Man expresses different opinion; Breitbart gets excited

Greece is voting today on the referendum to decide exactly what their misery will smell like for the next few years, and naturally, there's a national debate.

Sakis Rouvas, who is a fairly well-known Greek musician, has come out as saying the public should vote 'yes', against government advice.

The always hilarious Breitbart website was thrilled with this, and swung into action:

Rouvas, who has dominated the Greek music scene for the better of two decades, has posted numerous statements on his Facebook account defying the Greek government, urging his fans to vote “yes” to accepting EU terms. Amid promotional material for his new ballad, “Fila Me” (“Kiss Me”), Rouvas is penning posts suggesting, “There is not only a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ to divide us, but an deafening YES from the everyday Greeks who will redeems us”– a barb at politicians seeking to divide Greeks from Europe and, more importantly, from each other.

Now, I might be being unfair to Breitbart's Frances Martel - maybe she is something of an expert in Greek pop music. Sooner or later, the law of averages dictates that a writer for Breitbart will file an article on a subject on which they are knowledgable. My suspicion, though, is that Martel has no more idea about Rouvas' career than anyone else who has quickly looked him up on Wikipedia in order to file an article.

Actually, she might have a little less idea; as Wikipedia makes it clear that far from "dominating" the Greek music scene, Rouvas hasn't troubled the top ten of either the album or singles chart at all so far this decade.

And the sense that somehow expressing an opinion is "defying" the Greek government is ludicrous - perhaps Martel is confusing Greece with North Korea or how Breitbart believes America is, where public statements against the ruling classes result in disappearances.

In effect, the 'story' such as it is is roughly on a par with the way Mick Hucknall popped up during the UK election campaign to endorse the Tories. It tells you where the rich are; it reminds you that fading pop stars struggle to fill the days. And it reaffirms that Breitbart will run any old tosh that they can pump up to fit their worldview.