As I enjoyed the spectacle of show (as always), however, this year I found my heart conflicted. It wasn't because the UK's entry was so mediocre, I was very well prepared for that. No, my personal conflict came with one of the songs that I enjoyed the most.
Nadav Guedj's 'Golden Boy' was the first song of the night that really got me going. The lyrics were hilarious. And before I leave, let me show you Tel Aviv... Ah. There. There was the problem. Nadav Guedj was representing Israel.
Israel is a terror state, inflicting a new brand of apartheid against the Palestinian people. Even though 'Golden Boy' was a superb song, I couldn't really get behind it if it was being sung under the flag of Israel, could I?
Elsewhere, others were having similar political problems. The Russian entrant, Polina Gagarina, whose song 'A Million Voices' was a superb powerpop song, was receiving choruses of boos from the fans in attendance (and from me in my sitting room) whenever she was awarded points from the judges. These were most likely due to Russia's occupation of part of Ukraine and its treatment of the LGBT community, rather than the quality of Gagarina's singing.
As the boos rang out, the hosts of the show pleaded with the crowd, advising them to put political differences behind them and judge the contestants purely on the music. Heeding these words at the time, I shrugged and proceeded to give my vote to 'Golden Boy' (along with Belgium, Lithuania and Romania at the same time).
Thinking back on this, I regret my decision. The argument that performers - be they singers or sportspeople - should not be subject to boos on the basis that they come from a country with morally questionable politics is one that becomes flawed to me when the performer in question becomes a representative of that country.
During Eurovision, the contest is framed very much upon national lines. You are not voting for Polina Gagarina or Nadav Guedj, you are voting for Russia or Israel. Throughout the night, the commentators, hosts and judges repeatedly refer to the countries. The leaderboard shows which countries have which amounts of points. Every headline announcing the winner of this year's result will have contained the word Sweden. I will eat my hat if more than a small minority contained the name of the performer Måns Zelmerlöw.
The performers themselves are opting to represent these countries within competition, to walk out onto the stage behind the flag. I doubt this is something that any of them are forced into (indeed, the original winner of the German competition to represent the country pulled out). All are aware of what they are doing.
The other argument is that the actions of a government such as the Israeli or Russian ones are not representative of the people of that country, or of the country itself. The problem with this line of thinking is that, again, these actions occur under the flag of that country, under the concept/sign/myth of that country. It is this concept/sign/myth that equally is being represented in competitions such as the Eurovision Song Contest.
One final note I think is worth making is that it is the country that goes on to exact the reward (or pay the price) of hosting the competition the following year. I have no idea what the average cost or profit is for hosting, but I would imagine many businesses in the hosting country will derive some benefit from an influx of tourists and fans when the Eurovision circus rolls into town.
I regret my decision to vote for Israel. I should have just stuck with Belgium. Next time I will be more discerning.
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