Love Music Hate Racism by Fiona Dodwell - Tremr

Love Music, Hate Racism? An OpenLetter - Tremr
This is an opinion piece by Fiona Dodwell

A note to DJ Dave Haslam

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Related items:

• Love Music Hate Racism event by Dave Haslam - Manchester, same night Morrissey plays (July 8, 2018) - June 21, 2018
• 'This Is Morrissey' details - liner notes by Fiona Dodwell; vinyl release date Aug. 31, 2018 - June 7, 2018
• This is Morrissey: An Interview by Fiona Dodwell - Tremr - June 5, 2018
• Morrissey: The Great Unfiltered Artist? by Fiona Dodwell - tremr.com - May 16, 2018

 

[scatterkeir]

Of course they are, at least to those of us who have some understanding of ideology.

When I see people arguing they aren't right-wing, they'll point to Waters' former Labour Party membership. Of course, this proves nothing, as people's ideologies can change. I'd always point to the fact that For Britain was founded by a former leading member of the BNP (although he may not necessarily be a full blown racist anymore, just like AMW isn't a socialist) anymore, the wealth of members and candidates that propagate far right bollocks, and point people towards their manifesto, which is full of dog whistles, and even mentioned abolishing the 48 hour working week directive (a basic right for workers, which prevents employers from forcing you to work more than 48 hours in a 7 day period.

But then, many of them will say "Islam isn't a race, it's a religion", to which I'd say people said the same thing about Jews, and look at how that turned out.

Also, not long ago she was in UKIP, standing for leadership, and failing partly because she was too islamophobic for UKIP, and there was much condemnation of her on those grounds from within UKIP, and talk of the risk of a split. Cue much wailing from Morrissey about how it must have been a fix, no doubt because he imagined that UKIP was mainly full of animal rights activists who all voted for Anne Marie Waters because of her famous animal rights activism. It was then that she went off to For Britain.

 

[Thewlis]

I don't even think Morrissey knows what his views are, as they're so contraction, but he has become much more right-wing over the last couple of years.

But what makes you think so then? Because he chose for a change to say something about UK politics and you didn't like it?
I indeed think Morrissey has always been anti-political and anti-authority, so why you would take his views on politics so seriously is beyond me.
He just likes to wind people up, that's what he has done for the past 35 years and will be doing till his loving mouth is shut, good and proper.
You'd think his fans would be used to it by now, but apparantly this isn't the case for some.

 

[Fawdy]

Well, that was a quote from 1992, did you have trouble listening to his music then, too?
I think his support for For Britain is mainly a support for Anne Marie Waters, whom he likes for her feminism, anti-animal cruelty-stance, two things he's always advocated. And the anti-establishmentness of the party also helps. On similar grounds he has supported Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders but strangely enough that didn't cause a huge media stir. I believe Moz holds the same beliefs now as he's always done, and those beliefs are neither right-wing nor left-wing.

No, I turned a blind eye in 1992 much to my disappointment now. Supporting Robinson, AMW and For Britain is right wing beyond dispute. Im also uncomfortable with what he said About Sadiq Khan, how he used the Manchester bombings the day after to have a go at the Royal family (and no, Im not a royalist) and, it seems, most of his utterences these days.

As I said I saw the Smiths twice and have seen him countless times so the disappointment I feel is big. However, my principles say enough is enough. It doesnt bother you, well thats fair enough. I do feel you are making eI think many long term Smiths fans will see it as I do and feel exceptionally disappointed.

 

[g23]

Well, that was a quote from 1992, did you have trouble listening to his music then, too?
I think his support for For Britain is mainly a support for Anne Marie Waters, whom he likes for her feminism, anti-animal cruelty-stance, two things he's always advocated. And the anti-establishmentness of the party also helps. On similar grounds he has supported Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders but strangely enough that didn't cause a huge media stir. I believe Moz holds the same beliefs now as he's always done, and those beliefs are neither right-wing nor left-wing.

In 1992, I was 14 years old. I was happy to hear music with word power and cunning turns of phrase that also touched on my emotional state. To say that I was politically informed beyond knowing that Bill Clinton seemed like a goofy hip-dad change from the norm would be a lie.

 

[Tommy Robinsons Hair]

This is beyond randon Moz shit!! Does Vegan C work this site also?? > https://sheffieldtalk.xyz/index.php/topic,9565.0.html

 

[Thewlis]

No, I turned a blind eye in 1992 much to my disappointment now. Supporting Robinson, AMW and For Britain is right wing beyond dispute. Im also uncomfortable with what he said About Sadiq Khan, how he used the Manchester bombings the day after to have a go at the Royal family (and no, Im not a royalist) and, it seems, most of his utterences these days.

As I said I saw the Smiths twice and have seen him countless times so the disappointment I feel is big. However, my principles say enough is enough. It doesnt bother you, well thats fair enough. I do feel you are making eI think many long term Smiths fans will see it as I do and feel exceptionally disappointed.

I became a fan in 1986 and a couple of years later I bought myself a book called 'Morrissey in his own words'. It was full of, you guessed it, interview-quotes and I was shocked. So many outrageous things I'd never imagined or heard any other person, let alone pop singer, utter.
So I do think Smiths and Morrissey-fans will be used to the rude and crass, and frankly irresponsible, things he is wont to say sometimes. And we're used to it. Sometimes even amused by it. And sometimes he even manages to still shock us, which in this day and age isn't easy.
But I always seperated the man in the interviews from the singer and the songs. And I'm here because I love the songs, and I find it strange and remarkable how some let their appreciation of the art be sullied by the things he says.

 

[Thewlis]

In 1992, I was 14 years old. I was happy to hear music with word power and cunning turns of phrase that also touched on my emotional state. To say that I was politically informed beyond knowing that Bill Clinton seemed like a goofy hip-dad change from the norm would be a lie.

And now that you're politically informed you're not emotionally touched by music with word power and cunning turns of phrase? How very sad.

 

[g23]

And now that you're politically informed you're not emotionally touched by music with word power and cunning turns of phrase? How very sad.

I am, just by different artists. Try the Mountain Goats. They're great at it.

 

[Charlie Cheswick]

And now that you're politically informed you're not emotionally touched by music with word power and cunning turns of phrase? How very sad.

The thing is, back then if you were into The Smiths you were a unit, you all stood for the downtrodden and the underdog.

It was a part of your identity.

Now it's the opposite. Hence the disappointment.

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

I became a fan in 1986 and a couple of years later I bought myself a book called 'Morrissey in his own words'. It was full of, you guessed it, interview-quotes and I was shocked. So many outrageous things I'd never imagined or heard any other person, let alone pop singer, utter.
So I do think Smiths and Morrissey-fans will be used to the rude and crass, and frankly irresponsible, things he is wont to say sometimes. And we're used to it. Sometimes even amused by it. And sometimes he even manages to still shock us, which in this day and age isn't easy.
But I always seperated the man in the interviews from the singer and the songs. And I'm here because I love the songs, and I find it strange and remarkable how some let their appreciation of the art be sullied by the things he says.

Ok, but here’s the deal, for years I took song lines like “England for the English” to be meant as some sort of joke or that he really wasn’t going to a national front disco and don’t get me started on the ways I twisted “Bengali...” to not be meant in some sort of racist manner & maybe they don’t for me still, but yeah, like a gut punch when you realize that no,
Moz is a bigot, has been all along, just one hiding in plain sight as it were

 

[Thewlis]

The thing is, back then if you were into The Smiths you were a unit, you all stood for the downtrodden and the underdog.

It was a part of your identity.

Now it's the opposite. Hence the disappointment.

I think he is still very much championing the underdog to be honest.
But as teenagers it certainly is much easier to feel you're part of a community or have a 'shared identity' than as middle aged men

 

[MorrisseysLeftTesticle]

He might be racist, but he's her racist so don't try attacking him.

 

[g23]

The thing is, back then if you were into The Smiths you were a unit, you all stood for the downtrodden and the underdog.

It was a part of your identity.

Now it's the opposite. Hence the disappointment.

It was a bit of a Loser's club mentality. A Smiths badge was an identifying mark that one could wear to show others like them that you were a safe person, for lack of better way to put it. As silly as youthful uniforms are, they were very useful in the old days before anti bullying was a thing, or when alternative culture was hard to come by.

 

[StalinsPipe]

I think he is still very much championing the underdog to be honest.
But as teenagers it certainly is much easier to feel you're part of a community or have a 'shared identity' than as middle aged men

I actually think underdog is the wrong choice of word from Charlie. The Smiths stood for the downtrodden and the oppressed. Now Morrissey backs a party that would oppress people's rights if given half the chance.

 

[g23]

I think he is still very much championing the underdog to be honest.
But as teenagers it certainly is much easier to feel you're part of a community or have a 'shared identity' than as middle aged men

By underdog, do you mean "White culture?" Because that's what the whole thing smacks of.
There's 14 words that pop into my head right about now...

As a middle aged man, the difference is that the community you're part of isn't merely providing the illusion of permanence, it's actually real. Placebo effect vs medicine.

 

[Thewlis]

Ok, but here’s the deal, for years I took song lines like “England for the English” to be meant as some sort of joke or that he really wasn’t going to a national front disco and don’t get me started on the ways I twisted “Bengali...” to not be meant in some sort of racist manner & maybe they don’t for me still, but yeah, like a gut punch when you realize that no,
Moz is a bigot, has been all along, just one hiding in plain sight as it were

I don't think he is a bigot or ever was, just a very peculiar man. But that's his claim to fame so he's not going to suddenly change that now.

 

[vegan.cro spirit# 512]

By underdog, do you mean "White culture?" Because that's what the whole thing smacks of.
There's 14 words that pop into my head right about now...

As a middle aged man, the difference is that the community you're part of isn't merely providing the illusion of permanence, it's actually real. Placebo effect vs medicine.

WTF does that mean , 'as a middle aged man the difference is that the community youre a part of isnt merely providing..... '. Maybe evennow can figure it out and flesh it out via one of his 15 paragraph
posts.

He belongs to an invisible non existing middle aged Pollo community?

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

By underdog, do you mean "White culture?" Because that's what the whole thing smacks of.
There's 14 words that pop into my head right about now...

As a middle aged man, the difference is that the community you're part of isn't merely providing the illusion of permanence, it's actually real. Placebo effect vs medicine.

Actually I listen to Placebo more these days than the smiths or Moz

 

[markreed]

Freedom of speech means that. It's not called Freedom from consequence.

As always, there's an XKCD for this. https://xkcd.com/1357/

 

[g23]

WTF does that mean , 'as a middle aged man the difference is that the community youre a part of isnt merely providing..... '. Maybe evennow can figure it out and flesh it out via one of his 15 paragraph
posts.

He belongs to an invisible non existing middle aged Pollo community?

You fail as a troll, you fail at interpreting any kind of metaphor or poetic truth, yet you're supposedly fan numero uno of Morrissey. You're sadder than a wet fart in white pants.