Scrutable

Well I'm sure this is going to be uncontroversial.

Since seeing Bob Vylan's set and the media response afterwards I've been stewing away and feeling pretty angry to be honest. A couple of the people I was with over the weekend had parents in the army so I'm not making light of how his comments could be interpreted. But there's a pretty striking difference between the reaction to someone saying something like that so directly, and politicians and the media twisting themselves in knots to avoid ever actually saying what they're doing (or allowing to happen).

Watching this from afar, I can't help feeling there has been a massive overreaction with some people getting outraged as an opportunity of attacking people they do not like.

Having said that, back in the 60s and even the 80s, this sort of display would have been laughed off as a protest against bad stuff that was happening. However, times have changed. The rise of social media and echo chambers means there are people who are likely to take something like this literally and act on it. From that perspective, authorities are going to feel obliged to take it seriously. It was an inflammatory thing to do.

The conflation by a number of people of anti-Israel commentary with anti-Semitism is making this whole area a minefield to navigate. There is no world where it is right for an army to control the distribution of humanitarian aid, but to then shoot and kill those trying to access that aid. In fact, this is a war crime. I am finding it virtually impossible to have this conversation in some quarters without accusations of anti-Semitism. Netanyahu et al. have done their propaganda well.

I can’t help but think that conflating the IDF with Jews - which you have to do to say that an anti-IDF chant is anti-Semitic - is deeply f.cked up.

Grumble wrote: Tue Jul 01, 2025 6:27 am I can’t help but think that conflating the IDF with Jews - which you have to do to say that an anti-IDF chant is anti-Semitic - is deeply f.cked up.

It's obscene, and the Daily Mail in particular has outright lied by claiming on its front page that the chant was 'death to Israelis'. There are plenty of ways that, if you wanted, you could argue that that's something that would follow, but it's not what he said at all.

By the way...I know this is a bit childish and probably isn't really that important, but I was originally planning to go see Weezer (who were on at the same time as Bob Vylan and Kneecap), because I'd seen Bob Vylan and Kneecap before and musically prefer Weezer to Kneecap. But Keir Starmer trying to interfere with it all made me change my mind. So take that Keir.

Anyway, as you were.

Many people find it easier to express outrage about a band at Glastonbury than to express outrage at what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank.

Had anyone in charge of programming had the vaguest idea about contemporary music they would have known that the Bob Vylan set might just contain something "outrageous". Naturally, some heads will roll at the BBC because of this (it has been reported worldwide) but, meanwhile, the genocide in Gaza continues unimpeded.

What a world we live in, eh?

edit: ISTR posting a Bob Vylan track on the 'what are you listening to' thread.