Lordeon stage in blue dress, arms spread, at the microphone

The real reason Lorde boycotted Israel

IT must be tough for those on the progressive side of politics.

The entire left these days seems consumed with competing grievances and agendas it must be hard to know on any given day whose cause to champion and whose to ignore.

But the decision by Kiwi pop singer Lorde to cave to the demands of activists and cancel a performance scheduled in Israel next year — while keeping stops in St Petersburg and Moscow on her world tour — inadvertently clarifies the way things really work.

Essentially, progressives tend to make up their minds about things according to a grievance hierarchy, which goes something like this: Worries about Palestine trump concerns about gay rights. And concerns about gay rights trump women’s rights which, despite the big and necessary push against harassment and abuse over the past several months, tend to wind up as the last unionised, fair-pay electric cab off the left’s organised and properly supervised rank.

 

Read the full article by James Morrow in RendezView at The Daily Telegraph.