Being under constant threat: Political similarities between Israel and East Asian countries

Israel has not made it to the finals for the European Eurovision song contest yesterday with the disaster song of “Push the Button”.

Yeah, for years Israel has been taking part in this contest, sometimes even winning and hosting the event the year after, but this year Israel was determined to lose as it chose the most annoying song artistically to convey a very extreme political message about Israel’s existential threats. Here’s the video, and since it’s multi-langual (English, French, Hebrew) it will be followed by the lyrics.

 

The world is full of terror
If someone makes an error
He’s gonna blow us up to biddy biddy kingdom come
There are some crazy rulers
They hide and try to fool us
With demonic, technologic willingness to harm

They’re gonna push the button, push the button
Push the bu… push the bu… push the button
Push the button, push the button
Push the bu… push the bu… push the button

There’s a lot of suffering
In the streets there’s too much violence
And we stand a good chance of staying alive, even unscathed
Tactical advancement of a fanatical regime
A tragic situation that brings tears to my eyes

And I don’t wanna die
I wanna see the flowers bloom
Don’t wanna go kaput kaboom
And I don’t wanna cry
I wanna have a lot of fun just sitting in the sun
But nevertheless

He’s gonna push the button, push the button
Push the bu… push the bu… push the button
Push the button, push the button
Push the bu… push the bu… push the button

Messages are exploding on me
Missiles are flying are also landing on me
Cops and robbers are running all over me
And they’re jumping me, getting on my case
Alas, alas, answer me, my God, hi
This nightmare is too long
When I’m barely alive and everyone is aiming at me
Maybe it’s too late to sing that I gave her my life
Police, rescue team
It made it to the Kdam (The israeli pre-contest for eurovision), a song without the word “peace”

Red is not just a colour, it’s more like blood
Again I’m stopping the breathing in my heart
So I won’t drop dead
First it’s a war, now it’s resuscitation
Boom boom, that’s what is happening now
In between a rocket and a machete, a viewer and a reporter
Underhanded opportunism and a kidnapee, rain and a heatwave
An escalation in the levels is setting up camp
Nothing, nothing, that’s what everyone is doing
Hardliners become more extreme and officers more serious
The naive become more moderate, waiting for the data
And reply (that everyone is helpless)
A world full of demons where we are nothing but pawns
And champions with gambling chips decide the outcome
Sluggish management, a ship filled with water
And everyone is drinking to good health, and drowning
Maybe it’s too sharp
We should sing palm tree songs, desert songs with no flags
I’m still alive, alive, alive
And if it keeps on being scary, only then will I say:

I’m gonna push the button, push the button
Push the bu… push the bu… push the button
Push the button, push the button
Push the bu… push the bu… push the button.

%@#$@^, it’s such an awful song.

Now, when I was listening to this for the first time it occurred to me that this song could easily be applied to other East Asian countries that are under a similar threat. There were two “naturals” that came to mind, but raising this with others, I soon realized there are more than just two Asian countries that feel like they’re under constant threat from their neighbors.

Think about it, what countries in Asia would you say this could be applied to? would they have the nerve to send a song like this to participate in the Asian Asiavision song contest?