Impact of Germany's victory

[Matt]

The impact for me? :shock:

That I will go to ESC 2011 watching live

Me too, it's like a dream come true (how cheesy lol)

 

[ParadiseES]

So Matt, I suppose you're going to your mother country for ESC, aren't u?

 

[Matt]

Heck yeah, I've been waiting for this for a loooooong time. My dad lives in central germany so everything is close by. Plus I visit germany on a regular basis so i just plan that trip around ESC

 

[A-lister]

I for one think it will boost the contests credibility in the West. Caus How can Germany win if the East votes only in Blocks???

(Personally, I thought Lena's live performance was not worthy of being the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. A Top 5 finish would've been warranted, but not a victory with a margin of 60+ points)

That particular BS argument (Eastern Europe only votes for Eastern Europe) was shot to smithereens yesterday. Just look at the points Germany received:
12: Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia
10: Albania, Lithuania, Slovenia, Turkey (though Turkey usually doesn't have a particular bias when it comes to voting)
8: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia

And those are just the countries which gave Germany 8-12 points! Geez, I guess the Eastern European countries just magically forgot to only vote for each other again, just like last time when Norway won. Last year they had "Well, Rybak is Belorussian!" as an excuse. What's their excuse this time? "Well, she has black hair!"?

And take a look at the Top 10:
Winner: Germany
2nd: Turkey
3rd: Romania
4th: Denmark
5th: Azerbaijan
6th: Belgium
7th: Armenia
8th: Greece
9th: Georgia
10th: Ukraine

The Top 8 contains 4 Western European (geo-politically speaking) countries, with a Western European country as the winner of the ESC 2010! I guess the East just forgot to be all diaspory and neighborvoty! I mean, it's not like how if the West just starts sending in good entries, they'll magically start doing well!

So get off the whambulance, Western Europe (especially Sweden, whose inhabitants whine about how the East only votes for the East and how Sweden should leave the contest or they should let the Eastern European countries have the ESC whilst the Western European ones start their own contest)! It's become perfectly clear that if you send in a good entry, you will get far, possibly win the entire contest!

So just try harder.

Since when was Greece "west"? The days of the Iron curtain are gone... look at the REAL map..

Other than that I agree with you... there's alot of ignorance and bias sadly... hopefully this win might hush some critics...

 

[FallenAngelII]

Since when was Greece "west"? The days of the Iron curtain are gone... look at the REAL map..

What part of "geopolitical" was too Dutch voor jou?

In the Eurovision Song Contest, we generally divide the countries up by two major blocks, the Western and Eastern blocks. We further divide these into smaller blocks, but we usually speak about West vs. East, and Greece is considered to be a part of the Western Block. Also, what does the Iron Curtain have to do with anything? Greece was never a part of the Soviet Union.

 

[manialf]

It seems like Lena is doing very, very well on itunes.

AND the BBC loves the song, calls it very modern and bringing musical credibility back to the contest:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainmen ... 192518.stm

 

[Deltage]

I'm guessing that in the Eurovision (not in political) context, a lot of people would compare Greece more to the East since they have also become successful in recent years partly due televoting as opposed to the typical "Western" countries. Not that it matters though, personally I think all the divinding Europe to East and West is pretty pointless. Besides, it's not so easy as during the "iron curtain" time. Most of the Eastern countries are in or are planning to join the EU and there are lots of differences between those countries.

 

[No Name]

Here it is:

http://www.eurovisionlive.com/englisch/archiv/2010/russland.htm

,,As Russia does not belong to the “Big 4” countries so far, there is going to be a change in 2011, where Russia will belong to that exclusive circle of countries which do not have to qualify for the final. This is due to the fact that Russia is going to pay a higher fee to the EBU. From next year there will be the “Big 5” countries."

WTF!? "Exclusive circle of countries" my ass. This pre-qualifying rule is the first thing Eurovision should get rid of imo. The fact that yet another country is added to this list doesn't make it any better. Eurovision is all about the money, and obviously smaller countries will suffer from that if it continues that way. The big-4(now big-5) should try to fight for a place in the final like any other "regular" European country.

 

[Deltage]

I wouldn't be surprised if that Big 4 rule will rise to people's attention more and maybe they'll even change it.It wasn't really a problem since they usually finished at the bottom I guess, but if they actually start to send decent songs that can compete with others like Germany did, it really is an unfair advantage to automatically be in the final.

 

[94ayd]

I really don't see anything Western about Greece. :roll: Some people even consider Turkey & Cyprus West but that makes no sense to me...

 

[Metaller]

I really don't see anything Western about Greece. :roll: Some people even consider Turkey & Cyprus West but that makes no sense to me...

I just think some people see Greece as "Western" because it quickly bacame a NATO member after WWII. And if you want to divide between eastern and western in the sense of the cold-war-era, than greece is considered a (geopolitical seen) western country. However, those times are over for 20 years now, and I don't consider Greece as western but as a Southern European country.

However, this would be in general a topic more suited for the political boards.

 

[Sway]

Oh no, not only 24 countries in the final! That's sad, they need more countries! So many good songs don't go to the final, even when they're worth it... 11 to the final in both semis!


Or they should have a separate contest for the countries that didn't qualify to the final... hosted by the country that was placed at tthe very bottom of the semi finals the year before... I think that's a wonderful idea, next year we'd be in Switzerland

 

[FallenAngelII]

I'm guessing that in the Eurovision (not in political) context, a lot of people would compare Greece more to the East since they have also become successful in recent years partly due televoting as opposed to the typical "Western" countries. Not that it matters though, personally I think all the divinding Europe to East and West is pretty pointless. Besides, it's not so easy as during the "iron curtain" time. Most of the Eastern countries are in or are planning to join the EU and there are lots of differences between those countries.

When you take a look at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, you'll notice most Eastern European countries supported Russia while snubbing Greece whilst most Western Europeans supported Greece whilst snubbing Russia.

Geo- and Eurovision-politically, Greece is considered a part of Western Europe if we divide Europe into only two blocks, West and East.

 

[DoctorX]

I really don't see anything Western about Greece. :roll: Some people even consider Turkey & Cyprus West but that makes no sense to me...

I just think some people see Greece as "Western" because it quickly bacame a NATO member after WWII. And if you want to divide between eastern and western in the sense of the cold-war-era, than greece is considered a (geopolitical seen) western country. However, those times are over for 20 years now, and I don't consider Greece as western but as a Southern European country.

However, this would be in general a topic more suited for the political boards.

Turkey joined NATO in the same year with Greece so are we Western too?

 

[EvNickGR]

Greece and Turkey are southeast counties...

 

[Metaller]

I really don't see anything Western about Greece. :roll: Some people even consider Turkey & Cyprus West but that makes no sense to me...

I just think some people see Greece as "Western" because it quickly bacame a NATO member after WWII. And if you want to divide between eastern and western in the sense of the cold-war-era, than greece is considered a (geopolitical seen) western country. However, those times are over for 20 years now, and I don't consider Greece as western but as a Southern European country.

However, this would be in general a topic more suited for the political boards.

Turkey joined NATO in the same year with Greece so are we Western too?

Sir, that is one point for you!

However, as my interpretation was just as some people (not myself included) might see Greece as Western, I still stand triumphant...or not.

 

[Deltage]

I'm guessing that in the Eurovision (not in political) context, a lot of people would compare Greece more to the East since they have also become successful in recent years partly due televoting as opposed to the typical "Western" countries. Not that it matters though, personally I think all the dividing Europe to East and West is pretty pointless. Besides, it's not so easy as during the "iron curtain" time. Most of the Eastern countries are in or are planning to join the EU and there are lots of differences between those countries.

When you take a look at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, you'll notice most Eastern European countries supported Russia while snubbing Greece whilst most Western Europeans supported Greece whilst snubbing Russia.

Geo- and Eurovision-politically, Greece is considered a part of Western Europe if we divide Europe into only two blocks, West and East.

Maybe, although I myself supported Greece, not Russia and I wasn't happy with how few points Estonia gave Kalomoira. Anyway I was mainly talking about the attitude some (not all of course) people in Western Europe seem to have, that Eastern Europeans have taken over "their" contest. As I said, in my opinion all this dividing is useless although if you want to, be my guest.

 

[DoctorX]

Of course i got your point am just kidding

 

[lucian-crusher]

Greece is in Southern Europe!

Here is the list as I know it:

1. Central Europe: -de, -ch, -at, -pl, -cz, -sk, -hu, -ro, -md, -li
2. Southern Europe: -it, -es, -pt, -gr, -bg, -al, -mk, -ba, -rs, -me , -hr, -sl, -ad , -mt, -mc, -sm, -tr, -cy
3. Eastern Europe: -am, -az, -ge, -kz, -by, -ua, -ru
4. Western Europe: -fr, -be, -lu, -nl, -uk, -ie
5. Northern Europe: -dk, -no, -se, -fi, -is, -lt, -lv, -ee

 

[charlesf]

Talking of the Big Four rule, Stefan Raab said once that he'd rather not have it. I dare say Lena and other German artists wouldn't at all mind competing in the semis as well.

I certainly wouldn't mind. Nor, I believe, would most Germans.

But the thing is that the German public broadcaster ARD (more precisely the NDR) finances a big chunk of the ESC. That's a great deal of money to fork out for the risk of a night of poor ratings. So the broadcasters rather than the artists have a vested interest in the Big Four rule.

I think it's understandable. And lets face it. I doesn't make much of a difference. If a Big Four sucks and wouldn't make it through a semi-final, then it'll only make a very bad place in the final. It won't be anywhere the top of the scoreboard.

However, if it's as good to make a top score, then it'd also cruise through the semis.

So I don't see the Big Four rule as improving an artist's chances. Perhaps it might even hurt, as they can't perform live at one of the semis...

It's merely a question of financial interests. And if you expect four/five countries to shoulder the lion's share of the financial burden, well, giving those broadcasters the guarantee of good Saturday ratings is imo a fair deal.

Just consider their legitimate interests. And recognise that the rule does not improve any entry's chances of winning.