#hungary's comments are giving very much gay

[keiksy-cake]

Hetalia Poll Results pt 3: character who you'd want as a best friend

I started this one back in October lol. Sorry, I was busy with college and work but I am now a free man!

all collezione pages

[Please note, I’m an amateur in Japanese and have to use various resources and translation machines to help me. If you notice a possible mistake or want clarification, please bring it up to me *politely* and not aggressively or hostile.]

[melekseev]

so i FINALLY bring you my esc19 toplist, all under the cut, with short comments.

also be aware i literally... enjoy my top 31. so twenty something places might sound bad.. BUT THEYRE REALLY NOT, I JUST LOVE A LOT. i went into this year thinking it was weak, and then after i had this playlist on so much, hello, i love a ton. nevertheless, just my taste and opinions and good luck to all of them~

1. France ABSOLUTE KIN G stuck in first place because this is undoubtedly my most listened song this year, and i'm absolutely hooked on it. i am somewhat worried about that coming revamp, but. but i fcking love this song, and he improved those vocals like d amn 2. Russia i.... am in love. every time i hear this song it gets me into that sort of dramatic ecstasy and it's so big and beautiful that it just... it kills me. i die. thats it 3. Italy soldi is still my jam, and i adore it to bits 4. Slovenia this masterpiece is one i just want to protect. so soothing, i LOVE listening to it, it's just ethereal 5. Netherlands this song, at one point, was almost at every possible spot on my list from middle to top 15, but then it stuck with me and now it's utter love 6. Hungary i adore his voice, no bias. his whole vibe, his unique delivery and technique, that folky sound, like... yes please 7. Switzerland i am not ashamed to say i am utter trash for this song. every single part i love about this. like holy shit, this time switzerland better make it thEY EARNED IT 8. Australia she is QUEEN, i considered dropping it from my top 10 when trying to readjust ONE TIME and upon relistening i instantly was like "okay no way it's going anywhere", i just unironically love it a LOT 9. Norway actual legends... this song just cheers me up to SUCH an extent! love the joiking... i love eveything, bless you norway 10. Belgium at first, i had issues with it, because i wanted a bigger drop near the end, but now i'm just absolutely... in love... it convinced me. the instrumental, the building up, the dark undertone, just. i adore this 11. Poland oH I LOVE THEM SO MU CH. li s t en. i can't explain it, but they give me like a lowkey vibe of soft punk-rock theme but also like...?? japanese pop?? but no, it's polish and slavic and traditional and i'm really really vibing with it, because some of it is familiar from my own culture, and these girls S LAY 12. Albania albania always delivering those vocals.. i love the mystical vibe with the ethnic sound, it's simply gorgeous 13. San Marino can you believe i unironically HONESTLY thoroughly enjoy this song?? serhat is an icon, but his voice actually really fits with this song and i always get super into it. i'm so happy this exists lmao 14. Azerbaijan i'm very very much into this song, and i'm EXTREMELY curious to see how he pulls this off live as it seems to be such a radio song, but i have hopes. i just dig it, like... like a LOT 15. Czech Republic this is the most chill song this year, and despite the silly, easygoing lyrics it's just... extremely fun, and it's been my jam since it came out 16. Croatia listen. l i sten. i love... theatrical. i love big strong voice explosions. this CHILD is talented as fuck. i know many people hate this, but the song actually grew on me, and then today i just honestly love it. i wish the whole song was in croatian, but even with the not so great lyrics, i'm eating it up and singing along. i know he won't make it, but oh well. it's okay Roko, i love your voice and song 17. Armenia i really love this one, too. she convinced me further in amsterdam bc she absolutely killed it (although i feel like she had a nervous slip in the very beginning) but then after that.. holyshit. such a tiny girl with such a huge voice 18. Spain honestly, if you tell me earlier it would end up this high at one point i wouldn't believe you.. i never /hated/ it per se, but i also wasn't really impressed or as into it as most people were. i think the revamp was the one that convinced me in the end, because it forced me to face the fact that i do honestly enjoy this more than i want to. also now im nostalgic towards anything spanish, even if its different, bye 19. Finland yes, this might be nothing special, but i just... enjoy it. i genuinely do, and there are certain parts i especially love, and so therefore. like. yes. 20. Estonia as much as i didn't want to like this originally, i do. like, i really do. it just happened, and i'm not mad about it 21. Romania this song is a big grower for me, and to this day the more i hear it the more i get into it still 22. UK Michael's live delivery elevates this otherwise not so amazing song like... so much. i feel like the UK does tend to send songs with this particular theme, but i actually enjoy it quite a lot when he's doing it live. his voice is impressive, and so... here he. 23. Sweden these two ^ i always moved around together for some reason, as if they were linked, which might be because John wrote both songs, although i learned that later(??? but in the end, i feel like i prefer UK a bit more. this is also really good though, it works, and it has a great vibe for esc 24. Portugal so this one slipped quite far off, as with time i sort of lost the enthusiasm for it. i still find it unique and enjoy it nevertheless though, so it could definitely be worse 25. Greece i'm in quite a pickle because after not necessarily being super into this song, i started to really like it (VOICE, BRUH) but then the amsterdam concert happened. I KNOW she was sick, though, so i sort of have this on hold. if she delivers later, which i'm sure she will, she stays, but if not, this might drop a few slots 26. Lithuania this is another song that just makes me happy and makes me smile, and i can't explain it. i love lionboy. i'm just here for it 27. Serbia her voice is quite literally pristine, i love that she's singing in serbian, and i do appreciate her a lot as i honestly enjoy this song when it's on. it tends to slip my mind, though, which i hate it does, because it's beautiful and i'm rooting for her 28. Cyprus super unpopular opinion, but i actually like this a lot more than Fuego, and don't necessarily compare the two. HOWEVER i do kinda feel like i'm seeing the same thing from the same country, like, immediately after, which makes me a little less excited about it, oof 29. North Macedonia see, the message is very nice. the song actually grew on me a bit compared to the first time i heard it, but i still just... wish it was better. i like it overall, but it's just about pushing it 30. Israel he's actually very talented and on point vocally. the only reason it's not higher is simply because it's just not really my style, but it's one i still appreciate on stage 31. Georgia there is something about this that i like. i respect him, and when near the end there's sooo much power, then especially i really dig it 32. Montenegro the revamp did help them quite a lot, but overall it still kinda feels like a high school chorus, and i'm just not really for it 33. Moldova her voice is really nice, and despite how i found it just... done several times and kind of boring (oops), her live made me appreciate this just a bit more 34. Ireland i feel like this song is just kind of... there, for the sake of being there. it's not even bad, it's just... meh? 35. Malta that chorus is a major turn off for me, and it's neeeearing that point where a song just starts to annoy me... which i feel like is worse than simply not liking something, so it's on thin ice 36. Austria first of all i think her voice is very lovely. BUT... after about the 4th yo-o-o-ouh it does tip and starts to annoy me, which i wish it didn't, but... but it does 37. Belarus i wanna talk about how they had a huge shot with Michael Soul, but i will not go down that road and focus on Zena. this song just feels like a mess to me. like... a young britney spears song, but bad. i really don't get the appeal, at all 38. Latvia hhhhhhh. this one annoys me so much, i just can't begin to explain. it's flat, repetitive, and the chorus (??) fries my nerves in a matter of seconds, IM SORRY 39. Denmark oof... o o of. i don't want to be rude but basically this feels exactly like what you'd expect a junior eurovision song to be like.... except those are actually better. it's just... no. no. way too much sugar. it’s all just... no 40. Germany speaking of songs that annoy me? i feel like this is definitely the one i can't stand the most. *screeches* SISTAH x4 41. Iceland listen i'm not going to talk about this for long but basically i really heavily dislike this for a few reasons and can never listen all the way through without like.. suffering. the funniest thing is that i love the beat. but then.. the singing (NOT even the style) it just. it makes me angry, cuz this could be good. but it's not. also i don't like the pretend-gay stuff. but that's just me

[chariflare]

new murder mystery lesbians (”mml”) ref bc the old one was too sparse for my liking

synopsis & format discussion

three lesbians. they’re cool. they’re gay. they solve crimes. what more can i say?

following the end of the war, lejla gallia finds herself in vienna and out of a job. intent on finally discovering herself (but mostly to avoid thinking about home), she keeps herself busy partying and hanging around her two (much richer) best friends. unfortunately you can’t run from every responsibility forever. especially if your friends are tired of you lazing around doing jack shit

three members of the no-magic division of the austrian army – all having enlisted to escape their family & past in some way – solve mysteries together in the uneasy peace following the end of the austro-prussian war. 

format: this story is a short novella-size prequel (set in the 1870s, 20-30yrs beforehand) to my main fantasy austro-hungarian empire story, fs. both are planned to be webcomic/novel hybrids. at the moment, there’ll only be one story. the main goal is to get me writing and to test how fs would go, so i don’t really want to make a series of it! hopefully will finish the draft next year but it depends on how job searching goes

personal comments: in concept this is very self-indulgent; you’ll have to trust it’s not a wealth fetish story, although there’s an element of having my fancy victorian cake and eating it too. the plot is not directly relevant to, nor a prerequisite for, fs.

main characters

lejla gallia - ready to fucking party, but struggling with being herself & navigating the wide class boundaries her friends put her in, and very down on her own abilities. originally from a poor farming village, she ran away to join the army. currently living off of otto’s generosity

asl: 25-30yo, female, danube-swabian (ethnic german living in hungary) identity & presentation: she generally wears a loose, baggy suit, with a ribbon for a tie (she owns only one - if otto has a whim to take her out somewhere, she buys her new clothes). rather filled out. similar to illona in appearance, but a bit softer in the face. she’s trans miscellanea:

she has self-esteem issues - but beneath it all she's a joviality elemental who doesn't give a shit about what other people think of her for living it up as her best self. (if you insult her: you will be guffawed at)

her dialect is horrid to listen to and barely understandable; her hochdeutsch is decent but she slips out of it fairly frequently

her name is pronounced “lay-la”; i believe the spelling is neither og hungarian nor german but idc

likes: good food & talking to people, her friends, feeling part of a community, not really having to do anything

fave food: bigos, paprika sausage 

otto - “lesbian gaston”. drowning in money & charisma. has networks everywhere. she dreams of entering politics, something only possible due to her immense wealth, but feels somewhat constrained by the rules of the nobility. has a fiancee, while also (apparently unapologetically) being best friends with benefits with lejla (and previously helene...?). it’s awkward. she’s pretty selfish, honestly, but the two still love her.

asl: 25-30yo, female, 100% austrian blue-blood identity & presentation: when dressed of her own volition, she prefers sportswear or a casual suit - anything she can move around in. otherwise she wears men’s formal-wear. usually spotted wearing a newsboy cap miscellanea:

the direct instigator of all this detective business. the strength of the group but like, instead of being able to beat you in an arm wrestling contest (which she could), it’s like, connections and being hot

big on hunting (to the other two’s dismay); often carries a blunderbuss 

her fiancee (female) was a political marriage made at her family’s behest. (to be clear: lejla is otto’s unofficial date / beau, not an uncommon practice among the nobility... just not when you’re due to be married!)

a distant relative of the empress (though not in line to the throne)

likes: hunting, the ladies (;>)), society events / networking, a good challenge, her two best friends

dislikes: “not being in control of my destiny”

helene - the reasonable one (but still down to have some fun). her family ascended to the upper classes quite recently, and she has as much trouble as lejla feeling comfortable there. a talented civil-mechanical engineer. the brains

asl: 25-30yo, female, (ethnicity undecided) identity & presentation: femme-ish. small stature; petite. glasses. hair’s always in an updo. generally wears a dress of some sort miscellanea:

(added later, thanks super-sexy-commando-kyouko for helping me develop her) she’s kind, friendly and charming; a mature woman. good-humored too! she’d do well in society if she didn’t dislike it so much. equally weak to women as the other two though

a little bit on the sarcastic side

can often be found tinkering with something in her study

likes: a good puzzle, quiet but meaningful company, being in the proximity of hot women but she probably wouldn’t admit it

dislikes: insincerity, having to put up a polite front in Society (”it’s stressful”)

[vvsnotes]

Pride Month and Representation in Animation /Forefront [6]

Since June is the Pride Month a lot of companies include the LGBTQ+ flags in their logos to show support for the queer community. The topic of coming out, queer characters in films also make a lot of appearance in the media. Just this month we could see the short film ‘Out’ (2020)about gay relationship (Li 2021), Pixar’s ‘Luca’(2021) that in a more subtle manner introduces a queer character (Milton 2021) and even in ‘The Mitchells vs. The Machines’ (2021)we are shown Katie that also in a subtle way talks about her crush on one of the girls from her uni (Baron 2021). And this is good, we are finally getting characters that happen to be part of LGBTQ+, their whole personality isn't based on their sexuality and they appear in the films aimed at children. This gives a fair representation for many kids out there that look for characters like themselves.  

Disney also recently released pride merchandise and we could say everything’s great; the world loves LGBTQ+ Community!  

This is an agenda only for the western world unfortunately. Because while Disney continues making money off of the pride merch, the queer characters are being actively censored in countries like Russia (Amid 2021). Same-sex relationships aren’t illegal in Russia but the country has a ban against distribution of content that ‘promotes the gay propaganda’ - saying it’s against the traditional values. The very same law was recently also passed by Hungarian government (Rankin 2021). So, we can assume the censorship of LGBTQ+ representation will also take places there. But a country doesn’t have to have such laws to make significant changes to the plot line with just translation. Recently the news outlets in Poland wrote about the possible censorship of the Mitchells vs. The Machines dialog where Katie’s mum asks her daughter if she and Jade are already a couple. In the Polish translation however, the sentence is changed to ‘is it true that Jade is so cool’. Seemingly small change but has a huge impact on understanding Katie’s character. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any reports on that in English which in my opinion just shows how easy it is for the counties to do this sort of things and possibly get away with it without much attention.  

LGBTQ+ representation is needed everywhere, especially in the places where this ‘life style’ is not socially acceptable. The level of intolerance is high and it’s those people that face the injustice for being different really need help to get this sort of content to them.  

This relates to me because not only I’m from Poland where the propaganda against LGBTQ+ is very high, Poland was even announced as a worst country in Europe to be a part of the queer community (Tilles 2021). So, it really saddens me to see this kind of behaviour. Another thing, is that I do consider myself a part of LGBTQ+ and I understand that my presence, my work will always relate to this. Because even if I might not necessarily create about these issues, I am a representative of this community. It is important for me to recognize that because of who I am, and how I identify, I am one of many voices that this community needs.  

references. 

Amid, A. (2021). Russia Warns Disney Against Distribution Of Pixar Short “Out.” [online] Cartoon Brew. Available at: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/politics/russia-warns-disney-against-distribution-of-pixar-short-out-205639.html [Accessed 22 Jun. 2021].

Baron, R. (2021). The Mitchells vs. The Machines Breaks New Ground for LGBTQ Representation in Animation. [online] CBR. Available at: https://www.cbr.com/mitchells-vs-machines-katie-lgbt-animation/ [Accessed 22 Jun. 2021].

Bryczkowska, J. (2021). Film, seriale, muzyka - Kultura.Gazeta.pl. [online] gazetapl. Available at: https://kultura.gazeta.pl/kultura/7 [Accessed 22 Jun. 2021].  

Li, J. (2021). Watch Disney Pixar’s Short Film “Out” in Celebration of Pride Month. [online] Hypebeast. Available at: https://hypebeast.com/2021/6/disney-pixar-short-film-out-pride-month-release?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=twitter_post&utm_medium=social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1623858267.  

Milton, J. (2021). Fans think Disney’s new film Luca is an allegory for queerness and coming out. [online] PinkNews - Gay news, reviews and comment from the world’s most read lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans news service. Available at: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/06/21/luca-disney-pixar-lgbt-queer-coming-out-twitter-reaction-enrico-casarosa/ [Accessed 22 Jun. 2021].

shopDisney.com. (n.d.). Rainbow Disney Collection | Pride Month 2020 | shopDisney. [online] Available at: https://www.shopdisney.com/uniquely-disney/rainbow-disney/.  

Rankin, J. (2021). Hungary passes law banning LGBT content in schools or kids’ TV. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/15/hungary-passes-law-banning-lbgt-content-in-schools [Accessed 22 Jun. 2021].  

Tilles, D. (2021). Poland ranked as worst country in EU for LGBT people for second year running. [online] Notes From Poland. Available at: https://notesfrompoland.com/2021/05/17/poland-ranked-as-worst-country-in-eu-for-lgbt-people-for-second-year-running/ [Accessed 22 Jun. 2021].  

[kingunderthemountain]

ESC Songs: 2016 vs. 2017

it’s the most wooooonderful tiiiiiime of the yeeeeeear

I’m making this post as I go down the line, so I have no idea what the results will be yet, but I get the feeling 2016 is going to trounce 2017 because most of this year’s songs are painfully average and “ok” at best.

Portugal didn’t participate in 2016, Bosnia & Herzegovina aren’t participating in 2017, so those aren’t getting included, but I am including Romania and Russia because they had picked their songs before being removed from the contest. The content behind the cut is mostly my own opinions, but I probably pay more attention to this contest than a lot of people, so it’s colored by the opinions of others. Especially my best friend, who is even deeper in the ESC hole than I am.

Albania: Fairytale vs. World

Fairytale was kind of tragic as it was presented on stage and forgettable enough off it that I had to go and look it up to remember what it was like. World is performed by one of the strongest vocalists in the 2017 contest and is a favorite of many fans. I don’t find it super strong, although I do like the lyrics a lot, but it comfortably trumps Fairytale.

Armenia: LoveWave vs. Fly With Me Second country and we’re already in tough ones. LoveWave was so cool and Iveta Mukuchyan is a pretty incredible lady in several ways, but Fly With Me is an interesting song and it’ll probably have a cool stage show. I’m going to go with LoveWave because even though Fly With Me has an interesting structure, it makes it feel a bit like it wants to be at least four and a half minutes long and gets cut off just as it gets going. The last chorus does make for a nice sound bite for the recap reel, though, so it might do better than expected.

Australia: Sound of Silence vs. Don’t Come Easy Ah, Australia, the EBU’s pet project. Sound of Silence did ridiculously well last year and I fully expect Don’t Come Easy to pull through into the final from probably the worst position in the first semi-final. Still, I’m going with Sound of Silence because it’s so simple and so bombastically ridiculous at the same time.

Austria: Loin d’ici vs. Running On Air I make no effort to hide how much I loved Loin d’ici despite it being cheesy and fluffy and hilariously easy to misspell and mispronounce. Running On Air is a nice little song but it’s not as memorable.

Azerbaijan: Miracle vs. Skeletons I wasn’t big on Miracle because it was so generic. Well, Skeletons is also kind of generic, but only if you followed national ESC selections all over Europe and noticed there sure was a lot of electropop in them. Points go to Skeletons just because I’d rather listen to it again than Miracle.

Belarus: Help You Fly vs. Historyja majho žyccia I have a huge soft spot for Help You Fly and not just because my best friend has an adorable celebrity crush on Ivan. I do like Historyja as well, but it’s kind of... paint-by-numbers “cute vaguely ethnic folk” to me. The performers are enthusiastic and cute and that helps it, but Ivan was enthusiastic and cute too. Plus he gave us Måns Zelmerlöw naked on a hoverboard with a plush wolf. Point goes to Help You Fly.

Belgium: What’s the Pressure vs. City Lights What’s the Pressure and City Lights are both kind of... in weird genres for Eurovision? What’s the Pressure is one of the most successful funk songs ever in the contest and City Lights is already pretty high in predictions for this year. I’ve heard a lot about Blanche’s lack of stage charisma, though, so it might qualify but likely will tank in the final unless something really interesting is done with the show. What’s the Pressure is retro, City Lights is extremely modern, and it’s really hard for me to pick between them because I don’t feel very strongly about either. I’m gonna go with What’s the Pressure because it was such a lovely opening to the 2016 final.

Bulgaria: If Love Was a Crime vs. Beautiful Mess I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Kristian took the contest to Sofia for 2018. I still like If Love Was a Crime better.

Croatia: Lighthouse vs. My Friend Lighthouse and My Friend are, at the moment, pretty hilarious in their own ways, what with Lighthouse having that stage show and My Friend being essentially a duet but it’s sung by one dude because it’d be too gay to have two dudes singing or something. It remains to be seen if the rumors are true and Jacques will go all Two-Face on stage and grab Croatia the Barbara Dex Award for the second year running. Anyways, back to the actual songs! Lighthouse is great and I love it. I don’t have much good to say about the gimmicky song structuring exercise that is My Friend. It’s still totally going to the final.

Cyprus: Alter Ego vs. Gravity Cyprus used to send some of the more vapid and boring songs in the contest (I can say this because I unironically love La La Love). Now they’re sending something pretty decent for the second year in a row and it feels weird and unnatural. Gravity is finalist stuff, but I like Alter Ego more and it deserved to do better last year. (Also Minus One is my headcanon for a Dragon Age: Inquisition rock band AU. No points for guessing who the head vocalist is.)

Czech Republic: I Stand vs. My Turn I reeeeeeally didn’t like I Stand last year, although even I didn’t wish that nul points from the televote on poor Gabriela. I’m also not big on My Turn because even though I really enjoy Martina’s voice, her pronunciation of English combined with the rapid tempo of the verses makes the song kind of incomprehensible (though nowhere near as badly as Romania manages this year, woof) and the song doesn’t really grab me. Still, I’m gonna go with My Turn because I Stand was so dull, so by the numbers, so straightforward and bare-bones, had the worst lyric of the year (”you are my air / I’ll always care”) and had that “ho don’t do it” hair bun pull climax moment that was framed so badly it turned into a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it.

Denmark: Where I Am vs. Soldiers of Love Denmark hasn’t done as hot in the contest these last few years as they did the few years before that. Soldiers of Love was, I guess, trying to be New Tomorrow all over again? Unfortunately they weren’t great live and their looks kind of clashed with how incredibly poppy the song was. Where I Am is... a ballad sung by a beautiful woman, which should make me yammer on about how it’s boring and formulaic, but somehow Anja actually... pulls... it... off? It’s popular with the fans and I’m kind of dreading it might go the way of Icebreaker (my opinion on which you will find later in the alphabet). I like it better than Soldiers of Love and that’s kind of all there is to say at this point.

Estonia: Play vs. Verona I would say Estonia has been high these past two years but Leto Svet is a thing that exists. And we Finns voted for it! So it actually makes perfect sense to me that they send crazy shit in and this year oh boy are we in for the 90′s coming back. Still, I liked Play a lot and was super saddened by the bizarre live and how Jüri was so nervous that the whole performance tanked. Points to Play.

Finland: Sing It Away vs. Blackbird When Sing It Away was starting the whole ESC shebang last year, the Swedish commentator went “and here’s Finland, we know they won’t win but anyway”. And really, Sing It Away was great - on the UMK stage. The camera work was tight, the performance was energetic, the whole setup was great, and it was easy to accept Sandhja as the winner even though she was up against No Fear and On It Goes (which is freaking amazing so I am including a link, love you Mikael). On the ESC stage the performance was too small and too haphazard to make an impact. Blackbird was similarly stunning on the UMK stage, but Norma John have a strong vision about how they want their performance to look and I have faith that it will be the best possible version of their song, barring something like Leena getting sick before the semi. I really hope Finland makes it into the final this time, because in the sea of ballads with female vocalists, we have something really haunting and special this year. Points to Blackbird. Please make it to the final.

France: J’ai cherché vs. Requiem Let’s get one thing out of the way: I took French in school for eight years, and I almost always enjoy France’s ESC entries. Not sure if these two things are related, but they’re things. And I love J’ai cherché, and I really like Requiem too. But that sentence already shows my stance here. Alma seems like a sweetheart and apparently her live performances constantly improve, but Amir did such a solid job last year (and was one of my faves to win the whole shebang) that I have to give it to J’ai cherché.

Georgia: Midnight Gold vs. Keep the Faith Midnight Gold was kind of bizarre. It was a seriously weird post-punk indie rock song with an unsettling music video and seizure-inducing live show. And I loved it. Meanwhile, Keep the Faith is a shouty female-led ballad with an, um, shall we say suspect backdrop in the national final performance. Tako, you’re a great vocalist, but there are like a dozen female ballads this year and Keep the Faith isn’t one of the stronger ones. And definitely not as strong as Midnight Gold.

Germany: Ghost vs. Perfect Life ...I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I prefer Ghost to Perfect Life. Ghost was, at least, somewhat interesting - it was a good song with the wrong singer in the wrong backdrop with the wrong clothes. Perfect Life is just... really bland.

Greece: Utopian Land vs. This Is Love Utopian Land was an unusual genre (rap) in an unusual language (a Greek dialect) with an inscrutable theme. This Is Love is a generic electropop... thing... in English about love. You see my dilemma here. I’m... gonna go with This Is Love because, well, it’s inoffensive. Utopian Land is interesting, but not good enough.

Hungary: Pioneer vs. Origo Oh man, this is a matchup I really don’t want to call. I loved Pioneer last year, even with that one hilarious backup singer and the random drum dude, and I also love Origo with its just-ethnic-enough sound and its rap sections bound to make the juries hate themselves for trying to figure out which to rate it on. I... am leaning towards Pioneer. But this is the tightest matchup this time around.

Iceland: Hear Them Calling vs. Paper My best friend and I are ESC nerds and we’ve been running a lot of ESC 2017 simulations using this website (don’t use the diaspora tag if you try it out - it does weird things, best combo is odds + no diaspora) and we’ve noticed two tendencies it has. The other one we’ll get to later, but the first is that somehow, Iceland qualifies almost every time. Maybe it’s because Hear Them Calling was such a darling last year and then didn’t qualify. Anyway, I was one of those people who loved Hear Them Calling. I still do.

Ireland: Sunlight vs. Dying to Try Sunlight was... let’s say one of the weaker songs last year and leave it at that. Dying to Try is a cheesy ballad sung with gusto by a young man with a beautiful voice... that I cannot stop laughing at because my best friend pointed out it can be sung as “trying to die” and now you can’t unhear it either. You’re welcome. Also, it gets the point.

Israel: Made of Stars vs. I Feel Alive I would have found it beyond appropriate if last year Finland had selected Love Is Blind (although I will admit the lead vocals aren’t strong enough to have facilitated that) to go along with Made of Stars. Plus I feel like gay guys using the artist names Cristal Snow and Hovi Star would have gotten along smashingly. Anyhoo, back to the actual topic. I Feel Alive is a nice change of pace in 2017 - it’s an uptempo song with choreography and some ethnopop vibes tossed in there. Made of Stars is a bombastic crooning ballad that I like otherwise but am a bit sad that Hovi couldn’t pull off the best notes from the album version live. Both of these are solid contenders for above-the-middle-of-the-pack positions, in their own years and in any given year. I’m gonna give it to I Feel Alive because 2017 needs the perk-up.

Italy: No Degree of Separation vs. Occidentali’s Karma I didn’t care much for No Degree of Separation at first but it’s grown on me after the contest. I hope the reverse does not happen for Occidentali’s Karma because sweet jesus how I love this song. I would love to see it win. It probably won’t because the juries hate fun. Comunque vada panta rhei. Also point to Karma.

Latvia: Heartbeat vs. Line I wasn’t super into the Baltic Boys last year but in retrospect 2/3 served really strong performances so good for them. Point goes to Heartbeat because Justs performed the hell out of that song and Line is one of those songs I should love on a theoretical level but something in the execution falls flat and I don’t.

Lithuania: I’ve Been Waiting for This Night vs. Rain of Revolution I’ve Been Waiting for This Night is probably the best song Lithuania has ever managed to send to the competition. Rain of Revolution is in line with Lithuania’s usual level of competence in that it’s the worst song in the contest this year - on a theoretical level it’s super cool and interesting, but literally everything in the execution is messed up. (Also my best friend bought me a CD in Lithuania that apparently contains Lithuanian hits and it’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard, it’s mostly international hit songs like La Bamba and Meredith Brooks’s Bitch translated into Lithuanian sandwiched between shit like this. Literally every song sounds like it would play at a bar in a really cheap beachside bar in a Southern European tourist trap. Can any Lithuanian who sees this explain?)

Macedonia: Dona vs. Dance Alone Here’s Macedonia with two songs I want to like but... don’t? I’m gonna go with Dance Alone because Dona, as old-fashionedly adorable and elegant as it was, felt a bit too much like Kaliopi trying to cash off of her incredible money note.

Malta: Walk on Water vs. Breathlessly Breathlessly is Maltan power ballad by the numbers. Walk on Water was a modernized version of that. Except not really a ballad. Eh whatever point goes to Walk on Water.

Moldova: Falling Stars vs. Hey Mamma! Falling Stars was my pick for the weakest song of last year. Hey Mamma! is a ruthless ripoff of Sunstroke Project’s last effort, which turned into the most memetic ESC moment ever, but at least it’s a fucking breath of fresh air in a year of dreary downtempo and ballads.

Montenegro: The Real Thing vs. Space The Real Thing was overshadowed last year by Midnight Gold (and for good reason). Also HOLY CRAP I LOVE SPACE. And I am so sad preemptively that it’s not going to have a chance to get into the final. Slavko you precious diamond thank you for making the gayest song in ESC history.

The Netherlands: Slow Down vs. Lights and Shadows And here’s the Netherlands with two songs that are massively popular but I’m not super into either. Giving it to Slow Down because to be honest I know Lights and Shadows is really well performed but I can’t remember shit about it.

Norway: Icebreaker vs. Grab the Moment I almost always like Norway’s ESC entries in the 10′s. Icebreaker was an exception - that jarring slowdown into the chorus wasn’t pleasing to me at all. Grab the Moment has lyrics I enjoy and I’m confident it will also fail to make the final because the juries won’t vote for speak-singing. Still, I vastly prefer it to Icebreaker.

Poland: Color of Your Life vs. Flashlight Uuuuuuuuggghhhhh Color of Your Life UUUUUGGGGHHHH I mean Flashlight is boring and when it’s not boring it’s kind of creepy but it’s not that.

Romania: Moment of Silence vs. Yodel It! Ah, poor Romania last year. Still, they made up for their musical operatic rock song not making it to the final by sending us motherfucking yodeling. Yodel It! is absolutely going to be in the top 10 in the final even though I can’t understand a fucking word of it.

Russia: You Are the Only One vs. Flame Is Burning You Are the Only One is one of the best things ESC has seen this decade. Flame Is Burning is... vaguely creepy on a lyrical level (Russia seems to do this a lot) and I might get hate for this but Julia’s voice is so thin I could barely hear her over her backing vocalists. I don’t feel like it’s a big loss musically that Russia is out, but it’s going to do... interesting things to ESC.

San Marino: I Didn’t Know vs. Spirit of the Night And here’s San Marino sending shitty disco two years in a row! Seriously though I know Serhat was memetic and all but even though it’s boring and formulaic Spirit of the Night is at least listenable. Once or twice. As background music.

Serbia: Goodbye (Shelter) vs. In Too Deep I kind of like In Too Deep. But it’s not super memorable and I don’t see it hitting the final. Goodbye (Shelter) was my pick for “most improved from national final” last year because holy hell that national final video is impossible to listen to because Sanja will not stop making faces. It ended up being super impressive live after they toned her performance down a bit. So in the end, point goes to Goodbye (Shelter).

Slovenia: Blue and Red vs. On My Way And here’s Slovenia with songs I don’t like... Neither of these songs have the greatest lyrics and the performances, although technically good-esque, feel sort of bland and emotionless. I’ll give it to On My Way just because it’s better on a technical level. Even though it has my least favorite lyrics this year.

Spain: Say Yay! vs. Do It for Your Lover And here’s Spain with songs that tanked! I can say this preemptively because I can’t see Spain getting any other position in the 2017 final than last. This is corroborated by the fact the ESC simulator I mentioned earlier never fails to leave Spain in last place, usually with like 4 points total. Also poor Barei. Say Yay! was good fun but the choreography, the stage setup, and the camera work really let her down. Still a banger that’s going to play at Eurovision parties everywhere for years to come.

Sweden: If I Were Sorry vs. I Can’t Go On If I Were Sorry was another song that grew on me after the contest. Meanwhile, I can’t stop listening to I Can’t Go On. “So freaking *chef hand emoji* buttehål” is a meme with me and one of my housemates. I’m so afraid Sweden will win again with this thing.

Switzerland: The Last of Our Kind vs. Apollo Ohhhh boy Rykka’s choreography and outfit sure were things. Go watch the national final performance of The Last of Our Kind and then go watch the ESC semi performance and wonder where it all went wrong. Meanwhile, Apollo was the first song this year I started singing along to. I like it. I like the lyrics a lot.

Ukraine: 1944 vs. Time Obviously, the Ukraine isn’t trying to win ESC twice in a row, but Time is still a pretty decent song and it’ll get votes in the final just on being the only rock song this year. Meanwhile, 1944 still makes me fucking tear up.

United Kingdom: You’re Not Alone vs. Never Give Up on You You’re Not Alone was... kind of fun I guess? Never Give Up on You has slowly been growing on me but it is another female-fronted ballad, which isn’t exactly in low supply this year. Eh whatever I’ll give it to You’re Not Alone because it was kind of fun.

End result: 2016 (24) vs. 2017 (18). Mhm, I figured.

[elanchana]

Eurovision 2017 first impressions!!!

I’m trying a different approach this time - no numerical ratings, just a few comments. At first I wanted to do a positive and a critique for every song, but I had... limited success with that. Reviews under the cut!

Semi 1 Albania: I like it. Great, satisfying rock production, though the chorus could use more direction writingwise. Armenia: Pretty good. I'm not sure about the static chord progression, but it's still a good listen. Australia: Not as powerful as last year, but I still like it. Azerbaijan: Good power pop sound. I could barely understand what she was saying. Belgium: Relaxing uptempo is a weird but nice combination. Her voice makes me enjoy it a bit less. Cyprus: Production gives it a good groove... but this is the first time G:son has disappointed me with writing. Czech Republic: This might have been one of my favorites with a different singer. Finland: I think I have my first favorite! This is a really beautiful song. Sadly I can't see it winning, but it's going to get a lot of plays for me. Georgia: Pretty powerful. Doesn't go all the way for me, but it's a good song. Greece: This is one of those songs that makes me really happy. It feels like it's missing something but I don't know what. Iceland: Another good pop song. The writing for the chorus is a bit awkward, which keeps it from being a favorite. Latvia: Great energetic production, not a good voice. Moldova: Epic sax is back for round 2! I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's catchy and I could see it hitting the charts, but the music video definitely rubs me the wrong way. Montenegro: That was... very gay. And a bit uncomfortably dirty. Catchy though. Poland: Good song, good voice. Another one that feels like it's missing something. Portugal: Nice bit of nostalgia - this sound was all over Eurovision in the early years. Not sure how it will hold up this year, but it's pretty. Slovenia: This is a pretty well-written power ballad, although it would probably be more at home in the 80s, so it's not one of my favorites. Sweden: The Swedes have done it again with the radio-ready catchy pop. It's pretty generic and bland, and I'm not sure what I'll think of it onstage, but it's going to get a lot of plays.

Semi 2 Austria: This is a really good feel-good song! It probably wouldn't be one of my favorites a few years ago, but it is now. Belarus: This one surprised me, because I don't normally like folky entries as much as I like this one. It's really well written and the harmonies are great. Bulgaria: Really good modern pop "ballad" with ethnic sounds. I like this one a lot. Croatia: I really WANT to like this, but the cheesy 80s sound doesn't do it for me. Also, the first two phrases are identical to There You'll Be by Faith Hill (which, incidentally, I first heard as an Italian cover by Sarah Brightman called Sarai Qui). Denmark: I can't find anything I really don't like about this song. It's well-written with solid production and a great voice. Another favorite! Estonia: Pretty good pop song, and I like that it's a duet. Not a favorite, but a great song. FYR Macedonia: Another great pop song, and I love the funkyness. This will get a lot of plays. Hungary: I always like when ethnic pop goes to Eurovision. I think this song needs some more variety, but it's got a good sound. Ireland: I think this song is a really well-written ballad. I don't love his voice, but it doesn't detract from the song. Israel: I started dancing as soon as the song started. This one's well-made, though nothing extraordinary. Lithuania: I tried really hard to find a studio version, but I had to make do with the NF performance, so I can't judge her voice at its best. There's a lot to like about this song, but I'm not sure about all the "yeah yeah"s. Malta: This is a pretty ballad. It's just missing that extra push to make it really memorable. Norway: I like the catchiness, but there's something about the production that doesn't feel right. Interested in how they're going to do all those effects live. Romania: The yodeling gimmick really turns me off. This would be a much better song if they wrote a normal chorus rather than doing that. Russia: This is a pretty song and a typical Russian pop ballad. She has a good voice, but it's really hard to understand her - I hope that's from her disability and not from limited knowledge of English. San Marino: Well, Valentina is back with a VENGEANCE! This is a fun song, though it's not up there with my favorite dance tracks. Serbia: I love the beat of this, and the writing is really good too. I feel like the production is missing something. Switzerland: Another favorite! Solid, satisfying production and very strong pop writing. I could hear this on the radio. Netherlands: I really hope they can replicate those tight harmonies live! This is a great and uplifting song in every way and it's now a favorite.

Auto-final France: I like that this is another French song with an English chorus, though I liked J'ai cherche more. The Latin elements are nice. Excuse me while I cry about not being in Paris. Germany: This song has great production and it's really uplifting. The writing sounds a bit dated. Italy: The writing and the production make this sound like a good song, but the music video and the most prominent lyrics seem like a joke entry. I hope it's not. Spain: This is a good, cute song, but it's not really my type of sound. Another song with vocal effects that I'm wondering how they're going to do live. Ukraine: Good to hear some more rock. I like the sound of this but not the writing as much. UK: Great ballad, great voice. The last chorus is pretty satisfying, though I could use some of that power earlier in the song.

Overall: Probably the best year yet. Not a single song I actively dislike! The only downside is that there's a ton of English. Initial favorites: Finland, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Netherlands Least favorites: Romania, Italy

[johnlockismyreligion]

EUROVISION 2017

This is my personal ranking of all the entries of the competition. Mind that this is just my opinion, based on my personal music taste and the fun level of the song, because I think that at Eurovision having fun is important, so all the boring ballads won’t be in my top ten, sorry.

It’s not even a ranking about “who I think will win the competition”, but rather of my favourite songs (Clearly, I don’t think that Cyprus has chances to win, but I like the song).

Where available, I put a link to the live version of the song as, you know, they’ll sing live in Kiev, and this is quite different from the recorded version of the song. Some singers are good on record, but haven’t a voice powerful enough to impress on stage.

Under a cut, ‘cause this post is very long and I don’t think you want my musical rant on your dash.

I wanted to be fair, so I didn’t included my Country, Italy, in the ranking, but honestly I think we have a good chance this year, even if the cut version is worst than the original one (Francesco’ song is 3’38’’ long, and the limit for Eurovision is 3’). Besides, I’m really proud that Francesco will sing in Italian in a sea of English songs… C’mon people, shouldn’t it be a festival to celebrate diversity? So why are y’all singing in English?

42) Lithuania - Fusedmarc, Rain Of Revolution Ugh. I tried to listen to this song. I swear I tried, but to me it’s the biggest nope of the year. Her voice is quite weak, too.

41) Malta - Claudia Faniello, Breathlessly I don’t listen to this often, ‘cause I risk to fall asleep on the desk.

40) Spain - Manel Navarro, Do it for your lover I tried to count how many times he says “do it for your lover”, but I lost my mind after ten: it’s so repetitive that it becomes obsessive. Besides, it sounds “old” to me and not in a nice way: it would have been good if heard from a juke box on the beach in 1986.

39) Slovenia - Omar Naber, On My Way Ugh, ballads. Ballads are boring.

38) Armenia - Artsvik, Fly with me I’ve listened to this song several times, but I can’t keep it in mind and memorize the melody or the lyrics. Nothing special.

37) Russia - Julia Samoilova, Flame is burning I suspect that Russia aims to self-boycott, because this song is similar to other 1k ones and leaves you the impression you’ve already listened it somewhere. Even if she has a beautiful voice, here it’s totally wasted.

36) Ireland - Brendan Murray, Dying to try I’m dying to not hear any more ballads.

35) Georgia - Tamara Gachechiladze, Keep The Faith Another great voice wasted on a plaintive ballad. Pity.

34) Australia - Isaiah, Don't Come Easy Another romantic ballad. Dull.

33) Germany - Levina, Perfect Life The first time I pressed play, I thought that I’ve selected by mistake Titanium by SIA. To me half of this song is a plagiarism (but feel free to disagree), and I don’t like the half that isn’t.

32) Serbia - Tijana Bogićević, In Too Deep Forgettable. Not bad, but not good either.

31) Austria - Nathan Trent, Running On Air It seems the song of a boy band from the ‘90s. Not a bad song, but I’ve never loved too much boy bands.

30) Bulgaria - Kristian Kostov, Beautiful Mess Did I mention that I don’t like ballads?

29) The Netherlands - OG3NE, Lights and Shadows Average pop song. Nice, but not my cup of tea, sorry.

28) Czech Republic - Martina Bárta, My Turn When I saw that she’s a jazz singer, I was excited: she has a terrific voice and jazz is wonderful, I was dying for a touch of jazz at Eurovision… instead she chose a ballad. Not a bad song, but why? Disappointing.

27) Iceland - Svala, Paper Indifferent, nothing special.

26) Denmark - Anja, Where I Am Generally it’s an appreciated song, but it doesn’t speak to me.

25) United Kingdom - Lucie Jones, Never Give Up On You When I first heard the song, I thought she was singing a cappella, as the musical accompaniment was non existent. The new version revamped the song a bit, but I still think that music is weak. Nope.

24) San Marino - Valentina Monetta & Jimmie Wilson, Spirit Of The Night A song that leaves me indifferent even if many people are loving it. I don’t wanna say it’s a plagiarism, but sure it remembers me of some other similar dance songs of the past.

23) Albania - Lindita, Botë I quite like the Albanian version, the song has something epic in it, but she will sing in English, so she lost many point in my ranking.

22) Croatia - Jacques Houdek, My Friend Another song that leaves me puzzled. I love a lot the part where he sings opera (god, what a voice), but I don’t think it blends perfectly with the other vocals. I still hope to see him in the final.

21) Israel - Imri Ziv, I Feel Alive I was expecting something better from him, but the refrain has a good beat.

20) Sweden - Robin Bengtsson, I Can't Go I don’t understand why people go crazy on this song. Nice, but it has nothing special to me.

19) Finland - Norma John, Blackbird This song would be good in the soundtrack of a fantasy movie. But is it Eurovision winning material? I fear it isn’t. Perfect to listen if you want to relax, tho.

18) Poland - Kasia Moś, Flashlight The only ballad I really like, it has a dark touch (especially in the verses, less in the refrain) and she has beautiful voice. Good luck Poland!

17) Norway - JOWST, Grab The Moment Interesting. Not in my top ten, but surely a nice, good song with a personal touch. Better than Sweden, to me.

16) Greece - Demy, This is Love This song is clearly a clever points catcher, with a tad of ‘90s eurodance touch. Smart move, but after some listening, it loses appeal.

15) Latvia - Triana Park, Line Talking about dance/pop/electropop/whatever-you-call-it songs, I think that there are better competitors this year, but I love their psychedelic, energetic staging.

14) Hungary - Joci Pápai, Origo I hope he will sing in Hungarian, because I fear that an English version would be a disaster, as melody and words are closely linked, here. If you’re searching for something different, listen to this song: it’s captivating, with almost a Middle East touch.

13) Belarus - Naviband, Historyja majho zyccia This is one of the first song I heard this year and I still find it great, it makes me smile and the tune is original. I really hope they’ll keep it in their native language.

12) Estonia - Koit Toome and Laura, Verona A ‘90-ish and classic song. It has a catchy tune, they’re a well-matched pair on stage, so I’m sure it will do great.

11) F.Y.R. Macedonia - Jana Burčeska, Dance Alone Not bad, not bad, a good dance song with a pretty cool refrain, a song that grows on you.

10) Ukraine - O.Torvald, Time Another very underrated song from my point of view: okay, they aren’t Muse or something, but this is the only rock entry of the competition, ffs! And their staging and makeup is cool, I want to see it again.

9) Romania - Ilinca ft. Alex Florea, Yodel It! A rap yodel. No, seriously, it is. And it’s funny af. Plus, her shrill vocals are impressive.

8) Portugal - Salvador Sobral - Amar Pelos Dois Aw, my little snowflake! This song generally received bad comments and a low position in many rankings, and I can’t understand why: it has a retro touch that distinguishes it from all other entries. Plus, he’s singing in his native language. If Finland song would be great in the OST of a fantasy movie, this one should be the main track of a nice romantic movie.

7) Azerbaijan - DiHaj, Skeletons Talking about dance music, to me this is the best entry of Eurovision, with a cool mystery/dark atmosphere. It has a great beat.

6) Moldova - Sunstroke Project, Hey Mamma I effin love this song: it’s bright, happy, makes your body move. And, hey, Epic Sax Guy is back!

5) Montenegro - Slavko Kalezić, Space At first, it didn’t seem too good to me, but it gradually grew on me. I love the lyrics, I love that it’s gay af, and I believe that Slavko will surprise Europe with a sumptuous staging. As I said, to me Eurovision means also having fun, so of course he’s one of my favourite.

4) Belgium - Blanche, City Lights At first I would say that this kind of song is not in my comfort zone, but the tune is mesmerizing and she has a particular voice that catches attention. I’m sure it will do very well in the grand final, but it need a great staging, too.

3) Switzerland - Timebelle, Apollo One of the first songs that I have heard and which has remained in my heart all the time. The lyrics don’t make much sense to me, but the melody is beautiful and she has a great voice.

2) France - Alma, Requiem I don’t agree with her choice to sing the refrain in English, to me she ruined a perfect song. It’s still winning material because the song is very beautiful, but the all French version is better.

1) Cyprus - Hovig, Gravity This song had me from the first hearing: fresh, catchy, with a good rhythm, and Hovig has a powerful voice. Absolutely my favourite, even if I don’t think it’ll win. I hope he’ll valorize it with a good staging.

[barrypurcell]

[Title Redacted]

 How Not to Address Holocaust Denial and Anti-Semitism

When initially asked about Facebook’s refusal to remove the InfoWars page, John Hegeman, head of Facebook’s News Feed, said, “I guess just for being false that doesn’t violate the community standards.” More recently, however, InfoWars was banned from YouTube, iTunes, Spotify and Facebook, all within a twelve-hour period.

Although it might seem uncontroversial to keep objectively awful content off social media, historically, censorship and de-platforming has done nothing at all to slow down its spread. In fact, as many conspiracy theories are centered around a victim complex, censorship of any kind can make that complex worse. What has, historically, slowed down the spread of false information is exposure.

In 2009, when Facebook was initially asked to remove holocaust denial pages, their official position was that “being offensive or objectionable doesn’t get it taken off Facebook.” More recently, Mark Zuckerberg said that he wasn’t going to remove Facebook pages advocating holocaust denial, because “there are things that different people get wrong” and it’s more or less impossible to “understand the intent” of such pages. Conversely, the AskHistorians subreddit has pre-emptively banned all Holocaust denial, and strongly urged Facebook to do the same.

Does Facebook Have a Point?

To the delight of an unlikely alliance of authoritarian left wingers and right-wing Israelis, Holocaust denial is explicitly or implicitly illegal in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Switzerland.

While there can be no reasonable doubt that the Third Reich did its best to eliminate an entire race of people, along with Jehovah’s Witnesses and gays, inter alia, a problem arises when you legally prevent people from saying that this never happened. These governments have taken it upon themselves to censor people’s opinions. The fact that these opinions are incorrect or that they stem from people with a Nazi ideology is irrelevant: freedom of speech is meaningless if you are only free to speak the right opinion.

Anti-Semitism

In 1979, French academic Robert Faurisson was fined 21,000 francs and given a suspended sentence for denying the Holocaust on national television. Hundreds of people (most notably Noam Chomsky) signed a petition, registering their concern about the consequences for civil rights in France. The following year, Faurisson used a copyright-free essay by Chomsky in defense of the general principles of free speech—without Chomsky’s permission—as the preface to his book, “Mémoire en Défense: contre ceux qui m’accusent de falsifier l’histoire”. Although he specifically rejected the idea that he was defending Faurisson in the piece, Chomsky was subsequently vilified as a Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semite.

Claims of anti-Semitism are so commonly used to silence everything from the mildest criticism of Israeli government policy to genuinely egregious attempts at historical revisionism that it’s almost impossible to assess such accusations objectively. It doesn’t make things any easier that the Israeli government is quite open about its official organization, hasbara, which trains and deploys people to intervene in any and all criticisms of Israel found everywhere from Facebook comment sections to campus debating societies, and has been criticized by the Israeli press for acting as a “substitute for policymaking.”

What we can say, with some certainty, is that anti-Semitic attacks have been measurably on the rise in Europe and the United States. We may not know for some time whether this alarming rise is causing, or caused by, the recent lurch to the right of the electorate in the developed world.

The Holocaust Denial Mind

The more you learn about the Holocaust, the more grotesque and horrifying it seems. The human mind recoils so much that you may even momentarily entertain the thought that surely such a thing could not possibly have happened. But it is important for the study of history, politics and the human mind to understand that it did.

In 1980, the right-wing Institute for Historical Review, whose mission was to promulgate Holocaust denial, announced a $50,000 reward for anyone who could prove that Jews were gassed at Auschwitz. Auschwitz survivor Mel Mermelstein applied for the reward. When they refused to pay, Mr. Mermelstein took them to court and effectively won his case. In 1985, the institute issued a formal apology to Mr. Mermelstein “for the pain, anguish and suffering he and all other Auschwitz survivors have sustained” as a result of their having made such an offer.

If you trawl the dark corners of the internet, where conspiracy theories breed, you will encounter lots of Holocaust deniers. They occupy the same mental space (and sometimes the same physical space) as people who question the JFK assassination, or who believe that the 9/11 bombings were an inside job. The psychology behind these conspiracy theories is easy enough to understand. First, it’s much more comfortable to believe that dark forces are causing these terrible things than to accept that sometimes genuinely awful things happen for fairly banal reasons. Secondly—much like praying to a god—holding secret knowledge about the “real” explanations for significant events gives a sense of control to the kind of people who have often been excluded from avenues of power.

There are two aspects to Holocaust denialism. The first, of course, is to deny the Holocaust: to claim that it either never happened, or has been wildly exaggerated for reasons which invariably include the idea that this is all a marketing exercise to ensure sympathy for the formation of a Jewish state—to assert that all the records were faked, all the witnesses were lying. I’ve seen people claim, for instance, that around 500,000 Jews were killed, instead of the generally accepted figure of 6 million. Only an anti-Semitic mind could believe that killing 500,000 Jews for any reason would not itself be noteworthy. There are also those who claim that Hitler wasn’t as bad as he has been made out to be, and that he was perfectly fair to Jews in Germany.

The second common gambit is to explain at length how Jews are destroying the world, how they only look after their own kind, how they run the banks and the movies, how they’re also somehow in charge of the labor movements, and how the whole world economy is just a front for Jews who want to get rich from the labor of others. Some even urge that the Jews need to be stopped by any means necessary. Though it is rarely explicitly stated, there is a strong undercurrent to this sort of thinking—that no one could really have blamed Hitler for killing so many Jews.

So, according to this view, the Jews were not killed in the Holocaust, and anyway, if they were, they had it coming. As it turns out, the anti-Semitic thread running through all these arguments is precisely the same sort of hateful rubbish that led to an environment of acceptance of genocide. At the very least, the more hate you promulgate towards the Jews, the greater the demonstration of how much worse it must have been when hating Jews was socially acceptable.

In 1987, revisionist historian David Irving published a book called “Churchill’s War”. In 1993, historian Deborah Lipstadt published “Denying the Holocaust”, which referred to “Churchill’s War” and accused Irving of using different standards of evidence, depending on whether or not a piece of information fit his anti-Semitic theories. In 1996, Irving sued Lipstadt for libel. Despite the fact that he purposefully filed the case in an English court, where the lower standards of evidence required made it easier to prosecute a case for defamation than in any other jurisdiction in which Lipstadt’s book was published, the judge ruled that “he is an active Holocaust denier; that he is anti-Semitic and racist.”

Irving was bankrupted by the case, and his career was destroyed, as historians pored over his previous works in the light of Lipstadt’s book. In the end, what destroyed Irving was not his repeated de-platforming all over the world, but the presentation of Lipstadt’s more compelling view, backed up by more convincing facts.

In 2005, Austrian police arrested Irving on the basis of a 1989 warrant for publicly denying the Holocaust. During these proceedings, he said he had changed his mind: “I made a mistake,” because “The Nazis did murder millions of Jews.”

Stopping Hate

One of the problems with fascism, like other fringe political movements, is that it thrives in the dark. The idea that some things can’t be talked about feeds into the victim complex that far-right ideology requires. Censorship doesn’t shut fascists down: it empowers them. Removing offensive opinions from public discourse does not remove them from our lives, but, like vampires, they explode when sunlight hits them.

For Facebook, whose primary interest is in making money, rather than acting as a fact-checking site for political propaganda, mass action on hate speech is very difficult, given that it’s a demand-side rather than a supply-side problem. Although it probably doesn’t feel like it at the time, people choose when and how to take offence. There is always a risk that people will get offended by worthwhile ideas that are nevertheless very unpopular, and safeguarding people from toxic ideologies could turn into babysitting the most offendable users. Catering to the most sensitive members of the audience has a stultifying effect on public discourse, and presumably the more worthwhile values are not so fragile that they require paternalistic protection from being questioned. The best response to bad ideas will always be good ideas and it still counts as censorship even if the thing you’re not allowed to say is incredibly stupid.

One of the prices of free speech is the risk that charismatic malefactors might influence others to do harm, but free speech is objectively more important than that risk. Freedom of speech necessarily supersedes anything you have to say.

The original title of this article was the ironic “Was The Holocaust Really That Bad?” The fact that the title had to be redacted, to ensure it avoided ending up on a list on a server in a dark basement somewhere demonstrates the need for this sort of discussion. The fact that people would have reacted with outrage without actually reading any of the article is part of the problem. Censoring all references to it merely prevents public access to the information necessary to understand why Holocaust denial is such an odious ideology.

Areo Magazine, 9 August 2018

[therightnewsnetwork]

Tucker Carlson Is Wrong

Although I sometimes enjoy Tucker Carlson’s commentaries on Fox News, last week Tucker offered an opinion that had me shaking my head in wonder. He started out reasonably, by condemning the violence and rage now being unleashed by the Trump-hating left. He showed pictures of masked demonstrators vandalizing buildings in downtown Washington and at Berkeley; and he stressed the difference between stating political dissent and encouraging insurrection, with the active or at least implicit support of the anti-Trump media and the Democratic Party.  According to Tucker, such behavior indicates that the left has no interest in engaging the other side in discussion. And it is also intent on changing the nature of our polity, if necessary, by force. 

Tucker then asserted that the kind of change the left now wants and is acting violently to achieve will turn us into a society “in which minorities will contend more and more for power.” Neither reason nor compromise will be possible in such an American future, for our critical differences will “no longer be ideological but tribal.” In this dystopian society all minorities will vie for advantage; and no one will care what other groups have to say. Once America descends into this tribal war, we will cease being the kind of political society we’ve been until now. We’ll “become like other countries,” in which inter-tribal strife is the rule and where no one listens to reasoned arguments from other groups.

Unfortunately this warning doesn’t make sense. Not all non-American societies are wracked by internal tribal conflict. Many are made up mostly or entirely of one ethnic group. Presumably Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, China, and Japan do not fit Tucker’s parochial picture of “elsewhere.” Tucker’s comments remind me of American immigrants whom I met as a kid who would tell me that everyone outside the United States was starving. One had to wonder how many inhabitants of the rest of the world these acquaintances of my parents had met.

It’s also ridiculous to claim that tribal identities had nothing to do with American politics before the current left came to monopolize our media and universities. I recall when party tickets for municipal officials in mayoral races in New York City were expected to include an Irishman, Italian and Jew. When the late Mayor Daley ruled over Chicago, he selected ward heelers on the basis of their ethnic identification with the Chicago neighborhoods to which they were assigned. Not only were the Poles, Italians, Jews, Irish, and Lithuanians given ethnically compatible liaisons with the mayor’s office. Black politicians in Chicago also got their start as ethnic representatives in the very expansive Daley-machine. Naturally the top posts went to Daley’s fellow-Irish but that’s the way American ethnic politics operated back then in the Windy City. Politics were much more tribal than, to use Tucker’s preferred state of mind, ”ideological.” But pardon my own preference: I didn’t mind the way Daley cut the municipal pie. It was sure better than having “ideological” warfare—or seeing the white working class shortchanged as in Hillary’s version of “inclusiveness.”

I’m also utterly puzzled by Tucker’s fear that we’re all becoming tribal. Does this apply to white Southerners who are watching Confederate monuments—celebrating the heroes under whom some of their ancestors fought—being torn down?  Are these Southern “tribalists” receiving the same recognition as Black Lives Matter or do they enjoy the same respect as black politicians who say they’re offended by Confederate symbols? One might think, following Tucker’s logic, that in a society where all tribes are contending for power, Southern whites who valued ancestral symbols would be receiving the same encouragement as those on the other side. But of course this is not the case, because Tucker’s view of our present problem misses the point. Although tribalism has had serious historical consequences, it is not the same thing as multiculturalism. Tucker would do well to understand that the kind of tribalism permitted by multiculturalists is extremely selective and is not handed out to all groups in the same measure.   

For years I’ve read and heard establishment Republican and neoconservative commentators warn that if we give in to the demands of black and Latino nationalists, we’d be opening the door to right-wing white tribalism. This has not happened to any significant degree; and where it has, the phenomenon has not resulted from following the multicultural ideology promoted by the left.

Clearly multiculturalists do not value all tribal identities equally. In fact they happily divide us into victimizers and victims. Presumably white Southern male heterosexual Christians are not intended to enjoy the same collective right to an historical identity as, say, a black lesbian or a Muslim gay activist.

It is possible that those with the low victim numbers may rebel at some point (this has already begun to happen with the alt-right) and demand the same identitarian rights as those held by our current preferred victims. Although this is a possible reaction to how the left rules, it has nothing to do with what the left teaches or the logic of its selective tribalism. What the left wishes to implement is toxic, because it weakens and then abolishes traditional cultural and social identities. It also reduces human beings to subjects of an ongoing therapeutic experiment. But let’s not confuse this with an African tribal war or the Balkan tinderbox that led to World War One.

I would finally note that the multicultural left hopes to end all tribalism by obliterating or at least downgrading the historic culture of those who are viewed as most responsible for ethnic prejudice, namely white Western peoples and the nations to which they’ve belonged.  Progressive members of these groups are helping the left by removing crosses and other Christian symbols from public buildings, and by taking down monuments in New Orleans and Charlottesville, Virginia that offend minority leaders. Meanwhile the educational system is being reshaped in a way that justifies the claims of those holding high assigned victim cards.

In Germany the accommodation of the “other” has gone so far that there is absolutely no national culture that Muslim immigrants can assimilate into. The German minister of integration, a Turkish lady, defines as the official German culture “the diversification of diversity (die Verfältigung der Vielfalt).” Further, the German minister of defense, Ursula von der Leyen has just given orders that no German military installation will be allowed to bear the name of any past German war hero, including Frederick the Great. The Berlin City Palace, which was constructed in the early fifteenth century and is now being restored from damage caused by Allied war bombing, will be lacking a feature that it displayed until 1945; it will not have the cross that long rested on the cupola put back. This symbol, it has been explained by the municipal government, may not please Berlin’s Muslim minority. Multiculturalism has not been good for German tribalism; nor has the American version benefited our one-time ethnic majority.

Pace Tucker Carlson, there’s nothing to suggest that what the left here and in Western Europe wants is a general renewal of tribalism. Selective tribalism for designated minorities is not the same as encouraging all ethnic groups in a society to assert identitarian rights. Neither the ideology nor the practice of multiculturalism would cause me to believe otherwise.

Paul Gottfried is Raffensperger Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Elizabethtown College, where he taught for twenty-five years. He is a Guggenheim recipient and a Yale PhD. He writes for many websites and scholarly journals and is the author of thirteen books, most recently Fascism: Career of a Concept and Revisions and Dissents. His books have been translated into multiple languages and seem to enjoy special success in Eastern Europe.

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