this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2024
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Conservative groups are threatening to block Switzerland from hosting next year’s Eurovision by forcing budget referendums on potential host cities, saying the song contest is a “propaganda event” that “celebrates satanism and occultism”.

Switzerland won the right to host the world’s largest live music event after the Swiss singer Nemo triumphed in Sweden with The Code. The cities of Zurich, Geneva, Bern and Basel have all filed applications to host the five-day spectacle.

The Christian conservative Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) party, however, has said it will seek to make use of the country’s direct democracy system to put the bidding cities’ loan applications to the vote.

“The Eurovision song contest is a ghastly propaganda occasion”, the EDU said in a social media post on Tuesday. “A country that provides a stage to such disgusting trash won’t elevate its image but merely showcase its own intellectual decline.”

Samuel Kullmann, a senior EDU politician, told the Swiss broadcaster SRF his party was disturbed by Eurovision’s increasing “celebration, or at least tolerance of … satanism and occultism”. “More and more artists present openly occultist messages and underline them with respective symbols,” he said.

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[–] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 58 points 4 months ago

Conservative politicians and calling the popular arts satanic: a tradition going back centuries.

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 46 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Well that's one way to get me interested in Eurovision.

[–] dactylotheca@suppo.fi 29 points 4 months ago (3 children)

There has been disappointingly little celebration of satanism and occultism in Eurovision so far

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

After this nonsense, next year should fix that.

Maybe with a full 19" replica of Stonehenge.

[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

But you're not as confused as him are you. I mean, it's not your job to be as confused as Nigel.

[–] dactylotheca@suppo.fi 1 points 4 months ago

it's not your job to be as confused as Nigel.

I'm an expert in being confused and would love to know where I could apply for this position

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

You should watch This Is Spinal Tap.

[–] Rolando@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Ireland's entry in the most recent Eurovision had explicit occult imagery, and came in 6th:

Every year there are usually a couple of performances with "dark" imagery.

[–] dactylotheca@suppo.fi 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Right, like I said, disappointingly little

[–] Rolando@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Oh I don't know... we need to save room for the campy far-out songs, the songs that build on a country's ethnic history, the techno songs with shirtless dancers, and... sigh, ok, even the ballads. I'd say Eurovision has the right proportion of "dark" songs.

[–] dactylotheca@suppo.fi 3 points 4 months ago

But our Dark Lord Beelzebub demands more Eurovision songs

[–] DandomRude@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

Remember Lordi, that band with the monster costumes? That's probably already too much for conservative minds.

[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 17 points 4 months ago

lol there is no single propaganda machine that is more prolific or longer lived than fucking christianity

[–] li10@feddit.uk 13 points 4 months ago

Cancelling Eurovision is certainly one way to get me on board with right wing policy 🤔

[–] casmael@lemm.ee 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

TIL the Swiss have literally nothing else better to do perhaps they could get a hobby like yodelling, or pointing at sheep

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

Or try to juggle all that Nazi gold.

[–] timewarp@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

Switzerland... the country with the most private VPNs and email. Not for the sake of privacy, but to protect the oligarchy.

[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland - hating fun since it was first invented!

[–] snaprails@feddit.uk 1 points 4 months ago

They're absolutely cuckoo... #sorrynotsorry

[–] Thcdenton@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

What are the gonna do? send their candy canes to stop them?

[–] Cornpop@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Eurovision was wild this year lol

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I wonder if German has one of those nice big compound words for "insane people doing something good for stupid reasons".

[–] ackthxbye 9 points 4 months ago

The closest word I can think of is Schildbürgerstreich which can mean "stupid people failing to achieve a worthwhile goal for stupid reasons".

[–] DandomRude@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

There's "Verschlimmbesserung" but that's pretty much the opposite. It's a noun that describes an attempt to improve something that actually ends up making it worse. The word combines elements from two German verbs: "verschlimmern" (to worsen) and "verbessern" (to improve).

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 4 points 4 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Switzerland won the right to host the world’s largest live music event after the Swiss singer Nemo triumphed in Sweden with The Code.

The Christian conservative Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) party, however, has said it will seek to make use of the country’s direct democracy system to put the bidding cities’ loan applications to the vote.

Samuel Kullmann, a senior EDU politician, told the Swiss broadcaster SRF his party was disturbed by Eurovision’s increasing “celebration, or at least tolerance of … satanism and occultism”.

The Irish singer Bambie Thug’s stage show at the 2024 contest involved a devil-like horned dancer and a circle of candles containing a pentagram, which in its inverted form is a common satanic symbol.

In the final in Malmö, Nemo became the first non-binary artist to win the contest in its 68-year history with a song celebrating their identity beyond male and female gender norms.

Any referendums against Swiss cities hosting Eurovision would not necessarily swing in the political right’s favour, but the threat of plebiscites introduces immense uncertainty for planners.


The original article contains 401 words, the summary contains 177 words. Saved 56%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] match@pawb.social 3 points 4 months ago

oh shit bambie thug is gonna be there?? fucking love them

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world -1 points 4 months ago

F off Switzerland, nobody cares what you have to say.