Should Ireland boycott the Eurovision?

Shazforgrub

There are several cases of human rights violations in Azerbaijan after coming to light recently, examples of which can be seen below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17997685

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/11/azerbaijan-eurovision-song-contest-boycott

Should Ireland participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in light of these issues?? If we participate in the this years competition we are basically saying we don't mind turning a blind eye to beatings, wrongful imprisonment and intimidation of the press etc etc, which is made all the worse given that the majority of Irish people think the Eurovision is a joke.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Giselle

Shazforgrub wrote: »

There are several cases of human rights violations in Azerbaijan after coming to light recently, examples of which can be seen below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17997685

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/11/azerbaijan-eurovision-song-contest-boycott

Should Ireland participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in light of these issues?? If we participate in the this years competition we are basically saying we don't mind turning a blind eye to beatings, wrongful imprisonment and intimidation of the press etc etc, which is made all the worse given that the majority of Irish people think the Eurovision is a joke.

While the Eurovision is undoubtedly a joke in Ireland, its actually taken quite seriously in some participant countries and winning or doing well in it carries some prestige.

For that reason alone I think if Ireland pulled out and issued a very clear press statement on the reasons why, it would serve a purpose in terms of publicity and pressure.

I don't think it would make a huge difference, but it would be the right thing to do.

slowburner

Are there any good reasons to participate?

I Need The Sun

Yes, but the powers that be are lacking the moral fibre to do so. It would need the performer to pull out on the night.

Jeboa Safari

Can't see it having any effect. And its punishing Ireland (whatever you may of the Eurovision) by not competing instead of excluding whatever countries might be abusing human rights.

OS119

Jeboa Safari wrote: »

...its punishing Ireland...

i fear we may have differing views on the nature of punishment!

i think that the UK (and everyone else) should withdraw from Eurovision because, first and foremost, its not a singing competition, its a political spectacle in which the 'votes' are cast for primarily political reasons. its also dire TV.

i could also ask when the hell Armenia, Azerbijan, Israel, Georgia and Turkey became part of Europe, but i won't...

personally, i think the argument about whether you involve 'dubious' countries in media/sport/politics etc is much more of a fine line - because of Eurovision the average viewer now knows that Azerbijan has a very dodgy government (even if they don't know where it is), which will, to some degree, make life more difficult for that government. however, the converse is also true, that Azerbijan has been passed 'fit' to host such a competition, and its ruling clique probably made quite a bit of money out of it. as i said, fine line.

getz

OS119 wrote: »

i fear we may have differing views on the nature of punishment!

i think that the UK (and everyone else) should withdraw from Eurovision because, first and foremost, its not a singing competition, its a political spectacle in which the 'votes' are cast for primarily political reasons. its also dire TV.

i could also ask when the hell Armenia, Azerbijan, Israel, Georgia and Turkey became part of Europe, but i won't...

personally, i think the argument about whether you involve 'dubious' countries in media/sport/politics etc is much more of a fine line - because of Eurovision the average viewer now knows that Azerbijan has a very dodgy government (even if they don't know where it is), which will, to some degree, make life more difficult for that government. however, the converse is also true, that Azerbijan has been passed 'fit' to host such a competition, and its ruling clique probably made quite a bit of money out of it. as i said, fine line.

hang on hang on,its not that long ago that ireland voted politically

OS119

getz wrote: »

hang on hang on,its not that long ago that ireland voted politically

so what has Irelands Foreign Policy got to do with 10 hours of utterly dire TV on a saturday night?

do you think those 'political votes' acheived anything?

getz

OS119 wrote: »

so what has Irelands Foreign Policy got to do with 10 hours of utterly dire TV on a saturday night?

do you think those 'political votes' acheived anything?

no they dident,and i wished the BBC would pull the plug on the song for europe sham,they are the ones who put up the money to run it