Eurovision!

[ErasOmnius]

Does Eurovision really bring the continent of Europe together. Does a song contest transcend national boundaries, reach across cultures, and forge new alliances?

[Dragoon Knight]

[colour=#005FFF]Maybe next year, you'll be on time. I'm not holding out much hope for "relevant" or even "knowledgeable", but timeliness perhaps. Also, your first sentence is a question; use a question mark.

Yes, it brings Europe together. It's called Eurovision. European countries all vote on European artists singing songs at a European venue. This also answers your second, redundant question. Of course it transcends national boundaries; again, it's called Eurovision. As in Europe. As in, a collection of different countries.

Well would you look at that? It also answers your third, similarly redundant question. Of course it reaches across cultures. It's called EUROVISION. As in Europe. As in a collection of different countries, each with their own distinct culture. And yet they all manage to agree on their favourite song.

Forge new alliances? You successfully made the move from irrelevant and redundant to plain stupid. It's a song contest. Singing.[/colour]

[Anathema]

Most Europeans that I've talked to about it don't take Eurovision seriously. Many (myself included) are often embarrassed by their repective entries.

So in that respect, yes: it does bring Europeans together.

[ErasOmnius]

I find it to be interesting to see how someone from Azerbaijan, which I thought was in Asia, can win. When I was reading the article in Wikipedia, I thought it was interesting to read about the regional voting blocks.

[Oh yeah]

Still, one can observe certain "alliances" in the voting (which to my knowledge is 50% public and 50% by a jury for each country, so there's definetely room to give certain votes regardless of what the people want. That is assuming the forms are observed and the spokesperson doesn't give out the points however they want).

Greece and Cyprus always give each other 12 points. Similar tendencies can be noted throughout the years between other groups of countries, although I don't think any others are so blatant. Reasons? I 'm not sure. The winner does get to organise the next event which may mean both expenses and prestige.

Having said all that, I haven't watched the contest in years. Rubbish music last time I checked.

Edit - apparently there is a wikipedia page on the eurovision voting system and it addresses the policical voting phenomenon. Make of that what you will.

Funny fact, the Eurovision is the only way to find Greece and Turkey, together :D