Moz's "Englishness" is a reaction against his Irishness
> Don't British fascists have a habit of flaunting the flag? It's
> a much stronger political statement in Britain that it is in the
> United States.
In America, the Stars and Stripes is to be found everywhere. Here in the UK, there is still to be to found a great deal of embarassment surrounding the use of the Union Jack (due in no small part to its historical use in the past, and its hijacking by the far-right and the Tory party).
> I've sometimes wondered if this racism thing is a result of
> Morrissey being so PERVERSE. He has a bit of a persecution
> complex, you know. Loyal fans say he was trying to make a
> statement ABOUT racism or he was exploring the imagery of yet
> another subculture, which makes sense to me. Looking at another
> angle of 'Britishness'. But when people misinterpreted it (which
> is understandable) perhaps Morrissey took it personally. He
> figured people were wilfully misinterpreting what he was doing
> and trying to sabotage his career. Because he figures he's
> surrounded by people who hate him and envy him. So he refused to
> explain himself out of SPITE towards these supposed enemies. The
> rationale would be something like, 'People are always going to
> attack me and misinterpret the things I do and try to destroy
> me, but I'll do what I want and they can screw themselves. I'm
> not going to make concessions or explanations for people who
> refuse to understand. They'll never understand anyway.' That
> would be in keeping with Morrissey's hypersensitivity. He didn't
> think of his fans, though.
You touch on a good point there. I feel that moz's sensitivity may be due to speculation surrounding not only his sexuality (over-discussed, if I may say so), but perhaps his own ethnicity. Remember Moz's parents are immingrants from Ireland. It's been well documented that Irish people endured bigotry in the UK round about the same time that Afro-Caribbeans, Asians and other ethnic minorities entered the UK en masse back in the 1950's (Johnny Marr recalled the anti-Irish sentiments he encountered as a kid in Manchester in the early 70's at the height of the IRA mainland terror campaigns in a fairly recent issue of 'Uncut' magazine), so fearful of being attacked for being the son of immigrants, he may well have felt compelled to take on board the imagery/attitudes of those who would set up upon him in order to protect himself.
The tragedy is, that in doing so, he's made it very difficult (if not impossible) for non-white Moz-heads/indie fans to admit to liking his music without uncomfortable/painful questions being asked about their own cultural identity and their place within the indie scene. I used to go to a college in Tottenham years ago where I'd wear my 'Viva Hate' t-shirt. Around the time of the skinhead controversy, it would very difficult indeed for me to have done so.
The Irish community within the UK holds on to its identity in much the same way most of us would a winning lottery ticket (at the catholic primary school I attended as a child, there was the singing of traditional Irish songs and Irish dancing on St. Patrick's Day, plus the fact that as we came through the school gates wearing our sunday best instead of our school uniforms, the nuns there would pin either some shamrock or a green ribbon with a harp onto our clothes!), so to see Morrissey toying with certain aspects of Englishness while supressing his Irishness is really rather puzzling to me. Anyone care to add to that?
Auditions to become the policeman for 'Village People'
