An emailer sent me the following despatch from Eurovision hell. Americans may not know that this silly song contest is broadcast live across almost every European country in prime time. It’s about as international a cultural event (sports excluded) that occurs in Europe:
For the fourth year in a row, we subjected ourselves to Eurovision Saturday night…. Had a feeling something like what you reported happened to Israel….their entry was by far the only really creative one, with the best lyrics, best arrangement….we were amazed at how few votes they got. 90% of the others (including the winner) were like rejects from a 1975 American Disco Show…I was waiting for lyrics about “Disco Canard”, frankly.
On another note, if anyone has found a single EU official, Chris Patten especially, who has said a single thing about the latest Arafat-sponsored suicide attacks in Israel, please let me know. Whenever these characters huff and puff about Israel’s self-defense, they always put in a disclaimer that of course, they find Palestinian terror appalling. But then, when it happens, they say … nothing. That’s more eloquent than any of their massaged press statements.
The Dish 