You have every right to feel the way that you do and it is certainly understandable. This type of post and Tony's article are so frustrating. Not everyone and everything is so "black and white". People can be racist and have friends of ethnicity. Black/Asian/Mexican people can be racist. Some people are bi-sexual. We just live in this world where people don't have the time or won't make the time to look at the issues. They just want to put everything and everyone in a box within 5 seconds of meeting them. If someone says one thing that makes you think, you dismiss it immediately.
I don't have to agree with everything Morrissey says. I am particularly not a fan of "Yes, I Am Blind", but I don't run around yelling Morrissey hates Christians and don't listen to his music. Maybe you yourself overlooked "Bengali In Platforms" back in the late 80's?
If Morrissey can't support 'For Brittan' then nobody can support the Republican Party. He is not responsible for every action they make. That is crazy! Just like any Republican is not responsible for the actions of that party.
Give it a rest won't you...…...
That’s a really interesting response, and I am sympathetic to much of your reasoning and tone.
The grey zones between the absolute black and white certainties is where we all live, at least in our heads even if we proclaim otherwise on the streets, in our homes or God forbid in these forums.
That said, I do feel much less nuanced in my mind, thoughts, utterances and actions when anyone gives support for a party or view that when examined is palpably untrue, or harmful, hateful or more simply misleading.
There are times and moments in our lives when the grey zones of complicated debate do give way, at least in the first instance, to a more direct unequivocal response.
When Morrissey wore the FB badge, I strangely felt I had to rush to his defence when my wife asked me what I thought of it. Within minutes my defence - he was being a hetrodoxical libertarian outlier and all the other terrible knots of self denial I could muster - were vaporised by looking on the FB website and at their anti-Islam policies.
Of course he can wear what he wants and we can all support political parties as we see fit but those assertions of our freedom and individuality are at all times ripe for questioning and challenging.
My own faith and religion - which I often think about and challenge, lest in my own household and with friends of similar and very different backgrounds - is a case in point.
As for Bengali In Platforms: I was in my early twenties at the time, and my girlfriend at the time was of Bengali descent and a Hindu, and we both really enjoyed the frisson in the song - the amalgamation of the immigrant not really fitting in with the idea that life is struggle enough even when you’re born here - sung with love and tenderness. Neither me, her nor our parents thought it was overtly racist. My father (born in India but now Pakistan) loved Morrissey’s voice and the violin in this song, and said that Moz was right indeed for “life is hard enough when you belong here”.
Our family were abused and humiliated when the National Front marched down our street in the 1970s, and their descendants now seek legitimation in parties like For Britain and in more recently mainstream ones like UKIP and Boris Johnson’s Tory party.
So yes, it’s a nuanced world sometimes, and at others, there’s a tipping point when love and adoration (mine of Morrissey, early 80s until the last year or so) collapse and the soufflé of one’s admiration is reduced to an embarrassing mess. This time, for me, is now.
I’ve played his version of Joni’s Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow these last few days and I’ve wept, for him, for me, for all of us.
Peace.