Central reservation

It's only been a month since I wrote about Nick Cave's increasingly troubling politics, but the fact that he's doubled down in a post on The Red Hand Files, and the manner in which he's done so, are nevertheless deeply depressing and deserving of comment.

Responding to a fan's message, he declared himself to be "neither on the left nor on the right" and claimed to be "finding both sides indefensible and unrecognisable". On the surface of it, this is the inverse of "There are good people on both sides", but it amounts to the same thing.

I understand his point about nuance and complexities often being lost in our increasingly polarised political landscape, and agree that sometimes people should simply acknowledge their ignorance on a topic and keep quiet.

But there are some issues for which staying silent is not an option - like a genocide that is taking place before our eyes, for instance. You don't have to understand all of the geopolitical history to know that what is happening in Gaza is profoundly wrong and should be condemned unreservedly. Cave, however, airily rejects "moral certainty" together with "herd mentality and dogma".

Particularly offensive is his comment "I am disturbed on a fundamental level by the self-serving, toddler politics of some of my counterparts" - another dismissive swipe at those in the BDS movement (Roger Waters, Brian Eno, Thurston Moore et al), and others. He added: "I believe we have an obligation to assist those who are genuinely marginalised, oppressed or sorrowful in a way that is helpful and constructive and not to exploit their suffering for our own professional advancement or personal survival."

This cynicism about other artists' motives leaves a very bad taste in the mouth. Do Kneecap owe their significant public profile to their very vocal support for Palestine? In part, yes. But it takes far more courage to do what they have done and speak out at every opportunity, in the face of the repressive force of the state, than to sit on the fence sneering at a supposedly fashionable cause.