My open letter to Moz, Moz fans, Moz haters etc

Boy_afriad

New Member
An open letter to…..

Morrissey, Morrissey Fans, Morrissey Disciples, Morrissey Haters, and everyone in the UK who has had an opinion on recent Morrissey headlines.

Clearly, as my target of this open letter suggests, I am not totally au fait with the general nature of an open letter. However, there are some things I would like to say; and they are directed at the groups mentioned.

Just to clarify, a Morrissey Fan and a Morrissey disciple are different things. I am a fan, I have been accused of being a disciple too, but I do not follow Morrissey’s teachings regardless. I have my own opinions on things and wish to stay that way. You will find me at Smiths / Morrissey discos with Morrissey and Marr autographs tattooed on my arms, singing every word of every song and worshiping the music. But I am my own person.

I wanted to wait until the storm had passed before I said what I had to say (not that anyone is likely to care what I think) because I wanted my thoughts to be clear and seen as what they are. They are NOT said from a standpoint of a disciple, nor a hater.

Morrissey has always said things that cause people to talk, that throw him in to the press and give lazy journalists the ideal opportunity to use the headline “bigmouth strikes again”. 2018 has seen this go to new levels though as Morrissey appeared to be moving further to the right by supporting For Britain, Anne Marie Waters and Tommy Robinson in his comments. Clearly for some this has been a bridge too far and it certainly would appear that ticket sales for UK shows were severely impacted by these statements.

Firstly, I want to address the support of a political party, and Morrissey absolutely stating that he would be supporting For Britain. This is Morrissey’s democratic right and he ought to be able to say so without fear of reprisal in a free society. He has the platform to reach a lot of people and, regardless of the message, this is again his right. Do I agree with his support for this political party? No. But that is MY democratic right. And I can state that I do not agree without fear of reprisal in a free society too. I could sit and argue my reasons for NOT agreeing with Morrissey’s or anyone’s support of For Britain, but that would be hugely missing the point. The point is, we live in a democracy and we are a free country. Morrissey and I are equally entitled to our opinion and can register this opinion at the ballot box.

Secondly, Morrissey’s comment about the treatment of Tommy Robinson. This is a VERY interesting one. He never supported Tommy Robinson directly but was questioning his treatment. Why this is interesting to me is, this again calls in to question the whole issue of freedom of speech. If Morrissey is saying that you should be able to say what you think and not be censored, then I must agree. That is, after all, freedom of speech is it not? There are, however, laws in place that are there to protect the judicial process. Again, regardless of your opinion of the quality of the process, the laws are there to ensure the process is followed. If you are deemed to be breaking that law with your actions or words, then I also understand that the law must step in to stop you. So, does this mean freedom of speech is actually not free? I don’t really know, it is very interesting though and makes you think. If Morrissey was supporting Tommy Robinson and not the situation then again, whilst I wouldn’t agree, I will acknowledge his democratic right to say or support whoever he chooses to support.

In the 80’s Morrissey spoke out against the monarchy and continues to do so. Against the meat industry and continues to do so and in support of animal rights in general and continues to do so. All these things gained press coverage, good and bad and in the case of Meat is Murder made a huge impact on our society. I think it is fair to say that the Smiths were responsible for turning a generation on to vegetarianism. So, is there any real difference in what Morrissey is doing now? Or is it just that those who previously felt they agreed with him, are now finding they are poles apart and find that difficult to swallow?

What I find truly interesting is that Morrissey’s disciples will tear apart everyone and anyone who dares question what he has to say. Yet people are merely exercising their right to reply.

Like or agree with his opinions or not, Morrissey, or anyone else come to that, speaking out against something creates debate, you cannot have a debate without differences of opinion, the world does not evolve without debate.

I am, and remain, a Morrissey fan. I find the man intriguing, confusing and funny. I love what he has brought to my life in terms of a soundtrack and what he continues to bring. I am NOT going to and will never be blindly accepting of someone else’s beliefs just because I happen to like what they do. But I am happy to accept that we are all entitled to an opinion.

Contrary to Morrissey’s management attacking Dave Haslam for the events he had planned to coincide with the Castlefield gigs, I happen to believe that this was possibly the best example of someone reacting to recent events in the right way. Now I totally accept that there is potentially an ulterior motive with Dave Haslam having a book to promote, but the event was free to attend, promoted unity and the love music hate racism message and was deliberately planned to be a bit subversive. It was NOT intended to exclude anyone or threaten / pressure fans wanting to attend. In fact, there had been a message posted saying that anyone who attended the gigs would be more than welcome to come there afterwards. It was not an “us and them” situation, it was an alternative event that those who wanted to attend could, even if they did attend the Morrissey gig. This for me was probably the best example of what I am kind of saying here, but in a physical and measurable form. The idealist in me wants to believe that the reasons were not to promote book sales, but I am a realist and accept it probably had a reasonable amount to do with it.

It’s a shame the Morrissey concerts did not go ahead, that the tour was cancelled “for logistical reasons” and that fans were hit in the pocket. Logistical reasons it may be, poor ticket sales it may be and if it is the latter then I think that is just a measure of how removed from the ideology of a majority of his fan base Morrissey has strayed with his recent comments.
 
*ahem* I could be wrong but I believe the gig was called "love hate and racism". and it was cloddish of dave Haslam. like, what a clod that man must be.

anyway, thanks for apprising us of your thoughts on the matter.
 
Free speech and free respectful debate . If you dont like what someone says debate with class and respect for yourself. I used to hate Trump and I still dont agree with his new hunting laws. He lies and is uncouth. But I would vote for him now, America needs protecting right now. We would have probably been Soros target if Hillary was in office. Europe is a mess because of him.
 
the world is done,everybodies knackered,we all work too many hours,money doesn't go as far as it used to,every tv series is the next big thing.
 
the world is done,everybodies knackered,we all work too many hours,money doesn't go as far as it used to,every tv series is the next big thing.
I see that everywhere I go and films and tv is the best and only escape sometimes. I suppose a day out in the countryside would be more fulfilling but when you go there all the insects makes your day out a living hell.
 
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