Eurovision 2014 Winner

Pepperpotty · Post by **Pepperpotty** » Mon May 12, 2014 5:44 pm

Sharp wrote: For me personally, I don't care if a bearded lady is singing. Couldn't care less about any colour, sexual preference, weather you have 3 arms or two heads. In life so long as a person has a good soul that's all that matters to me.

Well said. For me I think the problem is that Austria's entry was by no means the best and that they probably won purely on the media hype surrounding the entry.

Sam CA · Post by **Sam CA** » Mon May 12, 2014 6:10 pm

I try to keep an open mind as humanly as possible. I admit I found the beard too loud and distracting. I even tried to close my eyes to see if I could concentrate on the music but my brain had already picked up the image and this is what happened:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/X2cs8gnb42A" frameborder="0"></iframe>

I completely failed to have a fair musical judgment. Admittedly, this would totally make me a weak judge in a competition of this nature. Gotta work on my judging skills for sure.

JeffB63 · Post by **JeffB63** » Mon May 12, 2014 6:31 pm

lloydsmith wrote:Hmm Sharp....Disingenuous not to expect such a post to disintegrate into prejudice.

And we can always expect some PC spoilsport with no sense of humour to jump in and suck the joy from a previously lighthearted thread.

Post by **Sharp** » Mon May 12, 2014 6:42 pm

Anyone could also easily go back through the last 10 years of Eurovision and post many video's of Artists that had people talking. Heck my Country are responsible for sending Jedward and a Turkey to Eurovision. Lol....

Thanks to Poland this year washing machines have broken down all over the country and there's a run on Washboards.

Regards
Sharp.

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Mon May 12, 2014 7:04 pm

Sharp just posted the video with hardly any comment at all. I find a post about how this obviously has to result in prejudice far more prejudiced than the original post.

FWIW, I haven't even heard any of the songs so I'll reserve further judgment, I'm just glad my fellow countrymen are taking the competition seriously again and have sent in two actually decent songs the last two times.

lloydsmith · Post by **lloydsmith** » Mon May 12, 2014 7:57 pm

Sure, whatever, guys. If you think ..disgusting, homosexual dwarf is light hearted banter then I pity you. But in a not particularly bothered kind of a way.

And no I am not a humourless PC type of guy, if you want to jump to that conclusion it is up to you.

Anyway I haven't got time to write anymore - too busy steering my lipstick around the old beard

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Mon May 12, 2014 8:31 pm

I wasn't making light of any of that, I was taking issue with you accusing Sharp of basically instigating this when all he did was post a video of the winner.

lloydsmith · Post by **lloydsmith** » Mon May 12, 2014 9:23 pm

Yes, apologies to Sharp, i should have said naive rather than disingenuous - that was what I meant. The controversial Eurovision result was obviously going to give rise to unpleasant prejudiced remarks.

Colour me disappointed as well as a politically correct and humourless bore.

Enough - let us move on as this is less of an issue than words make it seem.

Post by **Sharp** » Mon May 12, 2014 10:14 pm

Yes, apologies to Sharp, i should have said naive rather than disingenuous - that was what I meant. The controversial Eurovision result was obviously going to give rise to unpleasant prejudiced remarks

Can you please explain.

I posted the winning video and I said only two words “Congratulations Austria”. Why is this so wrong all of a sudden when we have done this every year without fail.

We always talk Eurovision here and post video's of the contestants every year. Why is this years winning song all of a sudden so wrong to post.

Please explain because I truly have no idea what the problem is. In what way is this a controversial winning song?

Regards
Sharp

karmathanever · Post by **karmathanever** » Tue May 13, 2014 2:30 am

Sharp wrote:For me personally, I don't care if a bearded lady is singing. Couldn't care less about any colour, sexual preference, weather you have 3 arms or two heads. In life so long as a person has a good soul that's all that matters to me.

Thank you !!! +1000

Broadwave · Post by **Broadwave** » Tue May 13, 2014 7:55 am

As a "straight acting" and "looking" Gay man, I find some of the comments here intolerable... Precisely what Conchita is fighting against.

Yeah, a Drag Queen won, so what? Get over it.

lloydsmith · Post by **lloydsmith** » Tue May 13, 2014 9:42 am

If a bearded drag queen winning Eurovision is not controversial then i dunno what is mate. I think the response most of the above posters are evidence of that.

You have a multiplicity of forum users and some of them were going to be offended by some of the above posts whether they commented or not. I just stuck my head up and got it shot at.

Personally looking a a drag queen with a beard slightly turns my stomach, but that is my issue. I don't take it beyond that and express my contempt for gay people in general. The comments above equated gay people with being freaks. Some of you should obviously get out more.

One of the commenters actually makes a habit of posting homophobic remarks on Youtube whenever he can, so I know for a fact some of the above is not light hearted banter.

My issue is with your moderation or rather the lack of it here. That is what I am so disappointed in.

I suggest you lock this thread, we accept our differences and move on.

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Tue May 13, 2014 10:54 am

I'd like to chime in and say that I agree about the bad taste of some of those comments. For what it's worth, I didn't "shoot" at you for pointing that out. I just thought it was unfair of you to call out Sharp when he simply posted a video and said it was this year's EVS winner.

I can see why you'd want more moderation. I'm constantly surprised (as I'm sure Sharp himself is) how much homophobia and other prejudice is still left in the world. Especially the latent kind, where people don't see it as such. We have had a similar discussion in Holland last year (and every year to some extent) about "Zwarte Piet", a black caricature figure who is part of Dutch folklore. Many colored and non-colored people think it's really bad taste and due for a revision, but if they speak up they're told "it's not a racist thing, it's just part of our Dutch folklore and if you think it's racist you can go back to your own country". /facepalm

EDIT:
In further defense of Sharp, I think one of the ways to fight prejudice like this is to show your support for a winning act regardless of the sexual orientation or gender of the contestant. In fact, not even making it an issue at all. The fact that others later did is not really relevant to his initial post. If you are saying that he should have known prejudiced comments would happen and thus not post it at all, I think that is a really bad way to let your actions be ruled by people you disagree with. I'm sorry for everyone who felt offended and I sympathize with your plight. We must all continue to fight opinions like these, especially latent ones. To quote one of my favorite movies;
"Now, we must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men."

lloydsmith · Post by **lloydsmith** » Tue May 13, 2014 11:00 am

Yes in hindsight it was clumsily put - and the last thing I meant was to criticise Sharp, it was more of a bemused observation. Tone of course is missing from the internet!

worth · Post by **worth** » Tue May 13, 2014 11:56 am

The Eurovision Song Contest has become more and more of a circus in recent years than a song contest so I think a bearded lady is actually very much in keeping with that tradition .

The competition needs to get back to being about the music and not the spectacle