[November 26, 2017] My grandmother was fond of telling all of us grandkids to never fear when standing up to bullies. And so it is always my pleasure to highlight a person who has done just that. The “blogosphere” was alive recently with news1 about the Australian musician Nick Cave who played in Israel and in doing so defied the world of art and entertainment celebrities.
“Because it suddenly became very important to make a stand, against those people that are trying to shut down musicians, to bully musicians, to censor musicians, and to silence musicians.” – Nick Cave AO, Australian musician, singer-songwriter, author
The Aussie rocker, of Bad Seeds legend, decided he had enough of those who would try to silence others trying to exercise their free right to chose where they play their music. Nick Cave made it clear that he performed in Israel in spite of the Israel bashers in the entertainment world. One headline put it; ‘Nick Cave: BDS is the reason for my trip to Israel.’2
He is demonstrating what moral courage is about. Cave is doing so by taking a stand against those who are trying to shut down musicians and risk being ostracized by the very people who helped make his career. This is bold. But it is also the right thing to do. Anything having to do with Israel has become, over the past decade, highly politicized.
This is in contrast to others who quickly bend to the political correctness of anti-Semitism rampant in the entertainment world. For example, several acts dropped out of the Pop-Kultur festival in Germany due to the fact that some of the funding came from the Israeli embassy. The Pop-Kultur festival ran from August 23-25 in the German capital, and featured live music, exhibits, talks, and readings.3
A recent post here at theLeaderMaker.com showed us that actress Maureen O’Hara stood up to the culture of sexual harassment in Hollywood and she did it in 1945 before it was popular to do so. When many of us fear retribution for doing what is right, it makes for a frightening story about our culture.
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