Big Mouth

[dotinthesky]

Morrissey, a photo by natasha newton | the blackbird sings on Flickr.

This is a little late but I feel like I want to put down my two pence regarding what Morrissey said about the recent massacre in Norway:

"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."

Coming so soon after what happened, it was a grossly insensitive thing to say, even for Morrissey's standards (if anyone remembers his recent comments about the Chinese being a "subspecies" because of the way they treat animals.)

It was reported that Morrissey chose to stick to his guns and had no further comments, but the general disgust made him issue this statement a few days later:

"The recent killings in Norway were horrific. As usual in such cases, the media give the killer exactly what he wants: worldwide fame. We aren't told the names of the people who were killed - almost as if they are not considered to be important enough, yet the media frenzy to turn the killer into a Jack The Ripper star is .... repulsive. He should be un-named, not photographed, and quietly led away.
The comment I made onstage at Warsaw could be further explained this way: Millions of beings are routinely murdered every single day in order to fund profits for McDonalds and KFCruelty, but because these murders are protected by laws, we are asked to feel indifferent about the killings, and to not even dare question them.
If you quite rightly feel horrified at the Norway killings, then it surely naturally follows that you feel horror at the murder of ANY innocent being. You cannot ignore animal suffering simply because animals "are not us."

Most of you know that I'm a fan of Morrissey's and he's mentioned here a lot (and his song titles used as tags.) I don't want to defend him, but I feel like I need to understand. The person he is now is so different from who he was before - crass words, lack of sympathy, lack of wit. What happened?

Morrissey's personality was shaped by the punk movement and its uncompromising attitude to the media and the world. He was in the audience when the Sex Pistols played their first gig and he worshipped Patti Smith and the New York Dolls. His aesthetic has always been un-PC, though ambiguous and playful. It fit well in the 80s and made his fortune. Nowadays though he's too direct with his words, lacking in humour. We know who he hates, we have no clue if he loves.

Context is everything. The whole story about him being anti-immigration, racist: he championed Echobelly in the 90s (Britpop band fronted by a British Asian singer with lyrics about racism in the UK); he allowed a band made up of illegal immigrants to do a cover of "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" (but don't try to Google for information on this band because it's strangely not available anywhere); and he's issued statements against racism and helped fund a concert against the BNP/EDL. But those are not the stories we hear in the media or stick in the mind of those that don't like him.  To most people he's a dickhead with some racist tendencies.

Did Morrissey say some shit that he regrets and doesn't stand by anymore? Very likely! But why has he lost his way with words and seems to put his foot in it so often these days? (I didn't even listen to his recent interview with Dermot O'Leary because it was apparently cringeworthy.)

In his last album he sang about using anti-depressants and this made me think of family members I have who are on Prozac and the way they have become insensitive to the world. Dealing with them is so difficult because they can't understand why their words would be hurtful - they are chemically numbed to the pain of others (but perhaps not to whatever ideology they stand by, like Morrissey's "vegetarianism".) For someone like Morrissey, already a misanthrope searching for a little hope, it must mean that all the barriers have been erased. The poetry is lost, the songs all sound alike and we get nothing but a has-been making a spectacle of himself.

I think it's time for him to stop. Perhaps concentrate on writing books (he has an autobiography coming out soon, apparently). Stop now before all that was built before is completely destroyed.

Comments

[steer.livejournal.com]

I think the problem here is he has a consistent philosophical and moral position but it's a really unpopular one. If you genuinely believe that an animal's life is worth as much as a humans then the massacre in question is no more "wrong" than an hour's work in a typical slaughterhouse. The problem is that so few people really believe that with all its implications that almost everyone who he says it to will disagree. It's bound to make him seem out-of-touch. However, I guess at this point he has no particular reason to care about that?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Yes, and he's even gone so far as to ban the moderator of the biggest fansite dedicated to him from attending his gigs! All because the moderator was allowing negative comments on him to get through. Again, out of touch and not really caring about who disagrees with him, to his detriment.

I just think he's numb to what others feel or think.

[steer.livejournal.com]

When nobody shares your viewpoint it's hard to gain sympathy when it's something quite fraught -- like being a conscientious objector during a war I suppose.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

In hindsight, people may forgive him and even see him as a prophet-like figure.

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

SOME people might. But not many, I wager.

[steer.livejournal.com]

Who knows... if in the future we all believe in animal rights to the extent he does then perhaps. I don't really believe it myself...

[petercampbell.livejournal.com]

He's probably almost irrationally principled, and is notoriously thin-skinned as well. I can see where he's coming from with this statement, but it's probably not the wisest thing to have voiced at that particular moment.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I fear it's not the last time he'll do it.

[millionreasons.livejournal.com]

I guess:

1. People liked his anti-royalist, anti-Thatcherite rantings in the 80s and because he got so much positive reinforcement from that he carried on being an iconoclast and opinionated person (I know there was a lot of negative press about him at the time as well, but the NME et al worshipped at his feet).

2. We don't hear about the positive stories because it suits the press (mainstream and music) to report his nastiness. Bigmouth Moz strikes again with more outrageousness.
Paul McCartney said that how animals are factory-farmed is like "what Hitler did to the fucking Jews", but he is a national treasure rather than an outrage because it suits the media's narrative at present.

3. Like most misanthropes, he prefers animals to people and perhaps he has ceased to see the difference between them.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

1. It's also similar to him being brought down by the NME for wearing the Union Jack, which a few years later was embraced by the Spice Girls and hailed as a great style revival.

2. See item 1. Did Paul say that to Heather Mills answering machine? ;-)

3. I miss the time he still had a few men people he pined after and loved.

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

One of my sister's friends is on shedloads of anti-depressants of various kinds. She's still a fun and lovely person, but she used to be incredibly surreal with it.. the pills have stopped the horrible things she had to deal with mentally hence needing the pills, but they also took away the creativity in her too.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Is there a bluntness to the way she interacts with others, a lack of sensitivity to her comments?

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

Good question! There sort of can be at times, but she's genuinely such a nice person it never comes over as offensive if that makes sense. She'll say completely random things that other people wouldn't dare say, but it's not offensive!

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

You still have what he used to be and what that meant to you. Just because with age he's increasingly becoming a bit of a cock age doesn't change that.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I hope so. At least he's not a Gary Glitter!

[despina.livejournal.com]

My mother can be a little like that, when medicated (and when not, sometimes). Not that she's vegetarian or has a cause other than herself, but in the same way she can't empathise or even imagine (or care about), the feelings of others - they hold no value, she doesn't believe in them. If she shocks or upsets people she is defensive - dismissively defensive -but secure in her rightness. She won't engage with criticism.

I love so much of Morrisey's earlier work and I was thinking the other day as I turned off a song I used to (still do, probably), love that I wish he'd shut up and stop spoiling the legacy - probably a very selfish thought, it's his life and his work, but it reflects badly and makes me embarrassed to have felt so much for his work.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I feel the same. And he's playing London this weekend, which part of me wanted to see...

[olamina.livejournal.com]

I think Morrissey is who he always was, and I *do* think he is a bit racist and a lot misanthropic, but I also sort of love him for being consistent and sticking to his guns and being uniquely himself no matter how out of step that is with the mainstream. I don't think he's changed, which may be the problem people have with him. Because he is not a young man making hit songs anymore and thus not really that young rock and roller who can spew out that kind of stuff and people just chalk it up to the persona. I think Mozzer has always been "true to us" with his opinions and I appreciate him for his consistent willingness and insistence upon telling his own truth.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I just hope he doesn't get swallowed up by this desire to be true to himself, to the point of leaving aside the wit that was always there (and is now sadly absent, I feel).

[bella1978.livejournal.com]

The interview with Dermot WAS cringeworthy. Moz seemed to be being deliberately difficult and Dermot was obviously getting irritated but didn't really know how to handle it and ended up sounded a bit feeble.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what wink_martindale told me. My 18 year old self would have swallowed any interview he gave. My current self stirs clear in respect of those precious memories.

[beeorkendurkey.livejournal.com]

i had no idea that this kind of behavior was a [common?] side-effect from anti-depressants. this observation is making me re-evaluate a family member's behavior over the past few years. sure, he's grown more mellow, but ...
thank you for this.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It's so much like my mom, who has been on Prozac for ten+ years now, that it really stood out for me. She'll say the most insensitive, badly timed stuff and not understand why people are offended.

[meemeedarling.livejournal.com]

I had not heard the comments he made regarding the killings in Norway. While I am not in agreement that animals are entirely equal to humans, I do understand where he is coming from and value his opinion. BUT, he would serve his cause much better by learning to be more appropriate and compassionate.
When I saw him in concert a few years ago, he kept yammering on but I couldn't understand half of what he was saying so I didn't have the chance to be offended. The only thing I caught was him complaining about David Bowie having a song called Suffragette City and what a twat he was for trivializing the movement. Random!!!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

That is very random. Oh Moz, what a weirdo you are!