Daffodil Bear

Let’s play a game of “which country’s point announcer will embarrass them the most”

Try being in SA where it’s 4:30 ;) 

I wanted to unpack some of the things I’m seeing about Israel winning Eurovision 2018. I voted for Israel (among others) because I just liked the song. I don’t feel like a lot of the criticism about Netta is justified. Firstly, the cultural appropriation. A key part in that is the power dynamic between the two cultures. I might be wrong about this, but I don’t think Israel has anyone particular power over Japan, in the way that white Americans and Natives or the English and India, or the USA and Africa had/have. That makes a big difference. I might also be wrong about this, but I don’t see any items of religious significance or any attempt to pretend that she *is* Japanese. She’s just…wearing clothes and decorating with inspiration from Japan. From what I’ve read, Japan is pretty okay with that, and it’s the Japanese whose opinions matter. For those reasons, I don’t think this is cultural appropriation, and I don’t think it was when that teenager from Germany was clearly inspired by Harajiku fashions either. It’s interesting that people are talking about this, but, as far as I can tell, no one has ever said anything about the country song another country performed last night. I think that’s to do with watching from a Western viewpoint. Secondly, a lot of people are criticising the way she makes music. She does it with her mouth. So what? Have you never heard of acapella or beatbox or even just not singing with perfect enunciation to make the song flow? Clearly, people really liked it. I don’t think music can be objectively bad, but if it could, surely being liked by both the juries and the public is evidence that disliking it is not the majority opinion and therefore less likely to be objective? I’m seeing a lot of criticism for her ‘basic white feminism’. Firstly, she’s not 'white’ like basic WASP, she’s Hebrew. Perhaps some Hebrew people do consider themselves white, but Jewish people have a range of skin tones and originated in the middle East. She spent the first four years of her life in Nigeria. As a white-passing woman of colour, I’m happy to give her the benefit of the doubt in not having a purely white viewpoint. Secondly…exactly how much feminism do you want her to cover in a 3 minute pop song? “I’m not your toy” is pretty basic feminism 101, but it’s still something that needs to be said. You can’t criticise people every time they say or do anything feminist because they haven’t done or said absolutely everything else at exactly the same time. Finallly…Israel vs Palestine. I am not terribly well-informed on this, but I do know that Netta isn’t personally responsible for the atrocities her country commits, like none of the rest of us are. The ESC is often held in the capital city, but it doesn’t have to be. A few times, it’s been held in a different country entirely, like it would be if Australia had won. It’s a very complicated question, and I hope they handle it as well as they can.

Salvador Sobral handig Netta het trophy: *hands it to her* *kiss kiss* “k bye” *walks away as fast as he can*

okay but you Europeans really missed an opportunity, you realise that if the UK had won that in the midst of leaving the EU we’d have to spend lots of money on hosting a massive celebration of Europe it would have been hilarious like come on