By Atlas Al
Eurovision Winner
Congratulations to German pop singer, Lena, who at the age of 19 has won the 2010 Eurovision singing contest in Norway with her song Satellite.
However, I lost some respect for the largest singing contest in the world. To call something Eurovision, shouldn’t it apply only to European countries? Countries from Morocco to Jordan are eligible to participate in the contest; Israel won the contest in 1978, 1979, and 1998, and Turkey in 2003 – are they European Flags?
Northern African and Middle Eastern (Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon) countries are definitely not European, and Turkey and the Caucasus region are questionable.
While it’s more than possible to hook up with foreigners in your own country (one of my friends has 10 flags and has never left his country), travel is such a huge component of flagging.
What once started as a simple guide for backpackers travelling to SE Asia, Lonely Planet is now the leader in travel guide books. On their website, they have a Destinations page with info and tips on every country in the world. We use LP’s country grading scale as a guide to place countries in their appropriate continental/regional sections. If you’ve already checked out our European Flagssection under the Flags of the World page and saw many questionable European countries, it’s for this reason.
“Eurovision”
Watch American Idol, Australian Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, or any similar show and you’ll mostly see people from that country competing. Likewise, if I watch a “Eurovision” contest, I expect to see Europeans battling it out.
I think it’s false advertising to call a singing contest Eurovision if neighboring non-European countries are able to compete. Let’s avoid any future scandal and just call the damn thing Worldvision!
