If one were seeking a contender for the world’s silliest annual event, the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, which starts next week, would be a hard act to beat.
As if judging a pop song to be “the best” of 37 countries’ efforts weren’t inane enough, most of the songs—whether from Albania, Finland, or Latvia—are sung in a global pop style, which is to say vaguely American-accented English. The few countries which dare enter anything from their own culture or language are destined to fail—even to suffer the embarrassment of scoring “Nul Points” in the judging, which is traditionally done in French and English.
