Morrissey attacks 'blustering jingoism' of Olympic Games - Guardian 6 August

[Iona Mink]

From today's Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012...mes?CMP=twt_gu


Morrissey attacks 'blustering jingoism' of Olympic Games

Singer claims London 2012 is more Germany in 1939, saying Britain is 'foul with patriotism'




Morrissey performs at Manchester Arena in 2012
Charming man … Morrissey attacks 'foul patriotism' of London 2012 Olympics. Photograph: Neil H Kitson/Redferns via Getty Images

There was no celebrating three British gold medals on Saturday night for Morrissey. Quite the opposite, in fact, as the former Smiths singer has sent an open letter to members of his fanclub attacking the "blustering jingoism" of the Olympic Games. This comes just a week after he criticised the Olympics on stage in Manchester – for not including the Smiths in the opening ceremony music.

Far from providing a focus of national unity and good cheer, Morrissey says the Olympics have created a situation in which "the spirit of 1939 Germany now pervades throughout media-brand Britain". He implored his fans: "WAKE UP WAKE UP."

The full text of the letter to members of his True to You fanclub reads:

"I am unable to watch the Olympics due to the blustering jingoism that drenches the event. Has England ever been quite so foul with patriotism? The 'dazzling royals' have, quite naturally, hi-jacked the Olympics for their own empirical needs, and no oppositional voice is allowed in the free press. It is lethal to witness. As London is suddenly promoted as a super-wealth brand, the England outside London shivers beneath cutbacks, tight circumstances and economic disasters. Meanwhile the British media present 24-hour coverage of the 'dazzling royals', laughing as they lavishly spend, as if such coverage is certain to make British society feel fully whole. In 2012, the British public is evidently assumed to be undersized pigmies, scarcely able to formulate thought.

"As I recently drove through Greece I noticed repeated graffiti seemingly everywhere on every available wall. In large blue letters it said WAKE UP WAKE UP. It could almost have been written with the British public in mind, because although the spirit of 1939 Germany now pervades throughout media-brand Britain, the 2013 grotesque inevitability of Lord and Lady Beckham (with Sir Jamie Horrible close at heel) is, believe me, a fate worse than life. WAKE UP WAKE UP."

Although sports fans may be a little surprised by the vehemence of Morrissey's reaction, an event that combined corporate sponsorship from McDonald's with the near-constant presence of the royal family was unlikely to win his favour. He has a long history of condemnation, including attacks on reggae ("vile"), Elton John ("bring me his head"), Band Aid ("diabolical"), dance music ("the refuge for the mentally deficient"), Chinese people ("a subspecies") and many, many more.

[123xyz]

From today's Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012...mes?CMP=twt_gu


Morrissey attacks 'blustering jingoism' of Olympic Games

Singer claims London 2012 is more Germany in 1939, saying Britain is 'foul with patriotism'




Morrissey performs at Manchester Arena in 2012
Charming man … Morrissey attacks 'foul patriotism' of London 2012 Olympics. Photograph: Neil H Kitson/Redferns via Getty Images



Although sports fans may be a little surprised by the vehemence of Morrissey's reaction, an event that combined corporate sponsorship from McDonald's with the near-constant presence of the royal family was unlikely to win his favour. He has a long history of condemnation, including attacks on reggae ("vile"), Elton John ("bring me his head"), Band Aid ("diabolical"), dance music ("the refuge for the mentally deficient"), Chinese people ("a subspecies") and many, many more.

It's disappointing to see the "Guardian" peddle this quote without giving the proper context.

[Thesmithsmorrissey]

Jingoism...good word

a real humdinger, that.

[Thesmithsmorrissey]

those comments below the news article are a trip.

It seems like every time Mozza opens his mouth to say anything, the internet armchair critics who have done nothing of merit in their useless existences come out in droves to raise the "he's no longer relevant" flag. As if offering a statement or opinion on something like the Olympics has anything to do with whether he's relevant or not

if Thom Yorke came out and said the exact same thing, they'd be lining up to tongue his balls in appreciation.

[Uncleskinny]

It's disappointing to see the "Guardian" peddle this quote without giving the proper context.

He said it didn't he? This is what newspapers do. And he knows it.

P.

[123xyz]

He said it didn't he? This is what newspapers do. And he knows it.

P.

I wouldn't dispute for a moment that he said it with ,at least partly,the idea of snaring a headline in mind but the whole "subspecies" episode so clearly pivoted about the animal rights issue that it seems disingenuous to leave that out.

And the "Guardian' is one of the best papers globally ; I guess that makes it a bit more irritating (?) than it might otherwise be...

[Amy]

Well, Moz got what he wanted.

As for the comments, this section -

"Listening to Morrissey whine about tawdry displays of nationalism is like being given advice on child rearing from Rose West. The man who drapes himself in the union flag, who yearns for a romanticised and fictitious 50s England that Enoch Powell would regard as a tad monocultural, the man who wrote National Front Disco, Bengali In Platforms, Irish Blood, English Heart (or is it English Piss, Welsh Lamb?), the man who claims to be anti-royalist yet plays upon every cliched patriotic icon open to him" (...)

.... was pretty brilliant.

[Worm]

Good for Morrissey. I only regret he wasn't given a 30-minute TV special to air his views.

By the way, here are a few people who agree.

Will Self:

"I hear that you are unenthusiastic about the prospect of the Olympics this summer. In your eyes, what is the greatest folly of this whole affair?

Rather unenthusiastic is putting it waaaaay mildly: I think the Olympics suck dogshit through a straw. People believe they encourage da yoof to take up running, jumping and fainting in coils – but this is nonsense. They’re a boondoggle for politicians and financiers, a further corruption of an already corrupt self-appointed international coterie of Olympian cunts, an excuse for ‘elite’ athletes to fuck each other, snarf steroids and pick up sponsorship deals, and a senseless hitching of infrastructural investment – if there’s any reality to this anyway – to a useless loss-trailing expenditure on starchitectural bollix. The stadia themselves are a folly. The new Westfield is a temple to moribund consumerism – in ten years time they’ll all be cracked and spalled; a Hitlerian mass of post-pomo nonsense.

If the Olympics did not exist, would it be necessary to invent them?

They didn’t exist for thousands of years. The modern Olympics is a fatuous exercise in internationalism through limbering up and then running down to entropy. The modern Olympics have always been a political football – nothing more and nothing less – endlessly traduced and manipulated by the regimes that ‘host’ them. This one is no different, presenting a fine opportunity for the British security state apparatus and its private security firm hangers-on to deploy the mass-suppression and urban paranoiac technologies in the service of export earning. Some peace, some freedom."

Lindsey German and John Rees:

"Londoners are being asked to pay extra council tax to fund the extravaganza, but have received no benefits in return for this investment. Seat prices for the opening ceremony run into thousands of pounds. Tickets were oversubscribed, but those able to pay an expensive hotel package during the Games will be able to buy their way in. Super-highways are being prepared to speed politicians, businessmen and athletes along East London’s congested roads, while the ticketless watch resentfully from the pavements. Meanwhile, sports and youth facilities across London are being cut as part of the government’s austerity measures."

Owen Hatherley:

"By the time you read this it may all be over, the fireworks, the pageants, the unmanned drones, the stationing on-site of US missiles, the enormous police and army presence, the medals or not-medals, the terrorist attacks or notterrorist attacks. That doesn’t matter. It’s all about the Legacy. Ken Livingstone admitted as much several times – the point was not to have a sports event in London, the point was to extort some funding for the redevelopment of a massive swathe of derelict London, a light-engineering swathe along the river Lea that had long since gone to seed, a typical stretch of Thames Gateway post-industry."

[Uncleskinny]

View is views. We've all got one. We are not going to agree all the time. Some are in the media. Some say things to sell newspapers, some say things for hyperbole, some say things to be noticed, some just say things. I was a sceptic at the beginning. I've been to an olympic event, and plan to go to more before it's all over. For me, the way that Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis shut up the EDL and BNP, who had nothing at all to say after their victories, says it all to me. Even THE SUN had an editorial on it, which surprised and pleased me.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...icle244723.ece

If the Olympics achieve nothing else, that's how I will remember it - sticking it to Nick Griffin and the EDL knuckle-scrapers. And the Daily Mail.

P.

[Worm]

View is views. We've all got one.

Yes. And Morrissey's got a right to his. The remarks on TTY aren't the pathetic bleatings of an out-of-touch pop star waving his arms from the margins, trying to get attention for himself in a last-ditch effort to seem relevant. Some people here are pushing that story a little too hard.

[Uncleskinny]

Yes. And Morrissey's got a right to his. The remarks on TTY aren't the pathetic bleatings of an out-of-touch pop star waving his arms from the margins, trying to get attention for himself in a last-ditch effort to seem relevant. Some people here are pushing that story a little too hard.

I disagree. I really, really disagree. And the rest of my point stands. The effect I've already seen, on the day when the EDL marched down the road from my house, is to show what a brilliant, multicultural place Britain is.

P.

[Thesmithsmorrissey]

to show what a brilliant, multicultural place Britain is.

P.

Aaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[BrummieBoy]

Good for Morrissey. I only regret he wasn't given a 30-minute TV special to air his views. By the way, here are a few people who agree. Will Self.........

It's entirely possible to hold a multi-faceted, nuanced view of this 'Olympic event', recognising both the 'mass consciousness effect' of the TeamGB medalsfest whilst still keeping the superstructure of corporate profiteering, deficit cuts and historical debauchery of 'the Olympic ideal' in clear focus. Maintaining balance with this complexity seems to be impossible for many, including Morrissey. I can't see why the Olympics as 'urban renewal' trigger is contentious. I've lived in East London. I hope there will be legacy dividends. Morrissey doesn't live in Plaistow.

Someone here will doubtless explain Will Self's bizarre assertion that a shopping centre in Stratford has civilisational defining qualities whilst an identical one in Shepherd's Bush has no such ominous connotations. Lol! Just because someone has celebrity status as a 'thinker' and sprays words like cat-piss doesn't mean they should be accepted as an infallible authority.

The 7/7 tragedy that followed the announcement of London's successful bid is irrelevant to the OTT security operation? Is it really sensible to dismiss fears of a terrorist reprise as just 'paranoiac'?

The days are long gone when 'cultural authorities and celebrities' could demand deference for their 'expert' opinions. Pop stars, journalists, authors. It's an appeal to some imagined 'intellectual hierarchy' whereby the 'professional gatekeepers' manage public opinion through the media. That world has completely collapsed, whether it's the meta-narrative of an established corporate/political elite or the 'rebellious'memes of any 'counterculture'.

Competition in sport isn't going away. International competition in trade, technology and culture isn't going away. It's sometimes very instructive to look at how this 'mass consciousness event' is being interpreted elsewhere:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012...-weiwei-review

Morrissey? Self? Aiweiwei? Who has the radical remix interpretative worldview amongst the three? How long will it take me to decide? [rollseyes]

regards

[Worm]

I disagree. I really, really disagree. And the rest of my point stands. The effect I've already seen, on the day when the EDL marched down the road from my house, is to show what a brilliant, multicultural place Britain is.

P.

Well, I wasn't insisting that Morrissey was right. You don't have to agree. I'm simply pointing out that his comment isn't as wild and out of the blue as a few detractors are pretending.

Also, part of Morrissey's criticism of the Games-- which is certainly an intelligent one, if obvious-- is that it's a media spectacle distracting people from reality: "As London is suddenly promoted as a super-wealth brand, the England outside London shivers beneath cutbacks, tight circumstances and economic disasters." You're pleased with the Games because they've had a real-world impact (sticking it to Nick Griffin etc.), but even if you're right about England's multicultural moment (and I truly, truly hope you are), there are still problems being hidden by the intense media promotion surrounding the Olympics. The same sort of media white-washing occurred in Beijing, Barcelona, and Atlanta (to mention only the last few Games).

We had our big moment of multicultural affirmation here in the U.S. a few years back. Check the news today to see how that's going. We still need to focus on the real problems and not get caught up in hype. That's what Morrissey is saying here, and it's also more or less what he said about Live Aid and "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Maybe Nick Griffin and his ilk have taken a beating-- will it last? Let's hope so. History says otherwise.

[Worm]

It's entirely possible to hold a multi-faceted, nuanced view of this 'Olympic event', recognising both the 'mass consciousness effect' of the TeamGB medalsfest whilst still keeping the superstructure of corporate profiteering, deficit cuts and historical debauchery of 'the Olympic ideal' in clear focus. Maintaining balance with this complexity seems to be impossible for many, including Morrissey. I can't see why the Olympics as 'urban renewal' trigger is contentious. I've lived in East London. I hope there will be legacy dividends. Morrissey doesn't live in Plaistow.

Someone here will doubtless explain Will Self's bizarre assertion that a shopping centre in Stratford has civilisational defining qualities whilst an identical one in Shepherd's Bush has no such ominous connotations. Lol! Just because someone has celebrity status as a 'thinker' and sprays words like cat-piss doesn't mean they should be accepted as an infallible authority.

The 7/7 tragedy that followed the announcement of London's successful bid is irrelevant to the OTT security operation? Is it really sensible to dismiss fears of a terrorist reprise as just 'paranoiac'?

The days are long gone when 'cultural authorities and celebrities' could demand deference for their 'expert' opinions. Pop stars, journalists, authors. It's an appeal to some imagined 'intellectual hierarchy' whereby the 'professional gatekeepers' manage public opinion through the media. That world has completely collapsed, whether it's the meta-narrative of an established corporate/political elite or the 'rebellious'memes of any 'counterculture'.

Competition in sport isn't going away. International competition in trade, technology and culture isn't going away. It's sometimes very instructive to look at how this 'mass consciousness event' is being interpreted elsewhere:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012...-weiwei-review

Morrissey? Self? Aiweiwei? Who has the radical remix interpretative worldview amongst the three? How long will it take me to decide? [rollseyes]

regards

"According to some estimates, Americans are sitting on $30 billion worth of unredeemed gift cards."

Do you think that's because Americans have a lot of gift cards, or because they just have really big asses?

[BrummieBoy]

"According to some estimates, Americans are sitting on $30 billion worth of unredeemed gift cards."

Do you think that's because Americans have a lot of gift cards, or because they just have really big asses?

I think you've accidently replied to the wrong comment/thread.
Or is this 'allusion' to American culture something a British person should understand?

I've googled this but can't see a connection with this thread topic.

regards

[Worm]

I think you've accidently replied to the wrong comment/thread.
Or is this 'allusion' to American culture something a British person should understand?

I've googled this but can't see a connection with this thread topic.

regards

"Despite being nominated five times, Gandhi never won the Nobel Peace Prize. Although posthumous awards aren’t given, the Nobel Committee came as close as possible in 1948, the year he died, when they didn't give out an award because “there was no suitable living candidate.”"

And yet Barack Obama has a Peace Prize! Maybe if the technology had existed to allow Ghandi to launch drone missiles into the middle of Afghani wedding receptions from the comfort of his living room, he would have won it. All academic now, eh?

[mcrickson]

#monitor

This isn't twitter, you utter fuck.

[Bluebirds]

View is views. We've all got one. We are not going to agree all the time. Some are in the media. Some say things to sell newspapers, some say things for hyperbole, some say things to be noticed, some just say things. I was a sceptic at the beginning. I've been to an olympic event, and plan to go to more before it's all over. For me, the way that Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis shut up the EDL and BNP, who had nothing at all to say after their victories, says it all to me. Even THE SUN had an editorial on it, which surprised and pleased me.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...icle244723.ece

If the Olympics achieve nothing else, that's how I will remember it - sticking it to Nick Griffin and the EDL knuckle-scrapers. And the Daily Mail.

P.

Whilst your experience seems laudable, my solitary Olympics Event experience thus far consisted of 50000+ proud Brits booing and jeering an athlete representing his country during the playing of their national anthem. Kids following their parent's example. A true Olympian experience that made me really proud to be British and is, possibly, a truer reflection of our nation's current collective consciousness than Danny Doyle'e 27mil wankfest, which subtly celebrated the NHS. I wonder if South London Health Authority could do with 27mil right now?

Whilst the EDL/BNP may not have an opinion on some of our athletes, it seems we can still be truly ignorant of what the Olympic spirit is meant to convey. These same people would undoubtedly cheer on John Terry in an England shirt despite the word used by the Uruguayan in question not being convincingly racist.

Hope my other Olympics experience is better. Go Team GB

[BrummieBoy]

Must you peddle your inane twaddle in every single thread?

You say you are the troll slayer. More like the sleep inducer.

Yeah, right. I'll stay 'on topic' like Worm :

@ Worm "According to some estimates, Americans are sitting on $30 billion worth of unredeemed gift cards."
Do you think that's because Americans have a lot of gift cards, or because they just have really big asses?

And yet Barack Obama has a Peace Prize! Maybe if the technology had existed to allow Ghandi to launch drone missiles into the middle of Afghani wedding receptions from the comfort of his living room, he would have won it. All academic now, eh?

jesus facepalm.jpg

regards.....