#ableism? In my eurovision? It's more likely than you think

[windfighter]

I keep hearing people say "that's not what eurovision is about" but no on ever says what eurovision is about so I had to go check out the first ever winner of it and

amazing. I wish modern eurovision could be a little more like that

Anyway my conclusion is that: Ballads is what Eurovision is about and y'all are cowards for hating on them ;P

[thedreadvampy]

All I'm saying is a) proportional response is important, as is recognising that humour ABOUT a bad thing is not necessarily equal to humour IN FAVOUR of a bad thing. For example, 4chan 'jokes' about the Holocaust are different to eg a dry remark wondering why Jewish people might conceivably be iffy about fascism. A joke about how funny it is that liberals are whining about the popular vote has different connotations to a joke about how unjust a system which allows a person to lose the popular vote and win the presidency may be. Here in the UK, many people joke about 'remoaners' when it comes to Brexit, whereas those of us who voted remain tend to joke sarcastically about how Theresa May, our unelected PM, TOTALLY has a mandate, or about how 52%:48% OBVIOUSLY qualifies as a landslide. You see how jokes ABOUT an issue can come from all sides of an issue? And, like, I'm not about the fallacy of relative privation, but when everything's so awful, is it really vital to police anyone making any kind of humorous comment about any negative aspect of American politics? Comedy comes from a place of pain. It's a way of making difficult, horrific events comprehensible. Laughing at a thing doesn't mean we've forgotten it's bad. I laugh like a hyena at alt-right blogs and terfs because they're SO AWFUL HOW CAN THEY EVEN EXIST. It's funny because it's absurd in its badness. b) hoo boy this is a big one but let's talk about America's role in global praxis. as an American you (generic you, idk who's American bc you're all on anon) have every reason and right to prioritise American issues and politics, but legitimately, give me a good reason why the sorry state of American politics should be more important or relevant to me than Russia, Turkey, Greece, Belarus, Ukraine, France, Germany, Austria, Norway, or for that matter North Korea, the Congo, the Philippines, the Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Mozambique, Bolivia, Brazil, wherever. There are currently political crises everywhere, why is yours the only one that matters? I'm not American. I'm British. I'm European. I have as much or more in common with French or Austrian or Greek or Maltese citizens as with Americans. America is further away from me than Syria or Chad or the UAE. The political situation is more dire in Russia or the Philippines or Somalia. What makes America so fucking special? I'm not even a little bit ok with how things are shaking down over there. It's fucked up, the state America's in, the Flint crisis, DAPL, racial hatred, trans murders, institutional homophobia and ableism. It's not the fault of the victims, and it's awful that this is happening to them (/you). It makes me unbelievably sick and angry. HOWEVER, why is it expected that this be more personal to me than the situation in any other country or, hell, even my own. If I hear one more fucking word about how Brexit is really about Trump or how we should learn from what happened with Trump or how strategic voting let Trump in so we should discourage tactical voting in a WHOLLY DIFFERENT electoral system with almost no commonality with America's, I will chew my own face off in frustration because Americans en masse don't appear to understand that the rest of the world isn't a fucking prop for America. We have our own shit going on, and our own shit is not just a reflection of what's happening in America, it's unique, it's equally important and AMERICA IS AS MUCH PART OF A GLOBAL PATTERN OF BEHAVIOUR AS ANYONE ELSE, it does not solely dictate the way the world goes and the world is not an object lesson for Americans. France narrowly escaped fascist leadership the other week. Britain is in the process of violently tearing itself apart. Ukraine and Russia are chomping at the bit to start shit. During Eurovision, for literally the only time in the year, Tumblr is focused on European (and Australian and Israeli, for some reason) politics and culture and interactions, and somehow from all that you still fucking manage to make it about how bad America has it, as if Europe is all sunshine and roses, as if you're the only ones who suffer, as if Russia doesn't have fucking CONCENTRATION CAMPS and Europe isn't being overrun by fascists and the EU isn't cracking apart and Turkey isn't in civil war. Fuck off. Out of a sea of political jokes, ONE crack at the expense of American politics gets popular and you are fucking falling over yourselves to make it about America and how much America suffers. I don't wanna say we don't care, because we do care. Hugely. We try to do what we can, sometimes at the expense of fighting the battles we need to fight for our own wellbeing. In Edinburgh, far more people showed up to march against Trump than to march in support of the NHS or against Brexit or to counter the EDL. WE'RE ON YOUR SIDE, America, but please, FUCK OFF. We have our own battles to fight as well, and I don't see Americans marching against Brexit or Putin or Erdogan. Why? Because as far as American media and American activism is concerned, it is the natural way of things that everyone care about everything America does, but America only needs to hear about things that affect America. Fucking...name any other country's second in command without looking it up, I dare you. Yours is Mike Pence. Explain any non-American electoral system, because we're all constantly exposed to yours. And tell me why I should care more about the suffering of Americans than the suffering of Russians or of Sudanese or of my own countrymen. America always has to think it's the biggest and best, even when that means the best at being the worst and most oppressive and most fucked up. M8, America, it was hard for Britain to learn and it's hard for you. YOU AREN'T FUCKING SPECIAL.