Elton John on his conscience (or lack thereof)

Elton John in Tel Aviv:

"We do not cherry-pick our consciences"

On his web site:

I have always believed that music inhabits a world set apart from politics, religious differences or prejudice of any kind.

Throughout my career I have made a point of playing concerts in challenging places, such as the USSR and Northern Ireland in the 1970s, Israel in the 1990s and very recently Morocco. Every concert was an enjoyable event for us all and, as I found in Morocco just this last Wednesday, it is always a great experience playing to a new audience in a new country, getting a wonderful warm reception, and hearing the 30,000-strong audience singing along to lyrics that are not in their native tongue.

Music is, and always will be, a universal language, free from boundaries. It can and does inspire unity and builds bridges between people, and I will continue to play concerts anywhere in the world where I can encourage that unity.

Well, if what I read on some blogs is true, Elton John played in Apartheid South Africa. At least that proves he is not a hypocrite about cherry-picking consciences. I'm sure the Palestinian and Black South African fans appreciated. It is very honourable of him to want to separate his music from politics. I can only hope he made sure none of the money payed for his ticket sales went to the State of Israel, thus funding the latter's occupation politics. I might add, that if the music business can be separate from politics then so can any business. Therefore, if boycotting corporate rock is wrong, any boycott is wrong.