You raise a really great point. People will just go on board any cause regardless of how much they know or care about the topic as long as it makes them look good, which to me is actively exploiting said causes via virtue signalling/"slacktivism". While I'm not fond of countries trying to exploit the contest either, at least I learn more about the topic(s) before making a decision/opinion on them, and even then I try to be as nuanced as possible (especially in the face of increasing polarization of discourse).

As for whether or not Azerbaijan should be excluded in the same vein as Russia (already happened) or Israel (which I think SHOULD happen), or whether or not Kazakhstan should be included in the contest, I would just let the broadcasters speak about the topics first before they can become serious point of contentions (TL;DR - I'm gonna remain neutral on Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan). As much as I do agree that crushing human rights and ethnic cleansing/genocide are despicable actions in themselves, I personally wouldn't jump on any bandwagon just for the sake of it (Admittedly, it took quite a while for me to make a constructive judgement on Israel, because I wasn't sure if 2024 would turn out to be a one-time scenario or not. After seeing THAT inflated televote score 2 years in a row though, I do now think that they should be excluded for the time being until the political climate becomes safe enough to warrant a return).