The Macklemore problem

This … for lack of a better word … nonsense ... surrounding Ed Sheeran and one of his opening acts - Macklemore - is just another example of how messed up we are as a society.

Let me preface this by saying that the entire situation in the middle east as it relates to Israel and Palestine is complex.  I don't think there is a "right" answer, and support or distrust of one element doesn't automatically mean that you are taking a stand.  And to be clear, no matter what, there is a humanitarian crisis.  

So, Macklemore says something.  And people lose their minds.  Doesn't he have a right to free speech, too?  Yes, he has a public forum, and maybe he's abusing it in a way.  But IMHO the conversation should be about whether that's the right forum - not whether he should be saying such things. And arbitrating that he's wrong.

Then Robert Kraft got involved, and it blew up.  He told Sheeran that "you can't use my stadium"  - which is also a complicated statement.  The world of professional stadiums is just a mess.  Like all stadiums, he took public funds to build it, and continues to get tax incentives and other considerations to continue to operate it.  So while he will tell you he owns it, it's not quite that simple since it was a very nebulous "public-private partnership"... I would argue that he's speaking on behalf of the taxpayers who contributed to it.  Which just makes this all somehow worse.

In the end, we all just need to settle down. Stop focusing on *what* the guy said and the kneejerk to it (seemingly based on politics by the way) - and focus instead on there being a large humanitarian crisis with no easy answers... but where people are dying based on actions outside of their control, with no way out.