Reaction to Coldplay

Coldplay Chris Martin. I know what he was trying to do. I know he was trying to do the right thing. He had two girls up on his stage and asked them, "Where are you from?" And they said, "Israel." And immediately you can hear the groans from the crowd. Everybody getting very uncomfortable. And what does Chris do? He says, "Well, regardless of where you're from, regardless of where you're from, I want to welcome you here as humans." I know what he was trying to do, but what a sad state of affairs we're in where just being from Israel is assumed to be a source of shame that an audience needs to be tempered and comforted to know regardless of the fact that they're from Israel, we should still welcome them. And then Chris goes on to also welcome people from Palestine. But the implication is that there is a caveat that if you're going to welcome Israelis, you have to mention and you have to welcome those from Palestine who are theoretically there but not the people right in front of you. I want people watching this clip to imagine if two fans had got up there and Chris asked where they were from and they said India and Chris said, "Oh well, okay. Well, regardless of where you're from, I welcome you and I also want to welcome people from Pakistan." If two people got up there and Chris asked where they were from and they said Turkey and his reaction was oh well all right well regardless of where you're from I want to welcome you here as humans and also welcome those from Cyprus or any other country or nationality that in announcing that that's where you're from has to come with shame or guilt that Chris then has to calm down his audience and say we can still welcome them here regardless of the fact that they're Israeli. I know Chris thinks that that was the brave thing to do to have this message of unity and hope and to mention also people from Palestine, but I think the brave thing to do would have been to just welcome them as they are as Israelis, as proud Israelis. Had Chris had just said, "Well, welcome. I'm glad you're here." And that's it. That would have been the brave thing to do. I give people the benefit of the doubt and I know in the moment it's a tricky situation. It's a controversial situation. But you see that's the saddest part. The fact that them announcing that they are from Israel is looked at as inherently controversial to me shows not the moral virtue of standing up for them in the face of that crowd. But a moral failure in not doing so. Now I love Chris Martin. I love Coldplay and I love their music. and not in spite of their nationality or regardless of their nationality. And I don't think anyone would appreciate being told that they're accepted as humans regardless of their identity. You would never say that to any other group of people. But somehow when it comes to Israelis, that's seen as virtuous to completely disregard their identity. And this incident to me really gets to the heart of the matter. The real problem is that Israel and Israelis are only accepted provided that their identity is disregarded. They can be accepted as humans provided their identity is erased. You can't truly accept someone if you don't accept who they are. And so I know the intention is nice for Chris to accept them as humans, but it would be better if he and the entire world could simply accept them as Israelis. If everybody could just do that, the wars, the conflict, the controversy would be over. Ultimately, the question is not why Chris Martin framed his remarks the way he did. It's why he felt he had to.