![People act like musicians standing up for what they believe in is anything new. #FreePalestine [Slyngstad]](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/229b1cbc-f82b-471f-a5b1-7aae0efb6aec.png){kind=link}
Slyngstad | Bluesky
Transcript
A three-panel political comic by Slyngstad highlighting the long history of political activism in music. In the foreground of all three panels, two audience members are seen talking in profile.
Panel 1:
On Stage: A modern musician holding a microphone calls out, “FREE PALESTINE!”
Foreground: One audience member complains, “UGH, WHEN DID MUSICIANS START TO BE SO POLITICAL?”
Panel 2:
On Stage: Freddie Mercury performing at the 1985 Live Aid benefit concert, with the “Live Aid” global logo in the background.
Foreground: The second audience member replies, “START?”
Panel 3:
On Stage: Folk singer Woody Guthrie playing an acoustic guitar with his iconic slogan written across it: “THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS”.
Foreground: The second audience member continues, “MAYBE YOU JUST WEREN’T LISTENING.”
The problem I see is that Ed is pretty direct about keeping things apolitical.
If Mackelmore had his own “Free Palestine” tour, or if he was opening for someone like RATM, it would be a different story.
Sort of the joke about this tour. Ed surrounded himself with a bunch of Irish musicians notorious for their support of Palestine and their outspoken politics. And then the people who were always highly political on tour did the things they always fucking did on tour and Ed said “Oh my goodness, I had no idea! We need to fire all of you.”
It was the career equivalent of strapping yourself with TNT, then being surprised when it explodes.
It’s worse than that. He was perfectly fine with it until he got some push back from the billionaire owner of one of the venues. He the immediately caved and started kicking people off the tour.
And then his entire tour fell out from under him.
If someone wants to kill 10 people, and another person wants to kill 0 people, what is the apolitical number of people to be killed?
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.
Not wanting to focus on politics doesn’t say anything about your political beliefs.
Obviously five.
Apolitical should literally mean:
I don’t care what you say during your set, it’s your time.
Is there an appropriate time to stand against genocide? I feel like that’s an “always” kind of thing.
Not everything has to be a political platform.
The timing of your messaging is important, and killing a tour where you’re not the main draw is probably doing more harm to your cause than good.
In all honesty, it feels like virtue signaling to regain relevancy.
Maybe Ed is more chill, like: “Have a little genocide, as a treat.”
“apolitical” is a shorthand for “in favor of status quo”
No, it’s not. Politics doesn’t have to be shoved into literally every facet of life.
Politics affects every facet of life. It’s there whether anyone wants it to be or not.
And? That doesn’t mean it needs to be the focus at every conceivable moment.
And? That’s not what’s happening. You can’t just say that every time someone speaks up. You don’t get to tell victims how to behave while they’re being victimized, and you don’t get to tell their advocates to be quiet. You have no right to a world where the oppressed don’t bother you.
Not what I said. You don’t have to think about politics every waking second, but you can’t never think about politics.
I’m really not sure why you’re assuming I was talking about never thinking about politics.
My point was that this tour wasn’t about spreading a message, unlike the concerts in the comic. Like I said, my opinion on this would be completely different if it was a “Free Palestine” tour.
But, if the person you’re opening for has expressed a desire to not focus on politics, it’s kind of a dick move to kill the tour by focusing on politics. And honestly, it’s likely pushed more people away from the cause than it converted.
Because that’s the usual definition of “apolitical”.
In the first place, protesting genocide should not be about politics. Trying to silence people for that under the guise of being “apolitical” is the kind of support for status quo I’m talking about.
You mean, it made more people self aware about their own acceptance of genocide.
That’s political 💁♀️
Not wanting to focus on politics is political?
Yes, it is a deliberate political choice.
How is that relevant? Not everything has to be a political platform.
I personally don’t go to concerts to hear political messaging. I go to enjoy a performance.
If the purpose of the tour was spreading a message, my opinion on this would be different.
Genocide isn’t political.
It is in the US, unfortunately.
No, people keep pretending it’s a political thing as a strategy to stymie people who aren’t okay with genocide. And here you are, playing the sucker for them.
You may have saw the middle example and thought hey there is a band that broke the South Africa Boycott over Apartheid and played there anyway.
That’s my point, though. The purpose of the live aid concert was to spread a message. I straight up said my opinion would be different if this would have been a “Free Palestine” tour.
But protesting the Israeli genocide wasn’t the purpose of this tour. It wasn’t even Mackelmore’s tour. He did something he knew would put the tour, that he was a guest on, in jeopardy. Even if Ed pushed back against Kraft, it would have almost certainly ended the tour due to the legal dispute.
And honestly, do you think any of this has actually convinced people who weren’t already in support of Palestine to change their minds? If anything, it’s pushed Ed’s fans further away from it.
The comments speak for themselves.