Deeply silly Madonna tells Romanians how to behave
That America has a black president is a step in the right direction. But if you are waiting for a European country to have a gyspy or Roma president, better have yourself cryogenically frozen for a very long time, if you ever want to see it come to pass.
A society within a society, hounded and scorned and disenfranchised, defiant outsiders to the last. That is the Roma people inside Eastern Europe. It’s enough to make you weep. Or, if you’re Madonna, think that you are ‘empowered’ to jump off an airplane & deliver everyone a quick telling off at a pop concert, and solve all the world’s bloody problems in one fell swoop.
Video after the jump…
What galls me is a person (if that’s what she is) who arrives in a country, and within a few minutes of being there, drawing on her extensive background as a vogue dancer and wearer of pointy bras, thinks she can deliver a sermon from the mount about what said country should be doing for racial harmony.
Hard to see the good guys in this story, I’m afraid. Because I’ll freely admit she has a point. My beef is with what she does about it, and the smugness that emanates from the egomaniacal, female Andy Warhol of pop music.
But what would I know? Well, the Jet-Set Hobo lived in a predominately Roma neighbourhood in Budapest for one thing. Best musicians in the world, with a more vivid sense of life than all the combined work-a-day drones sitting in cubicles downtown. But these are only my impressions. I just lived among the Roma for months on end, I don’t have Madonna’s God-given power of judgement that allows me to assess the complexities of an entire country in less time than it takes to rehearse a new dance routine.
Notice please that in the video, Madonna refers to ‘we’, as in “We don’t believe in discrimination.” I would just like to know which ‘we’ she is referring to? Would that be the Royal ‘we’? As in ‘We are not amused.’ Or is it we as in, ‘me and my group of intensely aerobicised dancers and styling assistants’? Yeah, that’s us. Well, we think you should knock if off with this anti-Roma guff. So there. Or did she mean you know, ‘we’ as in “Me, that’s Madonna, and the entire United States of America’. In which case, I don’t think it is entirely true. Or finally, is it just we as in, ‘me and God/The Goddess’. And which one would that be this week? Shiva? Aphrodite? Some blue/green creature from outer space?
O tempora! O mores! Oh what times, what customs.
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It may seem an odd occupation for a globe-trotting, nightlife loving bachelor, but over the last few months, I’ve been writing a children’s book called The wild cats of Piran. It’s about a colony of feral cats who live in a small medieval town on the Adriatic sea. The book is intended to appeal to very bright 9 year olds and up. The sort of thing a bookish, cat loving adult could enjoy whipping through in a long afternoon sitting in a snug armchair by an open fire. A great believer in letting the work speak for itself, if you’re at all interested, I suggest you contact the author directly, 
OK, piling on to Madonna’s blatant egotism is hardly innovative, but the real question is:
do you have to be an extensive background to speak out against injustice? Yes, you have to be qualified to talk about nuclear physics, or fantasy football or even economics, but injustice is a matter of soul not brain. A child can speak out against discrimination, and no adult has an excuse to keep quiet.
You are right in the way that Oscar Wilde was right when he said that the value of an idea had nothing to do with the sincerity of the person expressing it. You seem really sincere to me, and I suppose even sincerity can be trustworthy at times. But really. Everything even vaguely good Madonna has ever done in music has been a repackaging of somebody else’s idea. She adopts African babies like she accessorises her clothing, tastelessly – and then pontificates on subjects she seems ill-qualified to assess, given that everything else about what she does is so narcissistic and shallow. At least to this correspondent. We’re all entitled to an opinion aren’t we?
In response to another comment. See in context »I don’t follow your logic. Because Madonna has done a lot of silly things in the past and doesn’t know much about Romania and is shallow and narcissistic, it’s wrong of her to tell the Romanians to stop being bigots even though this time she’s right? Like you have to pass some kind of authenticity test before you can tell bigots they’re bigoted?
How would you feel about going to see some Romanian cabaret act, or such, who stopped their show half-way to say they’ve heard there’s racism in America, and that you’d all damned well better put a stop to it? It wouldn’t be untrue, and all they’d be doing is exercising their right to free speech. It would however be deeply silly, and so is Madonna. But you’re right, the arrogant, condescending and deluded hack is free to say whatever she pleases.
In response to another comment. See in context »How would I feel about Romanian commenting on racism in America? I’d applaud.
In response to another comment. See in context »Then your point of view is as simplistic as that desperately unfunny pastiche of Hitler.
In response to another comment. See in context »wait, what if a romanian said that after a careful study of the situation?
in principle outside opinions, more if they have this following, can be good when they are considerate and researched. they can even be alarm signals where needed.
madonna was wrong to do this at her concert, she was obviously not well informed also, but i think she meant well, i don’t see what selfish personal benefit she would have gained from it.
In response to another comment. See in context »well let me tell you what’s going on, as i’m a romanian, and i was sitting 10 feet from her in the crowd
she was booed because it was silly to pay a ticket and be preached at, even more so when, for our country at least, this qualifies as PURE SLANT: the gypsies (they stole the Roma name from our people, Soros supported it to confuse everybody into accepting them) are living a lucrative life in Romania, they are making tons of money with their music, albeit an exponent of poor taste and lower class, being portraited heavilly on soap operas and in trash tv news, again lowering the cultural level of the masses.
romania is in the european union, you think the european government would tolerate discrimination? our laws are well in favor of the gypsies, with affirmative action and all that p.c. stuff.
bottom line: she was silly sociologically in antagonizing a crowd that by the way was already suffering from a terrible organization of the event (insufficient toilets, too much dust, poor view, undersized stage), and in her getting the info right
the gypsies are a pan european problem, they have gotten a way more bigotted response in good old italy, where they fled to from the east, look it up.
a lot of action needs to be taken, granted – so she was right in concept, but that action is way ahead exactly in romania. we unfairly got “disciplined”, when here the gypsies are more and more accepted.
one point: the clips emphasize the booing. near the stage there were almost more cheers than jeers. evenso, did you hear the “god damn it!”
) ?
In response to another comment. See in context »“the gypsies (they stole the Roma name from our people, Soros supported it to confuse everybody into accepting them) are living a lucrative life in Romania, they are making tons of money with their music, albeit an exponent of poor taste and lower class, being portraited heavilly on soap operas and in trash tv news, again lowering the cultural level of the masses.”
Borat would certainly be proud of Dorin after that rant.
My point was that Madonna spouting a few platitudes isn’t going to do anything to change attitudes like his. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was a spike in anti-Roma violence after her remarks, not the other way round.
In any case, I am staunchly opposed to celebrities with a Messiah complex, especially ones as conceited and shallow as Ms Ciccone.
In response to another comment. See in context »what is that too much for america to take? does it crumble the sand castle of pretend political correctness on which your society is barely stabilizing?
or am i supposed to welcome the degradation of my cultural values? i’m sorry if you liked the music, but do some more research before sentencing your way.
just to hell with national values, let whoever comes over steer the country to their ways? even more so, did you have a look at their ways?
i guess if the indians didn’t do that to the europeans coming to america you wouldn’t be where you are today. but what if the indians came in numbers to europe? should europe have adopted their ways?
if the african americans kept their african customs and furthermore converted in large numbers the white population in america, you’re telling me you would have taken it gladly?
my civilization is being hijacked and i’m supposed to accept it because otherwise it sounds bad?
if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck . .
In response to another comment. See in context »Dorin, perhaps I was being a little unfair. I am however well aware that there are all kinds of complexities and shares of blame/responsibility in this situation, not only in Romania but also Hungary, Slovakia etc. There is not enough space in a comments forum to do it justice. There certainly wasn’t enough space in a 30 second rant by a self appointed moral guardian with the morals of Leni Riefenstahl and the taste of Liberace. On that point we can agree.
Oh and by the way, I’m not an American.
In response to another comment. See in context »Oh, yeah? Well, so’s your momma. (Have I descended to your level of argument yet or should I keep going?)