Decent article, but have to disagree with this part:

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Left progressives have all but universally denounced Sheeran as ‘spineless’, as a ‘coward’ and, in the words of Roger Waters, a ‘prick’.

Everybody knows that damning denunciations play supremely well on social media – nothing boosts the ego like the feeling that we are, not just right, but morally ‘superior’ to some wimpier soul – but it is going too far to promote bravery as the defining moral virtue. We are all cowards in different ways, and sometimes we are well-advised to be a coward. Sometimes the bravest amongst us are simply egotists driven by delusions of invincibility. And it is not, in truth, certain that Sheeran is merely guided by fear of personal negative consequences. It could be that, knowing how open dissent is relentlessly attacked, and outreach shut down, he really is trying to spread peace, love and understanding apolitically. Political progressives might find that hopelessly naïve, or self-serving drivel, but it has been the approach taken by the likes of Jesus, Buddha, Bodhidharma, Chuang tzu and Lao tse - people who had a vast and salutary impact on human civilisation and who were not political activists. Many of our leftist compassionate values actually have their roots in such teachings.

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I think Jimmy Dore has it right - the claim to being 'apolitical' is false because everything is political, even the choice to be silent:





'(0:45) So when you choose to censor your opening acts, you're being political. When you choose to go along with a Jewish billionaire Zionist who censoring your opening act, that's you being political. There's no two ways about it. [...] (10:50) There is no such thing as art that is not political. So, if you have a platform like Ed Sheeran has - big enough to draw 90,000 people at a time at a clip to pay money to see you and you decide not to comment on the status quo, that is tacitly endorsing the status quo. That's what that's saying. All art is political. Because if you don't come, if you are doing art and you're not having it reflect uh your opinion of the status quo, that means you're endorsing the status quo, which makes it political. There's no getting out of it. There's no getting out of this. You can't. So that's like saying I'm a comedian in 1933 Germany and I get on stage and I go, "Hey, dating's weird, huh?" That's you ignoring what's a holocaust and what's going on and that is you being political. So there's no getting out of it by you going up and pretending nothing's happening. That's you doing what the establishment wants you to do. Pretend like nothing's wrong. That's a political move. So that's why there's no getting out of it. You're being political.'

Singing wishy-washy love songs and spouting pap about wanting everyone to get along, 'have fun' and just enjoy the music during a time of genocide is doing nothing for 'peace, love and understanding'. In fact it's undermining those goals because he's just playing his part in the Bread & Circuses to distract & pacify the population, sending ppl to sleep instead of awakening & helping to mobilise them against these appalling crimes. Pretty wallpaper on the prison walls as I described it a while back when looking at the social role played by music in the dominant culture. At a stretch one could say the same about the religious & spiritual leaders D.Edwards mentions above: their role was arguably also to distract & pacify, console the masses and encourage introspection rather than resistance and/or active attempts to overthrow and build a replacement for the status quo. Though that's a more controversial opinion!

cheers,
I