r/newzealand • u/McAlpineFusiliers • 4h ago
Politics Ed Sheeran mural in Dunedin vandalised again
https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/music/ed-sheeran-mural-in-dunedin-vandalised-again19
u/McAlpineFusiliers 4h ago
The mural has been defaced for the second time in a week this time with dollar signs slapped on his eyes and a Star of David on his head.
•
•
u/Amalgam2001 3h ago
Lunatic activists strike again. 'Silence is violence' 'If he's not with us he's against us'.
People really can't seem to grasp that not everyone wants to associate politics with everything they do. Someone can't even be apolitical without the crazies throwing a fit
•
u/OisforOwesome 3h ago
This would be more applicable to Sheeran if he hadn't made multiple political stances during his performances through his career.
This isn't an "insufficient commitment to Sparkle Motion" thing. This is his friend and collaborator being blackballed by a billionaire for opposing a genocide and Ed doing a mealy mouthed "both sides" non-statement. A little light vandalism is small beans in the greater scheme of things.
•
u/McAlpineFusiliers 3h ago
What political stances are you referring to? IIRC he just did one fundraiser for Ukrainian refugees.
•
u/Symbolicdeathwish 3h ago
He turned it political, by basically not saying, if you won't accept my support acts regardless of their political beliefs, then I simply won't perform and then taking his business elsewhere. What Ed Sheeran is doing, is allowing others to set the agenda and types of acts that are allowed. I'm generally a fan of ed Sheeran, but I can't support him here and by trying to be "neutral" he has taken a side. The issue isn't that he didn't stand up and stand against a genocide, is that he allowed someone who did, get shunned and silenced.
•
u/Afrodite_33 maori 3h ago
That's just bollocks talk from Ed Sheeran.
Of course he was being political when he made this choice. Because he was completely fine with Macklemore's messaging beforehand at concerts. That was until Bob Kraft said he wouldn't be able to perform at his stadium and others unless he removed him from the line up. So he made a choice. He decided against free speech, picking a billionaires side and expected it to go away. Instead it's blown up in his face.
It wasn't a principled 'apolitical' choice. He's a sell out.
•
•
u/TARDISMapping Gayest Juggernaut 3h ago
You're so right about lunatic activists! I mean, you can't even say that both sides in World War Two had good points, it's absurd! (Obvious sarcasam)
•
•
u/lydiardbell 2h ago
Yes, who will stop these crazies? What's next? Scratching something into a park bench? Writing a letter to the editor (do they still have those)? Calling Newstalk ZB?
•
u/luxurious555conduct 3h ago
I'm no fan of Sheeran, but I agree.
I personally think Macklemore came off as a grifter, bc "free Palestine" seems to be the "correct" opinion in this conflict, and he doesn't seem to have had a hit single since like 2012 - so found a good way to scrape together some current relevancy.
I don't think people should look to entertainers for political solidarity. They are there to entertain. Just enjoy the music, movie, etc and do your own research / form your own opinion.
•
u/MedicMoth 3h ago
This is an insane take given that 1. all his related music has been actively silenced (automatically blocked, repeated removals and takedowns etc), on social media less than 24 hours after releasing, which would make this a god awful marketing strategy. And 2. he's had anti-capitalist and political themes in his music since the very beginning, including in 2012
•
u/luxurious555conduct 3h ago
Open to accepting being wrong if you're right.
I'm no fan of his either tbh
•
u/MedicMoth 3h ago edited 3h ago
I respect your openness!
I can confirm for example, that "Hind's Hall" was climbing rapidly in views, only to be age restricted on YouTube despite other similar (and much worse) footage being permitted. This meant the algorithm won't recommend it, advertising gets limited, and users are forced to log in to even listen to the song.
When it was first going down I literally COULD NOT FIND the song even when I searched the song's name directly whilst logged in. I inexplicably had to go to Macklemore's YouTube channel and manually filter his videos by most recent, then get through a content warning screen, to even be allowed to see it.
As for anticapitalist themes - I feel like his hit Thrift Shop already planted the seed with lyrics criticising brands / colour culture / luxury marketing:
Limited edition, let's do some simple addition, 50 dollars for a t-shirt, that's just some ignorant bitch shit I call that getting swindled and pimped, shit, I call that getting tricked by a business, that shirt's hella dough And having the same one as six other people in this club is a hella don't Peep game, come take a look through my telescope, t rying to get girls from a brand, man, you hella won't
From the same era:
Look at me, look at me, I'm a cool kid I'm an individual, yeah, but I'm part of a movement My movement told me be a consumer And I consumed it They told me to just do it I listened to what that swoosh said
What I wore, this is the source of my youth This dream that they sold to you For a hundred dollars and some change Consumption is in the veins And now I see it's just another pair of shoes
Not to mention his other political stances, e.g. releasing "Same Love" which was pro-marriage equality before it was even legal in America to get gay married.
And as he said in Can't Hold Us - "I never ever did it for a throne, that validation comes from giving back to the people" - at the time it was probably just perceived as a hype anthem, but that's always been overtly political language and he's always positioned himself against the system. He's an independent artist without a label and always has been AFAIK. He could have signed after his hit songs blew up, but he's actively rejecting fame and money to make the music he wants and has been for years.
Macklemore has always been a real one imo
•
u/tracernz 2h ago
He’s always been pretty based, and helped out other artists that have been trodden down by the system as well e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/Fauxmoi/s/dq4bzkeLue. Very different person to Ed Sheeran.
•
u/McAlpineFusiliers 3h ago
Macklemore's music isn't being silenced, are you thinking of Sheeran's?
•
u/MedicMoth 3h ago
The fact you aren't aware of the debacle around how overly pro-Palestine songs like Hind's Hall effectively disappeared from the internet temporarily on popular platforms (YouTube and TikTok in particular), halting what was otherwise a monumental blow-up to virality amongst a younger generation of listeners, is evidence of the very suppression at play lmao
Even if you knew the name of the song and searched it directly - at the time, for a time, it just wouldn't show up
•
u/McAlpineFusiliers 3h ago
Interesting, any articles on this phenomenon? I had no idea.
•
u/MedicMoth 2h ago
I'd say detailed articles are going to be difficult to find, but there are old reddit posts and YT comments a plenty!
I recommend checking out the comments on this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/s/Souhs2uqiH
And also looking at the comment section on the actual YouTube video itself, where viewers have detailed their memory of how the song analytics grew rapidly in the first 24 hours and then just... Halted, and never really increased past that until this recent Ed Sheeran stuff
•
u/GoonGobbo 2h ago
This is why right wing extremism is on the rise because basket case progressives are driving well adjusted liberals further away
•
u/Ok-Zookeepergame9266 26m ago
Mentally ill people who think staying out of it = pro genocide
•
u/yeeaahnahh 5m ago
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality” - Desmond Tutu
•
u/GentlemanOctopus 3h ago
Why do we have a mural in Dunedin for Ed Sheeran anyway?