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Notes -
Macklemore x Ed Sheeran concert: politics cannot be ignored
Ed Sheeran (everyone's favorite dreamy male singer) is holding a big tour across North and South America. Macklemore (everyone's favorite white rapper) got kicked out after (in an earlier concert) saying "Free Palestine", playing a song with pro-Palestine lyrics, and this:
Ed Sheeran has defended himself, saying it was not his decision - indeed, one Robert Kraft graciously confirmed he coordinated venues to boycott Macklemore - though Sheeran also remarked he tries to avoid politics in general:
So far, four other performers have dropped in solidarity with Macklemore.
Interestingly, Gillette stadium which banned Macklemore is hosting Kanye West, yes, the guy who was praising Hitler a year ago (albeit later admitting mental illness).
What do you think?
First, let me address the elephant in the room: the music industry is a corrupt dumpsterfire, basically a cartel. This is what cartels do. Besides dropping his pro-Palestine friend, Sheeran must also accept Ticketmaster price-gouging attendees, limited tour dates (I overheard somewhere there used to be far more concerts), and other nonsense. He probably could just find more accomodating venues if every one wasn't owned by Live Nation.
Lots of people are discussing how politics can't be avoided, and they're right. This is an excellent case study of how the endgame of "politics" convolutes everything and makes everyone miserable. Everyone loses here: Macklemore for taking a mild pro-Palestine stance gets kicked out of venues and attacked by Palestine opposers, Sheeran for taking a pro-peace neutral stance gets his tour lineup wrecked and attacked by Palestine supporters. There is nothing these performers can do, even be completely silent, that won't get them attacked by some group.
But the other side of "every side gets you attacked" is that no side is truly best. With no obvious winning strategy, you can be truer to yourself. And as Macklemore says:
Less tyrannical cartels, more people able to say what they want and go home to their families (with careers, money, opportunity, safety, and audiences)...I can defend these by linking them to other axioms, but ultimately they just seem right to me. I think celebrities should express their politics (including neutrality), for authenticity, and moreso because they can: it widens the Overton Window as they avoid life-ruining consequences. Even Kanye and his edgy schizo-manifestations, which I (unsuprisingly) strongly disagree with, but don't hate and even sort of appreciate for some odd reason. Yes my thinking is flawed, but look, his "cancellation" gave him the Streisand effect and today he performs where even Macklemore cannot, so what is flawless?
(Also, holy shit, can news sites link to their actual sources instead of writing articles whose sole content is paraphrasing them? Credit to variety.com of all outlets, the one article I found that did, albeit in the middle.)
I would argue that the attached image is slightly more than mildly pro Palestine stance. Wage the culture war, die by the culture war. He could have gone the whole tour without mentioning Palestine on stage. It is possible. But his narcissism took precedence.
One thing that celebrities should learn is just to keep their fucking mouths shut. Which the celebrities of pre social era managed to do. He is a servant whom I pay to sing to me. I don't care what he thinks about two countries that are just a speck on the map.
For cartels - this is government job. They should break monopolies, monopsonies and vertical integration.
Politically neutral outfit for a rapper.
These consequences aren't being delivered because he "waged culture war", celebrities wage culture war all the time. Every single day. The problem is he took a stance against Israel in a Jewish-dominated industry. Robert Kraft taking the credit for "coordinating" the boycott doesn't change what is actually going on here. The consequences are Culture War even more so than the initial statement because they will have a cooling effect on all celebrities everywhere.
Not that I care about Macklemore's opinion on anything, but I do care that these culture-producing industries are themselves waging culture war to enforce a pro-Israel consensus. These artists rely on tours to make money, if they want to make money they can't criticize Israel. That's the message, not that they can't wage Culture War. That's a bigger deal than Macklemore's statement.
Ah, it's not because he waged the culture war. It's because he waged the culture war against an enemy that had resources.
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