hey puffins!
Content Warning: Mentions of homophobia, Violence (not graphic) and Suicide (not graphic either, but emotionally sensitive.)
im BluePuffin and I'm right here! here are the song recommendations!
"Homophobia? For me, it doesn't sit quite right, because love isn't dictated by the words of anyone. The genocide? For me, it doesn't sit quite right. I don't want to have in my hands the blood of anyone."
It seems like a normal song against common-sensical bad things, right? It indirectly is against what's happening in Gaza (starvation... genocide.) and directly against many stuff, but is it just that? Nope.
This song is too relatable, and too needed, sadly. Though when the song was made we weren't exactly like now, right now, the song is more needed than ever: Chega, a far right political party in my country, is gaining traction. On the elections 5 days ago, they were the third most voted party, almost tying with the Socialist Party. Chega won where I live. As Chega grows, with simplistic narratives and potentially hateful discourses, so does conservatorism. With that, racism, homophobia and xenophobia, and the normalization of them, grows, grows, and grows. In my class, I have a girl who, as far as I know, is homophobic and in favour of Israel "because of her religion", and 3 classmates who publicly follow Chega's leader André Ventura on social media. (though I have some girl classmates who are disgusted at André and even believing he'd make my country a dictatorship, which doesn't sound too wrong to believe.)
By the way, at my school, it's quite common for people outside of the norms to be judged, and there are people who are openly Nazi and no one cares. In every room, in every wall, there's a swastika to find. Maybe not on every wall, but on every chair or desk, hidden, or even in plain sight. There's a chair I recall that is full of swastikas. Anyways, once, I had a classmate who'd invite me to his birthday party and happily talk with me, now he cuts me off before I start to speak, even asking me to kill myself, just because I'm often cringe, on purpose, to defy what's normal.*(see bottom of the entry) The growth of this political party only comes to, directly or not, exacerbate the already existing discrimination, specially when many or some of the party members are publicly discriminators.
For instance, one of the members currently in the parliament, Ricardo Lopes Reis, celebrated Odair Moniz's death. Odair Moreno Moniz was a Cape Verdean immigrant who, according to CNN Portugal, had a criminal record of drug trafficking and armed robbery, for which he had already served a prison sentence. He was shot in the early hours of morning, by the Portuguese police, after a night out partying. The police officer who shot Moniz had his gun license revoked. I see it as excessive personal defense. You can read about Moniz's killing and the outcoming riots here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Odair_Moniz. Anyways, celebrating a death of someone who died in an unjustifiable way doesn't sit quite right with me, even if Moniz was once a criminal.
At the end of the day, for me, this song gives me hope amidst the possible ending of our times. People being killed with excessive use of force unjustifiably, may it be in Ukraine, Gaza or in the street where Moniz was killed, will never be okay. Nor will be not caring about homophobia, racism and xenophobia. May we all come to understand others are different and how we must appreciate them and embrace them for who they are.
Slightly unrelated, but please sign this petition asking for a ceasefire in Gaza (AGAIN.): https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/demand-a-ceasefire-by-all-parties-to-end-civilian-suffering/ and don't forget to click to help people for free on arab.org!! 💙
And that was why that song is so important nowadays, not just for Portugal, but for every country. It serves as a reminder that we should have empathy, and it's a pity the song exists, because if society was tuned to a pitch where empathy was the norm, this song probably wouldn't need to exist. Hope is still here though.
I love you all, and thank you for reading.
Best wishes,
BluePuffin
* He often tells others to kill themselves in moments of rage, casually, like it's just a normal thing to say. It desensitises pain and it reminds me of how we let cruelty be normalized.
