all got around!
Israel is a European country
you mean colony?
yes
There isn’t a single country Israel borders that is considered European. How can you possibly claim Israel is a European country?
It’s a European settler-colonial state
Most present day Israelis come from or descended from people who came from, Russia, by a large margin, as shown here
Europe is the second or third area of origin (lots from Europe but also roughly the same from the Middle East - I couldn’t be arsed to add up the numbers from the various countries to figure out exactly which was highest).
If you consider Russia to be an European nation, then you are correct. Under that assumption, Russia would also be the most regressive nation of Europe, which explains a lot about Israel - Israel’s self-proclaimed “Western values” are the same as Russia, hence the imperialism, racism and complete total disregard for human life.
I mean if you are educated about the history of the state that is israel you would know that is very much a western, not to say british, project. After WW2 the U.S. has taken lead with arming and backing Israel in anything they do but Europeans laid the ground for everything. We do not need Russia for western imperialism, racism and complete disregard for humans life. We do that all on our own aswell. Like do not get me wrong, i absolutely despise todays Russia. But Israel really was not their project.
It’s a supposedly Democratic nation, so unless it has been totally controlled by a very tight elite for 8 decades, the project’s “britishness” has long been diluted by a society which is by now overwhelmingly composed of people with a totally different cultural background than British.
Even if that’s not the case, the British culture back when that project started in the early 20th century (so, even before WWII) was as imperialist and racist with complete disregard for human life as Russia was at the time it was the greatest source for new Israeli nationals (mid 20th century and onwards) - remember that Britain itself commited several Genocides in their Empire, including one by none other than Churchill in India, and until the NAZIs invaded Poland the British elites loved the NAZI ideology.
In my experience with immigrants from my homeland, and looking at examples like the Afrikaners in South Africa (who are descendant of 17th century Dutch immigrants), little islands of the culture of a nation when detached from the “motherland” stop evolving alongside the culture of the “motherland”.
Absolutelly, the cultural values in such “islands” do evolve, just not in the same direction as those in the “motherland”.
Israel has, at best, late 19th Century Western European values heavilly influenced by mid 20th Century Russian values.
I supposed you could call it a Western Project in the Historical sense, but the idea that it still is a Western Project (as in, guided by Present Day Western values) is a lot harder to justify given that they’ve detached from it almost a century ago and almost all of the cultural influences it has incorporated in the last 8 decades aren’t those of the West.
Ok so your argument is that the western societies have by now better values that israel is not living up to? I can, in part, agree to that. My biggest complaint however is that we ourselves are not living up to our own values. For the last decades it was no problem to bomb civilians in the name of fighting terror. And thats what Israel also tells everyone. Two lies do not make a truth
Uhhhhhhh. White? Maybe?
It has nothing to do with them being European. It’s because Isreal is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Also sponsorship of the event by Moroccanoil, which despite its name is Israeli.
Moroccanoil
ah, the 'ol name and country switcheroo!
In Asia? Is this that New Geography?
Interestingly, that site mentions Israel’s “strong ties to Europe” as a reason for its participation. Is Canada in Eurovision? Australia? The US (I actually know the answer to this onej?
Australia is, for some reason…
Yes, just like Australia is in Oceania, but it’s also a European settler-colonial country
Not by a long shot. Not by any measure
So is Lebanon, Egypt, Syria?
My concern is, even if Israel withdraws, it still owns the event through Moroccan Oil financing it. We might have an scenario of Israel not participating as a country at the contest, but Israel completely monitoring and controlling the whole process and winner choosing.
Spain and Ireland keeping Europe’s dignity alive.
Way to go, Spain
So at least one country is principled.
Slovenia is also threatening to withdraw, but Spain is the 5th largest contributer to Eurovision, so their withdrawal would be difficult for the EBU to recover from.
FUCK YEAH!
I’ll never understand Eurovision. Like, I know it’s a really big deal to some people, I just don’t know why or how. It seems to be many things with music as the background theme. As a musician all my life, never been a consideration, but I get people love spectacles and it makes them. I’m guessing it’s highly profitable off the back of that, but dunno.
Whatever it is, Spain using it as the channel it is. It’ll get to people. Good job, Spain. Hope they and others follow through.
It’s a celebration of European shared artistic culture, but also the diversity within that shared culture. It represents some important things, but it also doesn’t take itself too seriously.
I personally can’t stand watching it because the music tends to be shit (IMO) but I can understand it.
I’ll never understand Eurovision. Like, I know it’s a really big deal to some people, I just don’t know why or how.
Feel the same with [insert popular sport], I just don’t get it.
I’m a punk and metal guy at heart. I don’t really get modern pop music, because I’m 45 now and I’m not forming neural pathways while listening to it. But that’s fine, because it’s not for me.
Eurovision is, without a doubt, my favourite week of the year. I’ll watch the semis to pick out who I want to root for, and to jeer at the UK entry which, as a Brit, is my God-given right. I will also throw shade at France, for historical reasons. Come the Saturday, I’ll get a takeaway in, stock up on booze, and get shitfaced, posting along on Mastodon and having the time of life, before waking up on Sunday morning feeling like I’m dying.
And I’ll start the countdown again for next year.
And yeah, Israel can fuck all the way off with what they’ve done to it. And all the other things they’ve done.
So is it just the competition and spectacle you like?
If they were doing lawn bowls or woodcutting instead, it’d be the same, but I’d totally get into that because it’s so unnecessarily over the top.
There’s also a lot of creativity and fun that comes from it all. It’s positive vibes.
It’s the campest mass distributed show on Earth.
It’s s fun and silly European get-together event
It’s very popular in my country. It’s a good show but in my personal opinion their rigged voting system makes it impossible to enjoy.
Except for Football it’s one of the most watched television events in Europe.
I mean, if I had a World War unspool on my continent a couple generations ago I’d be a big supporter of friendly competition too
That was the founding mission of the contest, to bring countries together through music.
Some of the many keywords that need to be in the blocklists to be able to use the fediverse without going insane.
We all know EBU won’t back down, the largest sponsor is based in Israel.
The EBU is not a monolith, it has two deciding chambers/bodies and those are filled with representatives from member countries. A new term has just begun before this summer, and I’ve seen reports that the Israel-sceptical countries now hold more weight in it than in the last term.
Sponsors can easily be replaced. Spain is the 4th or 5th biggest contributor to the show every year, and that money cannot be so easily replaced. There are dozens of European companies that would be more than happy to pony up for the largest live event in Europe.
For anyone wondering, it’s Moroccanoil
Hopefully it gets to a point where the audience shrinks so much that sponsor dollars dry up too
Good. Not surprised others aren’t doing the same thing.
Yuuuuup
