Should Morrissey be more civil?

Theo

Active Member
In the wake of the Tuscon masacre last week, the Democratic Party in the USA is urging greater civility and a condemnation of the use of violent imagery and rhetoric.

Like Sarah Palin, this left me puzzled (see the thread about it in the Pigsty). But apparently it's because Democrats wanted to pin the blame for the masacre on people who disagree with the Democrat agenda and have dared to exercise their freedom of speech.

Although the Democrats' political opponents turned out to have had nothing whatsoever to do with why the shooter masacred people in Tucson, the Democrats still insist that, in theory, they could have, and they want us to be concerned. Democrats have lots theories about lots of stuff, and they're much smarter than the rest of us, so who are we to question anything they say is true?

The order has come down from above.

We need to watch what we say.

And, if Democrats are to appear sincere in this call for civility, it must apply to everyone, not just people who speak out against policies Democrats are pushing in American politics.

For example, CNN is trying to set an example for us:

[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lt9ulRezH34?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lt9ulRezH34?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Therefore, shouldn't Morrissey be asked to tone things down?

For example, here's Morrissey planting the seed in our heads that record executives should be mowed down with a machine gun:

[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1-lvhE-IlDQ?fs=1&start=200&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1-lvhE-IlDQ?fs=1&start=200&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Sarah Palin had a map that contained gun sights targeting congressional districts where she wanted her side to win elections, and this...well, it didn't actually have anything to do with why the madman murdered people, in theory it could have planted that seed in his head...you know, if he had been a Tea Partier or something like that - something unlike anything he actually was, but might have been in a parellel universe, or something. And, well...we just want those Tea Partiers to shut up.

So, now that we've found Sarah Palin guilty of mass murder, we need to start policing violent imagery and rhetoric in general, to set a good example for all those crazy Tea Partiers.

Listen to all those Morrissey fans cheer when he whipped them up with that violent imagery! He should be ashamed.
 
Therefore, shouldn't Morrissey be asked to tone things down?

For example, here's Morrissey planting the seed in our heads that record executives should be mowed down with a machine gun:

[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1-lvhE-IlDQ?fs=1&start=200&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1-lvhE-IlDQ?fs=1&start=200&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Listen to all those Morrissey fans cheer when he whipped them up with that violent imagery! He should be ashamed.

Here's Morrissey calling for the public beheading of a Prime Minister:

[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hsq3H_6XuFA?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hsq3H_6XuFA?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Imagine if a Tea Partier sang a song like that about President Obama.
 
Her head in a sling sounds like a wonderful thing?

[youtube]<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MEbIiWjJMUA?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&start=50"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MEbIiWjJMUA?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&start=50" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]


Sorry. This song doesn't seem to fit in with the new calls for civility from the Left.
 
Haven't you heard?
Morrissey is covering this song for his new single:

 
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Oh my. Here's Morrissey praising the day that brings pain to the former bandmate who sued him, and warning that he'd better not close his eyes because a man who slits throats has time on his hands. :eek:

[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/srgmd956khA?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&start=99"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/srgmd956khA?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&start=99" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

This song was censored from the UK edition of "Maladjusted", but was allowed out there in the USA to poison the culture. I guess the English are way ahead of us Yanks when it comes to this civility stuff.

Shouldn't it be pulled from the U.S. edition, too?

But wait! Did Morrissey sneak it on to the new UK edition?

"Maladjusted" [redesigned edition]
April 2009


Maladjusted
Ambitious Lovers
Trouble Loves Me
Lost
He Cried
Alma Matters
Heir Apparent
Ammunition
The Edges Are No Longer Parallel
This Is Not Your Country
Wide To Receive
I Can Have Both
Now I Am A Was
Satan Rejected My Soul
Sorrow Will Come In The End

UK CD [Polydor/Universal-Island 00600753174678]
USA CD [Polydor/Universal-Island B0012947-02]

Tsk tsk
 
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Haven't you heard?
Morrissey is covering this song for his new single:




You mean he's stopped doing this one on tour?

[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FO3NBqT3LBc?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FO3NBqT3LBc?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Thank God.
 
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Here's Morrissey calling for disc jockeys to be hanged from nooses until they are dead:

[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9AlH2oYedfk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&start=95"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9AlH2oYedfk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&start=95" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Imagine if someone sang a song at a Tea Party event attacking the "lamestream media" that contained the chorus "Hang the pundits".
 
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Cool song!!!
Where do I find that? Did it come out on CD or just youtube?



Here's Morrissey calling for disc jockeys to be hanged:

[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9AlH2oYedfk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&start=95"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9AlH2oYedfk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&start=95" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Imagine if someone sang a song at a Tea Party event attacking the "lamestream media" that contained the chorus "Hang the pundits".
 
Here's Morrissey calling for disc jockeys to be hanged:

[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9AlH2oYedfk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&start=95"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9AlH2oYedfk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&start=95" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Imagine if someone sang a song at a Tea Party event attacking the "lamestream media" that contained the chorus "Hang the pundits".


Is this just a rumor, or did it really happen?

The band's split in 1987 motivated a number of isolated teenage suicides and in the same year, a crazed fan hijacked a radio station in Denver, Colorado at gun-point, demanding that the DJ play non-stop Smiths songs.

I seem to recall Morrissey discussing this alleged incident with pride.

I have to sign off now, but I'll be back tonight to post a few other items I didn't get to.
 
Sweetness, he was only joking when he said you should be bludgeoned in your bed.

So he's quite civil really.
 
And what about the Headmaster who thwacks you on the knees, and knees you in the groin! Lyrical violence! It's an outrage!

P.


I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving
England is mine and it owes me a living
But ask me why and I'll spit in your eye
ask me why and I'll spit in your eye



From the beginning Morrissey is lyrically audacious and OTT which makes him genius.


*EDIT*
Theo, I think you haven't seen this yet.
 
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Theo. You are wrapping the gift of your rightwing agenda in Morrissey paper and asking us to tear the paper off to reveal your truth. Accept the fact that deranged killers can be republicans too and leave Morrissey out of it.
 
I don't know why I am even bothering to respond.

There is a vast difference between an artist running his mouth off in support of his personal political views and a person running for public office who exhorts his supporters to "bring a gun" and "blast away" his political opponent. The rhetoric of violence doesn't belong in politics, a realm in which people are supposed to be thinking clearly and coming up with the best possible solutions to problems. Shooting your political opponent in the head is not the best possible solution. The language used in the arenas of punditry and politics has been allowed to get way out of hand, to the point that it's actually obstructing the process of governing. The Arizona incident, while probably not directly linked to the specific instances of gun-friendly rhetoric we're now talking about, threw a harsh light on just how ugly--and unproductive--it had all become.

Morrissey can say anything he wants. I hate to say this, but nobody takes him that seriously, nor should they. He's an artist, an individual citizen who has the full right to say whatever he wants. Nobody's looking to him for political leadership. You can look at him as a friend or a role model or just an artist who introduces a different viewpoint. He's not making decisions for anyone but himself, and he's allowed to be perfectly logical and impartial, completely short-sighted and irrational, or any position in between.

You may say that this is unfair, that he should be held to the same standard as political figures, but you would be wrong. If he were elected to anything, or even hired to report the news, he would have an obligation to consider all sides in a measured and careful way before making the decision that offered the most good to the greatest number of his constituents (or audience), but he hasn't been elected to anything. That's simply not his job.
 
Morrissey can say anything he wants. I hate to say this, but nobody takes him that seriously, nor should they. He's an artist, an individual citizen who has the full right to say whatever he wants. Nobody's looking to him for political leadership. You can look at him as a friend or a role model or just an artist who introduces a different viewpoint. He's not making decisions for anyone but himself, and he's allowed to be perfectly logical and impartial, completely short-sighted and irrational, or any position in between.

The same could be said about Sarah Palin, and the same could be be said in her defense against the notion that she had anything to do with "Arizona Massacre".
 
The same could be said about Sarah Palin, and the same could be be said in her defense against the notion that she had anything to do with "Arizona Massacre".

Sarah Palin? The former Governor of Alaska, the Sarah Palin who was a candidate for Vice President? Wait, aren't those elected offices?

I specifically said in my post that the Arizona incident was most likely not caused by the rhetorical ugliness that's become the tone of the day. Oh, here:
PregnantForTheLastTime said:
The Arizona incident, while probably not directly linked to the specific instances of gun-friendly rhetoric we're now talking about, threw a harsh light on just how ugly--and unproductive--it had all become.

You're suggesting that Morrissey and Sarah Palin should be held to the same standard of responsibility in their public speech. That's crap. Morrissey's not making laws, nor does he try to. He's not meddling with the economy, or health care, or human rights. He's just singing.
 
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