"The years have proved the only thing Morrissey understood was himself" - New Statesman

The years have proved the only thing Morrissey understood was himself - New Statesman
By Michael Hann

"The Smiths singer's comments on the Manchester attack are merely the latest example of his failure to grow up."

 

[marred]

This is exactly how I've always interpreted this song, yet people always cite it as 1/3 examples of Morrissey's racism. It is frustrating to no end.

Probably because it requires the listener to think which seems to be an activity not high on peoples' agenda.

"Please upset me. I want to be upset so I've got something to stand for!"

 

[Anonymous]

It seems you were answering me, but I said nothing about working class or upper middle class, or poor people being more honest. I don't link honesty with classes or with money, it doesn't work that way. Sorry about the episodes of domestic violence in your family, but that doesn't mean you are more qualified than any other person to talk about it. There are social workers who operate in the area of domestic violence and try to help affected people.

It's true that was for bluebirds and the irritation I get from the general vibe in this place sometimes over the romanticism of being working class or that the working class agree on anything or have some common opinion

 

[Anonymous]

And still. no other mentions of Morrissey. The racists, islamophobes and right-wing bells are out in force. This is how it's going to be, is it? No mention of the salient point but post after post after post of racist scaremongering bullshit?

Islam is not a race.

 

[That Man Again]

Morrissey's comments about the bombings don't upset me. They're just another example of him using a tragic situation to take shots at authority figures, while offering no solutions himself. He even fails to mention the things he wants other people to mention. Brave.

The reality is this, there is no simple solution to an individual wanting to blow themselves up in a crowd of people. Tough talk won't solve it. A nuclear bomb won't solve it. Internment camps won't solve it, and not allowing any Muslims into your country won't solve it. This is not a situation that is likely to ever go away. Its requires vigilance.

These radicals are not afraid of you bombing them. They wanted you in their arena, and they got you there. They wanted your countries afraid, and destabilized, and they got that too. They win because their immediate survival is of little importance.

No one's defending radical Islam. More Muslims are killed by Islamic extremism than any other group. The concern is that when people become angry, and emotional they want to lash out at innocent people. History has proven this time, and time again. If you had friends who were being harassed because of something they had nothing to do with, then you would feel differently. Only your fear seems to matter.

What I find most interesting about Morrissey's comments is that he is condemning this terrorist act, while having defended terrorism throughout his career. He applauded the IRA's attempts to assassinate Margaret Thatcher, and wrote a song asking for her head to be chopped off. He boldly encouraged deadly terrorist acts by the Animal Liberation Front, and suddenly he wants to lecture us about living in fear.

He writes off an entire nation as a subspecies, essentially dehumanizing them. He equates meat eating to pedophilia, while ignoring the intent involved in both acts, and the lingering emotional damage that is done to a child by such an act. He's see no difference between humans and insects. In various ways Morrissey has dehumanized other people who did not fit his ideological world-view, and now he's filled with a sense of humanity? Enough.

He travels with a security detail, lives in a gated home, and wonders about that privilege for others who are in more vulnerable, and important positions than himself. It doesn't baffle me. It's par for the course with Morrissey.

So, no, there's nothing racist, or even bold about Morrissey's statement. It simply offers no other information than Morrissey condemns something that most people condemn.

 

[Anonymous]

Hilarious. Three replies, and not one of them mention Morrissey.

Let me tell you the basic principle here. Racists can stand in the street, proclaim their hatred, and they will be arrested, because there are laws against such things. I can go out on the street and proclaim compassion and humanity, and I will not be arrested. The law is on MY side, not that of the racists. Deal with it.

And on the point of Morrissey, I found very little in that article to disagree with, especially the third last and second last paragraphs.

I have long hated Uncle Skinny

But in this he is completely correct. Morrissey is a f***ing disgrace

 

[Anonymous]

Morrissey's comments about the bombings don't upset me. They're just another example of him using a tragic situation to take shots at authority figures, while offering no solutions himself. He even fails to mention the things he wants other people to mention. Brave.

The reality is this, there is no simple solution to an individual wanting to blow themselves up in a crowd of people. Tough talk won't solve it. A nuclear bomb won't solve it. Internment camps won't solve it, and not allowing any Muslims into your country won't solve it. This is not a situation that is likely to ever go away. Its requires vigilance.

These radicals are not afraid of you bombing them. They wanted you in their arena, and they got you there. They wanted your countries afraid, and destabilized, and they got that too. They win because their immediate survival is of little importance.

No one's defending radical Islam. More Muslims are killed by Islamic extremism than any other group. The concern is that when people become angry, and emotional they want to lash out at innocent people. History has proven this time, and time again. If you had friends who were being harassed because of something they had nothing to do with, then you would feel differently. Only your fear seems to matter.

What I find most interesting about Morrissey's comments is that he is condemning this terrorist act, while having defended terrorism throughout his career. He applauded the IRA's attempts to assassinate Margaret Thatcher, and wrote a song asking for her head to be chopped off. He boldly encouraged deadly terrorist acts by the Animal Liberation Front, and suddenly he wants to lecture us about living in fear.

He writes off an entire nation as a subspecies, essentially dehumanizing them. He equates meat eating to pedophilia, while ignoring the intent involved in both acts, and the lingering emotional damage that is done to a child by such an act. He's see no difference between humans and insects. In various ways Morrissey has dehumanized other people who did not fit his ideological world-view, and now he's filled with a sense of humanity? Enough.

He travels with a security detail, lives in a gated home, and wonders about that privilege for others who are in more vulnerable, and important positions than himself. It doesn't baffle me. It's par for the course with Morrissey.

So, no, there's nothing racist, or even bold about Morrissey's statement. It simply offers no other information than Morrissey condemns something that most people condemn.

Morrissey wasn't using a statement for publicity. He loves Manchester and he just played MEN last year. Those killed could have been his fans! I hope he doesn't hold back his thoughts next time. And there is a bit of a difference between blowing yourself up at a concert for your religion and what ALF does, they are saving animals from agony. You are a bit dense to even compare the two.

 

[marred]

I have long hated Uncle Skinny

But in this he is completely correct. Morrissey is a f***ing disgrace

Oh lord now there's two of them...

 

[Anonymous]

The monster in the room is many followers of Islam wish to covert all at the tip of their sword. The rest of the world's major religions quit that shite centuries ago. That has no more place in the civilized world than the buggery of children. And it should be treated as such.

 

[Anonymous]

Morrissey wasn't using a statement for publicity. He loves Manchester and he just played MEN last year. Those killed could have been his fans! I hope he doesn't hold back his thoughts next time. And there is a bit of a difference between blowing yourself up at a concert for your religion and what ALF does, they are saving animals from agony. You are a bit dense to even compare the two.

There is nothing different about the two. Each group believes that they are killing people who do not support their moral ideology. They are the judge, jury, and executioner. Each thinks they're saving the world for the things they love.

Also, I never said Morrissey used his statement for publicity, nor do I believe Morrissey has any deep love for his fanbase, or any other human being. He may enjoy some of those ideas within his imagination, but I do not believe he has the emotional capacity to truly care about anyone but himself.

You can't compare the vast majority of people to pedophiles, and have the capacity to care about them deeply.

 

[Anonymous]

How depressing that I agree with almost all of this. I've loved the man and his music for getting on for 30 years. But he has become a sad parody of himself. The music will last for as long as people listen to music. But the man is bitter and jaded...

 

[Anonymous]

I do not believe he has the emotional capacity to truly care about anyone but himself

You can criticize his statements and how he presents himself in public but the above statement is a crass one to make when you don't know him personally. So he doesn't care about his mother, his sister or anyone else from his family? He doesn't care about Linder with whom he is friends for over 40 years? If one requires Moz to think before he speaks (which is most of time) then we should too.

 

[That Man Again]

Who can forget this glowing example of sensitivity to those in fear: “We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown, with 97 dead. Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald's and Kentucky Fried shit every day."

-Morrissey (2011)

When Morrissey's hometown is bombed, the thought of equating it to animals being eaten seems far from his mind.

Morrissey is like most people. He's liberal about his own problems, and conservative about everyone else's. His selfishness only increases with age.

 

[That Man Again]

You can criticize his statements and how he presents himself in public but the above statement is a crass one to make when you don't know him personally. So he doesn't care about his mother, his sister or anyone else from his family? He doesn't care about Linder with whom he is friends for over 40 years? If one requires Moz to think before he speaks (which is most of time) then we should too.

His mother doesn't count. He still needs her. So, no, I don't think he cares deeply about anyone else.

Morrissey's comments, and actions are proof enough.

 

[Stop the World]

I stood dutifully for a minutes silence whilst in the queue to pay at M&S this morning.

My emotions as the seconds ticked by were not sorrow, but anger. Not anger at the perpetrators of the crime, but anger that our reaction as a society reminded me of the relationship the Eloi had with the Morlocks.

As the shop lights were turned fully back on the woman in front of me dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. I wanted to shout at her, but she started to delve into her handbag for her purse and her items were being scanned, so it seemed a little rude.

And that was it. That's how this country commemorated this latest atrocity before ramming it down the memory hole until the next time.

At some point depressingly shortly something else will happen and as part of a broader cover up the media will feel it necessary to refresh our memories. We will recall 7/7 and the Manchester bombing. We'll remember 9/11 and the Bataclan and Nice. We'll think to ourselves, oh, yeah I forgot that gay club thing in the US, or the Tunisia beach attack or the German Christmas fair. Nearly 100 bodies, just there. Then we will be told to love each other and cuddle up and it'll all go away.

I'm ashamed of what this country has become in the last two decades. This is now a weak and decadent nation, cowed by the sort of screeching identity politics cretin who will shortly be along to condemn this very post. No more. Enough.

"A society that can’t defend its children has no tomorrow." - Liberal hate figure Vladimir Putin, November 2016.

The more a society drifts from the truth, the more people will hate those that speak it.

 

[Anonymous]

Look at Morrissey, evil personified ...

 

[Bluebirds]

It's true that was for bluebirds and the irritation I get from the general vibe in this place sometimes over the romanticism of being working class or that the working class agree on anything or have some common opinion

That's why I did indeed place inverted commas around working class. It was late and my braincells are considerably mushier than 10 years ago.

 

[Anonymous]

What grates the most is the extreme childishness of Morrissey.
He is playing all pious with "the politicians'" response (yes, "the politicians"" "Down with them lot!") in the wake of the Manchester mass-murder, whereas he came up with the most callous and inappropriate response a mere few hours after the Utoya massacre in 2011. Not to mention the atrocious comments after the 1984 IRA bombing in Brighton , where innocent people where killed or mutilated by terorrists. He said in interviews that there was nothing to feel sorrow about that carnage, apart from the fact that Thatcher escaped unscathed. The man is an utter JOKE and worse are those who hang on his every word.

 

[ACTON]

Once again Moz is attacked for stating his views. Was his comment about not hearing any English spoken in Knightbridge racist? Or just factual? If I say it's a lovely sunny day am I being prejudiced against clouds and rain? Surely it is within every artist's remit to document life as they see it, instead of posting empty-headed drivel that says nothing? They had to bring up Bengali in Platforms. Of course they did. I was more interested to see the long list of record companies that Moz has worked for. Obviously there is an issue there. I'm sure Moz is very difficult to work with and says what pops into his brain, but I don't think he is racist. I'd say he just has old-fashioned views about how many people should be allowed across a border, and is sad that everything changes so fast. I don't for a second think that he would wish harm on anyone just because they look, speak, or come from a different place.

Nowadays everyone wants everyone to say the same thing and switch their brains off. Hence the rise of X-Factor and Reality TV shows that are an insult to anyone with intelligence. The once entertaining soap operas are now cringe-worthy cack. Most music is vanilla vomit. The News just wants inane comments from 'celebrities' and can't handle anyone actually speaking their mind. I'm not a Morrissey apologist and don't agree with everything he says, but at least he has the guts to say what he thinks. Unlike most people.

p.s. It's a lovely sunny day here.

 

[Anonymous]

"As the shop lights were turned fully back on the woman in front of me dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. I wanted to shout at her, but she started to delve into her handbag for her purse and her items were being scanned, so it seemed a little rude."

Really? You think screaming at someone for getting on with their daily lives, instead pretending the world has ended would seem a little rude? It's this kind of hysteria that plays right into the hands of terrorists. They want you down. They want you to think about them every minute of your day. In your case, mission accomplished.

"And that was it. That's how this country commemorated this latest atrocity before ramming it down the memory hole until the next time."

A woman dabbing her eyes the day after a terrorist attack represents how a country mourned a terrorist attack? Dear God, get a hold of yourself. Your moral grandiosity is absurd.

"At some point depressingly shortly something else will happen and as part of a broader cover up the media will feel it necessary to refresh our memories. We will recall 7/7 and the Manchester bombing. We'll remember 9/11 and the Bataclan and Nice. We'll think to ourselves, oh, yeah I forgot that gay club thing in the US, or the Tunisia beach attack or the German Christmas fair. Nearly 100 bodies, just there. Then we will be told to love each other and cuddle up and it'll all go away."

Terror attacks are not going away. They're too easy to pull off. If your attitude is to only think about terror attacks, then life is not going to offer you much else.

"I'm ashamed of what this country has become in the last two decades. This is now a weak and decadent nation, cowed by the sort of screeching identity politics cretin who will shortly be along to condemn this very post. No more. Enough."

You made it easy.

"A society that can’t defend its children has no tomorrow." - Liberal hate figure Vladimir Putin, November 2016."

The average citizen will never experience a terror attack. Enough. Your children are not being wiped out. You face a greater danger from the average citizen, but you don't walk around in terror because of it.

You even quote Putin. Perfect. It all makes sense now.

Take care, comrade.

 

[Anonymous]

Morrissey is beautiful and everything he says is right.

How's that for a post about Morrissey?

Whether you post is meant to be sarcasm or not, that is exactly the reason why I find many Morrissey fans and people on this forum terrifying. I used to be one of the Moz sheep myself. Not anymore. I refuse to believe that everything he says is the be all and end all anymore. I've always thought Morrisey fans were unhinged, but now I am certain of it after the last month or two.