This is a very good line by line response to @LanaDelRey's very bad defense of her decision to perform in Israel. I'd like to add my own line by line response. 1/
"many of u are upset that we're going to Tel Aviv for the Meteor festival"
Are you? Looks like a good two hour drive from the airport. This level of unfamiliarity with the details at the outset of this statement does not bode well. 2/
Are you? Looks like a good two hour drive from the airport. This level of unfamiliarity with the details at the outset of this statement does not bode well. 2/
"I understand your concern I really get do [sic]"
No, you clearly don't, as this "explanation" proves. And you clearly didn't take the time to approach this issue with the seriousness and care it demands, as your typos prove. 3/
No, you clearly don't, as this "explanation" proves. And you clearly didn't take the time to approach this issue with the seriousness and care it demands, as your typos prove. 3/
"I believe music is universal and should be used to bring us together."
A nice sentiment, but dangerously naive in this context. 4/
A nice sentiment, but dangerously naive in this context. 4/
"a place that many big bands are playing this year and at this festival"
Other people are doing it too! 6/
Other people are doing it too! 6/
Also, you're the biggest act, Lana! 7/
"We don't always agree with the politics of the places we play within or even in our own country"
Apparently occupation and apartheid are just "politics". 8/
Apparently occupation and apartheid are just "politics". 8/
"sometimes we don't even feel safe, depending on how far abroad but we travel"
White woman with security detail doesn't feel safe around furriners. 9/
White woman with security detail doesn't feel safe around furriners. 9/
"I would like to remind you that performing in Tel Aviv is not a political statement"
It inherently is, no matter how hard you would like it not to be. 10/
It inherently is, no matter how hard you would like it not to be. 10/
"or a commitment to the politics there"
It's not a commitment to the "politics" there, but it is a commitment to apathy about the situation. Like racism was not a dealbreaker to Trump voters, racist apartheid is not a dealbreaker for you. 11/
It's not a commitment to the "politics" there, but it is a commitment to apathy about the situation. Like racism was not a dealbreaker to Trump voters, racist apartheid is not a dealbreaker for you. 11/
"just as singing here in California doesn't mean my views are in alignment w my current governments opinions or sometimes inhuman [sic] actions."
As fucked as things are in the US right now, the fact that Israel is an apartheid-like state is an important moral distinction. 12/
As fucked as things are in the US right now, the fact that Israel is an apartheid-like state is an important moral distinction. 12/
"Or that I condone my own president who openly mocks disabled people at rallies"
As offensive as this was, it's ridiculous that you implicitly situate it as something of comparable outrage as occupation or apartheid. 13/
As offensive as this was, it's ridiculous that you implicitly situate it as something of comparable outrage as occupation or apartheid. 13/
"( I'm not in anyway likening the gravity of certain travesties that have occurred in Israel to the current hardships we're facing here)"
Except you just did!
Also, "certain travesties"? What kind of whitewashing minimizing euphemistic bullshit is that?
#CertainTravesties
14/
Except you just did!
Also, "certain travesties"? What kind of whitewashing minimizing euphemistic bullshit is that?
#CertainTravesties
14/
"I'm just stating that I'm a simple singer"
Frankly, I'm inclined to agree, just not the way you intend. 15/
Frankly, I'm inclined to agree, just not the way you intend. 15/
"i'm doing my best to navigate the waters of the constant tumultuous hardships in the war-torn countries all over the world that I travel through monthly."
@LanaDelRey, grizzled intrepid war correspondent
16/
@LanaDelRey, grizzled intrepid war correspondent
16/
"For the record I'm doing the best I can"
No, you're not. For the record.
17/
No, you're not. For the record.
17/
"my intentions are better than most peoples that I know"
Fuck right off and fuck the high horse you rode in here on, Lana.
18/
Fuck right off and fuck the high horse you rode in here on, Lana.
18/
I can hardly think of a more arrogant way she could have ended this clueless statement. 19/
20/
The road to Gehenna is paved with good intentions. Through occupied land.
21/
21/
The typos are revealing, showing how casually she approached this very serious subject. Lana may going for "authentic", but she's not only clueless, but too clueless to get her capacity to be clueless & the need to run this by a PR person, anyone who can tell her it's whack. 22/
Finally, in the entire statement she never once mentions occupation, apartheid, Palestine, or Palestinians.
23/23
23/23
