A recent upheaval has occurred in Lebanon, people boycotting the Placebo concert because they were playing in Israel the night before. A lot of people boycotted the event but a lot others didn’t, and that wasn’t the only thing that was happening. People were literally bashing each other on Facebook in the most uncivilized way possible. They were calling the people who wanted to boycott the concert as being Ignorant and the others labeled the people who wanted to attend the concert as being non-supportive of Ghaza. I myself am not against any of these two sides, because both of them have logical reasoning to their actions and ideas.
- People Boycotting the Concert
I respect these people a lot for taking a stand and for trying to make a change for once. The boycotting my friends is merely a symbol, it is not against Placebo it is just a symbol reflecting the ideas of some people in the most peaceful way ever! We are always used to violent and uncivilized protests in Lebanon and we never actually stand against these acts,on the contrary we tend to avoid them and disregard them. The people who boycotted the Placebo concert were the complete opposite of the former ones, they just wanted everyone to know WHY they are boycotting it and for what reasons. A lot of people failed to notice the reason and they just started randomly cursing and dissing the organizers of this boycott. I found that utterly immature, because the boycott came from people who see the details and in one way or another they are radicals! And they are logical in their claim, boycotting a band for playing in Israel is a logical thing to do, it is as if they are saying that we don’t accept anyone who steps into Israel because it is as if they support them. Which is true RELATIVE to them. Try to understand their point of view and try to see what they are seeing because I am sure that you can do that and I am sure that you will be able to see the logic behind their actions. What really pissed me off is when people started laughing at them and when people started calling them ignorant without understanding why they are boycotting the concert. We tend to judge people directly in Lebanon and we tend to call them names directly as well, we think of ourselves as people who are very “Knowledgeable” not knowing that to some extent we are ignorant ourselves. There were many people who are ignorant to the facts of boycotting Placebo and yet they still were calling names, and labeling themselves in an indirect way as activists.
- People Not Boycotting the Concert
Now as I said above I am not with any side and I understand each side perfectly well. I understand why people chose not to boycott the event, because in the long run these concerts in a way or another might actually unite Lebanon and Israel in a very absurd way. Music in its very form is a tool for uniting people and nations, music is not racist, it is not judgmental and it doesn’t prefer kind of people over the other. Placebo were playing a concert for the Israeli citizens and they were not playing one for the Israeli military and commandos. If you people want to really boycott everything Israeli I think you should start with boycotting Starcbucks, Nestle and other companies that have confessed as being supportive of Israel: Financially, mentally and emotionally. But we tend to overlook it and to ignore it because it is so hard for us to suddenly stop attending Starbucks and such places and to boycott companies supporting Israel. This kind of boycott is much better and much more productive than boycotting en event, for this boycott is directly targeting all supporters of Israel. Music should not be boycott, artists’ political views should not be an important issue when they are playing a concert because music is higher than that and music has transcended to a level above all humanity and it has found its place among the sacred. Attending the Placebo concert is a way for letting other bands and artists know that in Lebanon there is a rock and metal scene, and there are a lot of people who love this kind of music. Placebo, Anathema and Hail are first bands among others to visit Lebanon and if we start being “Lebanese” whenever every band does something we don’t appreciate I think bands will eventually stop coming to our country. Last but not least and as I mentioned in this paragraph, people should boycott other things and not boycott music because music is the sole remaining element that targets all human beings.
To sum it all up, we must all understand each other before we decide to attack one another. We tend to call others ignorant before checking ourselves in the mirror. Arguments require the gathering of facts in order to be credible and convincing, bashing and dissing won’t get anyone anywhere, on the contrary it will just make the other “side” more hostile.
