Poor bloke. He's lost so much it's almost too awful to contemplate.
The American rapper Macklemore has revealed just how much he has sacrificed after making a series of highly principled stands against injustice.
Money and brand deals? Gone. Sponsorships and festival appearances? Gone. Friendships? Vanished.
Still, amid all this heartbreak, at least Macklemore has retained his most cherished asset.
His moral superiority.
Meanwhile, those oppressed people on whose behalf Macklemore has forfeited so much have lost significantly more. You know, like limbs. And lives.
Macklemore was recently dumped from his supporting role to the English singer Ed Sheeran after delivering pro-Palestinian messages on stage. Cue the customary outrage from the entertainment industry's league of shrill moral grandstanders.
Other supporting acts, including Sheeran's backing band, promptly abandoned the US tour in solidarity with Macklemore. More artists then joined the pile-on, denouncing Sheeran as a coward for refusing to turn his concerts into political rallies.
Macklemore pompously declared: "There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed."
Ah, there it is. A moral judgement. An irrefutable truth. Agree with me or you're part of the problem.
Sheeran, who said stadium owners demanded Macklemore's axing, has since been forced into the absurd position of publicly explaining his conscience.
He told audiences the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel was horrific, the subsequent onslaught on Gaza "catastrophic and unjustifiable" and maintained artistic freedom should always be defended. But he also considers his shows to be havens from the world's troubles, particularly for families with young children who attend his concerts.
Sounds like a thoughtful person wrestling with an enormously complex issue, rather than reducing it to a neat slogan. But respect for audiences who pay to be entertained, not proselytised to, doesn't sit well with performers who view the stage as their pulpit.
Australians experienced this not long ago when three actors in a Sydney Theatre Company production appeared on stage wearing the entertainment industry's preferred fashion accessory, Palestinian keffiyehs, apparently in the misguided belief the audience had not paid to watch their play but to discover their opinions on Middle Eastern geopolitics.
This doesn't mean, of course, that artists should avoid political statements or remain silent in the face of atrocities. Art has always been political. From Orwell to Bob Dylan and Picasso to Spike Lee, injustice inspires memorable work exposing the absurdities and obscenities of the human condition.
But here's the difference: don't confuse the privilege of having an audience with having their permission to lecture them. And please, spare us the notion that sermonising on stage is an act of enormous personal courage when the only danger entertainers face is accidentally stumbling into the orchestra pit.
To his credit, Macklemore has pledged $1 million to Palestinian aid. Good for him, although the days of quietly helping people, rather than publicly announcing the sheer magnificence of your charitable conscience, are clearly over.
Another uncomfortable question lurks here. Why does Palestine command such disproportionate attention? The suffering there is horrifying and rightfully condemned. And in a world beset by armed conflict, everyone has a right to express support for any harrowing issue.
But if Macklemore says silence is complicity, his fellow cultural warriors in the entertainment industry are surely guilty of selective moral outrage. Where are their protests over the slaughter in Sudan? The massacres in Myanmar? The human rights abuses in China and Afghanistan?
Why do some atrocities become fashionable causes while others barely rate a hashtag? Do all abuses require a symbol like a keffiyeh to warrant the support of the enormously privileged? And what's courageous about publicly demonstrating your support of the oppressed in front of crowds of fans likely to applaud you anyway?
Accusing Ed Sheeran of spinelessness only cheapens your cause. Silence doesn't always represent cowardice. In Sheeran's case it feels more like humility.
So sing, act, dance and entertain us. Campaign on any issue as much as you like in your own time, too.
Just don't mistake the spotlight for a halo.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Have you been to a show where an entertainer has lectured the audience? Is Ed Sheeran correct that concerts should be havens from the harsh realities of the world? Are entertainers obligated to publicly take moral stands on troubling issues? Email us: [email protected]
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THEY SAID IT: "So if you win an award tonight, don't use it as a platform to make a political speech. You're in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your God, and f... off, OK?" - Ricky Gervais, opening monologue at the 2020 Golden Globes.
YOU SAID IT: Following a big response to his column on frontier wars, David Ellery delved deeper into the horrors of Australia's colonial history.
"I grew up in Tasmania, where we were taught in primary school that our state's Indigenous people were rounded up by means of a long line of benevolent soldiers and volunteers, moving from south to north of the state, where whey were resettled on the idyllic islands of Bass Strait. The rest, as they say, is history. However, your earlier column conflated our ignorance of the terrible wrongs that were inflicted on the Aboriginal people with the need for recognition via a frontier wars section in the Australian War Memorial. An absolute yes to long overdue recognition in the many existing state and Federal institutions but a big no to a dedicated section in the AWM," says Allan.
"I like David Ellery's War of the Worlds analogy for the invasion of Australia. Henry Reynolds has documented contemporaneous attitudes. Colonists were very clear that dispossession was what they were doing," says Peter of Canberra.
"Loved reading David Ellery's first three essays, mainly because I'm open-minded these days and I realise that I'm not an expert on anything. Please keep them coming," says Ray Biernat.
Sharon says: "I have had a lifelong interest in archeology, in particular Egyptology. Over the last few years, I am increasingly ambivalent about the display of mummified bodies. I know I would find it insensitive and extremely distasteful if someone dug up my granny to put her on display".
"When the time comes, would I like to see my wife or daughter's skeletons taken away for study or exhibition in a museum? No! This should only be done with the permission of the family and respect for the departed," says Ian.
"Let's accept that interfering with human remains has been happening forever. Victors treated their conquests with little respect (in the case of First Nations people, with no respect at all). So I won't condemn what happened one-hundred and something years ago. That said, today, as we hear more and know more about what actually happened in this country, it is very important that Aboriginal artefacts, body parts and cultural items be returned. There is no reason for us or foreign museums, universities or cultural institutions to hold onto them," David says.
"I can remember how appalled I was when visiting the Egyptian section of the British Museum. It was not just the number of mummies stacked up in glass cases that appalled me but it was the visitors who seemed to be oblivious to the desecration by the British," Hilary says.
Harking back to David's doomsday column, Alex says: "I'm not predicting doom by any particular date, I'm more worried by the already-unfolding degradation of the environment and hence living conditions. The latest Planetary Health Check by the Stockholm Resilience Institute sets out how seven of nine planetary boundaries are at their highest levels of transgression: impacts are already evident in droughts, flood, wildfires and extreme heat. If we don't want our descendants to be stuck in the kind of hellscape shown in Tim Winton's Juice, we need most governments, companies and people to make serious changes, sooner rather than later."
