Before the pandemic, I already knew that there were too many white people with martyr complexes who desperately wanted to believe that they were oppressed. But the pandemic definitely made those people lose their everloving f–king minds. Suddenly, mask mandates represented the jack boot of fascism and Covid protocols made Saltine Americans feel like they were being “enslaved.” Well, America definitely had the franchise on dumbf–k pandemic bullsh-t, but Britain was trying to keep up. I still haven’t forgotten that Eric Clapton basically got self-radicalized on YouTube as a QAnon anti-Vaxxer. Now it looks like Morrissey would also like to say words about how pandemic restrictions were so much like “slavery.” This was during an interview conducted by his nephew Sam Esty Rayner.
Morrissey calls it ‘Con-vid’: “The bigger problem is that nobody can any longer agree with anyone else, and this is the main outcome of Con-vid. It has brought the worst out in people, and we weren’t ever in this together. We are deprived of seeing and hearing other people, and above all, you want to be with others who see and hear what you see and hear, because this is basic oxygen for the human soul. Take it away and people are dead.”
Just like slavery: When Rayner described COVID society as “the precise description of slavery,” Morrissey responded, “Precisely.” He added, “Our present freedom is restricted to visiting supermarkets and buying sofas. The government act like Chinese emperors… ‘We will allow you to live as we do if you behave yourself.’”
On people trying to cancel him: “You can’t cancel someone who has always been cancelled. When did you last see me on television, or hear me on the radio? I unintentionally invented the condition of being cancelled! The music industry hasn’t ever celebrated me or offered me free food. I’ve always been treated like a scientific experiment gone wrong. I’m used to it. I’ve been immune to enemy fire for many years. I wear a bullet-proof vest in the bath. It seems to me that as soon as one person boo’s they all start to boo, and then when someone cheers they all start to cheer… but that’s just a loose theory.”
He’s apolitical except for his support of the far-right, anti-Muslim For Britain party. “I still haven’t ever voted for a political party in my entire life and my interest has curdled recently because, well, I was only attacked a couple of years ago because I had actually hit on something.”
Ah, yes, the slavery of only being allowed to go grocery shopping and furniture shopping. Wearing a mask to grocery shop is absolutely chattel slavery! Egads. When is Morrissey’s emancipation, huh?? I’m telling you, the pandemic broke a lot of people’s brains. There are millions of white people who genuinely believe that “pandemic protocols undertaken by a society trying to save lives” are absolutely equal to “slavery, fascism, socialism.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Cuz Morrisey was in an highrise in Melbourne, that was patrolled during the lockdown? No. Likely he was in an English Garden’d mansion w the luxury of abundance. Sit the F down entitled celeb
I actually was in a high rise that was locked down – masks all the time, no guests, no deliveries – and in a city that was in lockdown for a year and a half. Only places to go were the grocery and drug store. It wasn’t slavery, nobody forced me to work on their behalf, I wasn’t sold to the highest bidder – it’s a frikkin’ pandemic. It was difficult and my free-lance business dried up and my savings are not what I’d like them to be, but I did my duty, I’m alive and my my family is alive. And it pisses me off no end that people are out there like walking petrie dishes, refusing to be vaccinated and incubating new mutations, so that we’ll all end up in lockdown again.
Morrisey, Clapton and all other “celebs” can keep their 2 cents to themselves. They’re serving no good purpose putting their thoughts, which are not based on any facts, out there.
Known a-hole behaves like an a-hole. Color me shocked.
Yeah I feel like we shouldn’t give Morrissey the attention he seeks. And I’m a fan. His music means a lot to me and being a liberal I rarely have to worry that celebrities don’t share my general politics. Morrissey is my one challenge. I don’t buy his music any longer (no need. Already own it). But I do occasionally pay to see him live (which also supports venues and staff as he often plays smaller less corporate venues) I’m doing a lot of justifying here but he’s a genuinely troubled individual who’s seemingly never known a moment of real happiness in his life. His childhood wasn’t that bad, just poor, but he writes about it like he’s the only blue collar lad from the whole of northern England. Which is why I think he has a mental illness and we should stay clear if his rantings.
He might. He might just be a whiny entitled jerk. Plenty of people grow up similarly without ending up like this. Either way, you’re right on the attention bit.
I have a legitimate question for the Brits who come to this site. What the actual F*ck? I know I’m just seeing the worst, but was Morrisey always this problematic? My teenage self continues to be aghast at his antics. I read Eric Clapton’s memoir and enjoyed it immensely. He expressed genuine remorse for the racial stuff and it appeared like hey was trying to make amends. We’ve been aware that the Gallagher’s have been problematic from the get. What is up with your successful high profile musicians amplifying their radicalization. How bad is your right wing there? It seems like, like here in the States, the extreme right flank is penetrating everything. I guess this is all over the place, but it just seems rather sad.
Here’s my take, others may see things differently!
The right wing is bad and growing in confidence. Recently one of our top spy type people was interviewed and he said sure we’re still monitoring all sorts of external threats but we’re even more focussed on the internal ones, the home grown right-wing radicals.
Some time ago I heard the phrase ‘British exceptionalism’ for the first time and if I’ve understood it correctly it’s the arrogance that says we had an EMPIRE people but we’re just this tiny island so clearly we’re way better than you. Plus of course we had to tell ourselves that all these people we ruled were inferior to us and obviously they still are (particularly if their skin is not white). The likes of Clapton grew up in a world where the empire was still in living memory and never mind winning WW2 (even if a few foreigners helped). Then the slightly younger generation admired these guys. So they’ve got used to having things their way and ALWAYS being right (I won’t even start on sexism and misogyny on top of the racism – women still needed men as guarantors for some financial transactions in 1978, the year I was born FFS).
I’m pretty sure Morrissey lives in LA though which means he’s reacting to some of the strictest lockdowns in the US and world. In this particular case I don’t think Britain can be blamed for Morrissey’s behavior. (As an aside, the governor of California is facing a recall election because 100,000 people -Morrissey included I suspect- signed a petition bitching about the lockdown. We in the US have some serious reflecting to do about our own as well).
I am a CA resident. Conservatives don’t like Newsome because they don’t like Newsom. They are using the lockdown at the justification. We are not as locked down as people think. A lot is deferred to the counties and Newsom isn’t going to lock us down again until after the recall. I do agree that if he’s living in LA he is probably consuming the same partisian news that Americans are, but my question, I guess, is are all the Brits being radicalized too?
Oh come on recalls and recall attempts are practically a rite of passage for California governors going back decades. There’s only been one that has ever succeeded. Gavin Newsom has all the charisma of a used car salesman but I doubt this one will succeed either.
Okay guys my point is that Morrissey is not the only guy in California with right leaning politics and we can’t blame his British roots. But let’s not start rumors either. The lockdown here was very strict, at least in Oakland/San Francisco. Months of nothing open, outdoor mask mandates, occasional curfews. I’m not complaining. I was in full support but Im not sure why one would say it wasn’t strict (except of course in Orange County).
Remember when Judge John Weeks described Morrissey as “devious, truculent and unreliable”, because Judge Weeks was right on the money there.
Ugh, Morrisey was never not going to be overly dramatic about this like a tantrumming teenager. And acting like the music industry cancelled him, please, he is the headliner for a music fest at the Rose Bowl and has got an ongoing Vegas residency, he is the new Celine Dion.
Spoken like someone who has never been a slave.
Hyperbole is the only language he knows. I get why his musical contemporaries, like Robert Smith, despise him so much. There was plenty of gloom and sadness in all their lives, and so much great music came from that and goth clubs continue to thrive in their inspiration, but connecting with others through sadness and spewing hate at the world because of your own pain are completely different things.
He’s a known white supremacist, so this is not surprising at all.
Exactly. It has pained me for a while, as a brown woman who absolutely worshipped at his altar during his time with The Smiths (still, my favorite band of all time) and even during his early 90s solo projects. The song “Bengali in Platforms,” on Viva Hate, is what first made me realize that he was up to no good, and then of course draping himself in the flag of the National Front at some gigs during that decade. He’s been an absolute tosser for a while now, which coincides perfectly with his absolute loss of creativity–his songwriting has gone to hell.
I now focus on the career and lovely personality of the great Jonny Marr–who continues to make wonderful music and is a gem to boot–for my fix of Smiths nostalgia.
I call people who got us into our present situation by being anti-vax assholes, umm, anti-vax assholes.
He is so tedious.
Won’t somebody think of the rich, white men?! It’s been a very tough…never.
Poor, poor toxic narcissist was deprived of his narcissistic supply during lockdown. Boo-hoo.
C’est dommage. 🙄
So now I can’t listen to The Queen is Dead or Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want along with my Cream records. Great. Thanks, Morrissey!
This is why I usually try not to learn too much about musicians – it leaves me with none of my old favorites to listen to.
Johnny Marr is playing the old songs on tour (check him out on YouTube), and his own recent music is pretty good, too! He has stayed true to his progressive roots, so you can listen without it being problematic. Plus, although his voice isnt’t as great as Morrissey’s, Marr and his players make Moz’s band seem like the 4th place winners of a high school battle of the bands. Marr’s live outro for There is a Light brings the missing magic back.
.
“We are deprived of seeing and hearing other people, and above all, you want to be with others who see and hear what you see and hear, because this is basic oxygen for the human soul. Take it away and people are dead.”
You know what else is good for humans and keeps them alive? Actual OXYGEN
You’re asses will be deprived of that if you get COVID.
Exactly This. I survived having Covid, but it took months to recover. I developed severe asthma and have had attacks where I could not breathe and thought I would pass out or worse. I am on three medications. But I still feel fortunate; so many lost their lives.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I know the new strains are hitting the unvaccinated hard. I realize there are people who are fearful of getting the vaccine, but why they aren’t more afraid of a virus that is a killing machine is beyond me.
Uhhhh…that is not at all what Chinese emperors said. As if a Chinese peasant could ever aspire to live like an emperor!
A LOTTA white men have been radicalized on Youtube, which IMO floats under the radar because everyone is focused on FB which also sucks.
Let’s not give Reddit a free pass here.
Reddit is a cesspool. (Apologies to cesspools for the comparison.) Basically, how can we make it as easy as possible for white supremacists and bigots of all descriptions to find each other, indoctrinate new recruits, and gang up on the vulnerable?
I’ve never been there, I only know it by rep. I haven’t heard anything good about it.
Reddit has some wonderful groups and some horrible ones, but some of the very worst have been closed. I think in general they are more on the ball than Facebook or Twitter. One of the Reddit owners is married to Serena Williams and I expect they are generally less tolerant of intolerance. (I spend a fair amount of time reading queer-focused and generally sweet/positive groups on reddit–it’s like any other internet source, you can create your own echo chamber there.)
This is the way of the internet. And then you have Parler…
Thanks for that perspective, outoftheshadows. TBH, I’ve never used Reddit so I only know it from the bad press (which is some of the worst press imagineable) but I forgot about Serena’s husband and that makes sense. I know Facebook is terrible, and I’d give it up if I could but I only use it for friends/family and there’s many in other time zones I’d rarely interact with if not for Facebook. I’m not looking to start group texts, whatsapp chats and manage all that.
Reddit is awful in a way that other social media sites aren’t, tbh. It’s a diet version of 4Chan. It’s useful to find info about almost every topic, but don’t create an account or check the comments. That’s my advice.
They literally just mute people with the “block” option. Unlike other sites, if you block someone they can still interact with your stuff and see it, except now you can’t see them.
It’s f*cked up.
Morrissey has been, and remains, trash.
Tell me you know nothing about enslavement without trying. Stop equating safety protocols with slavery. You are not being enslaved!!
He’s such a racist, dramatic little shit.
In the absence of talent or likeability, one must be controversial.
Of course, he’s also just a dumb ass.
I’m currently suffering from COVID, despite being vaccinated, masking up, and distancing, because these entitled shits are breeding super contagious new variants. It’s unconscionable. If you want to live amongst us (or just LIVE, period), climb down off your cross and use the wood to build a bridge to the nearest CVS and fucking get jabbed.
Miranda, get well soon! I vote for you for COVID czar…
Hmm, I teach 1st and 2nd grade, so I DO know a thing or 2 about managing spoiled brats with poor literacy and questionable hygiene…
Sorry to hear that Miranda.. hope you recover swiftly.
Thanks! My symptoms are relatively minor, but shhh! Don’t tell anyone, I wanna milk this for a few more days!
I’m so sorry Miranda. This is what I feared. Take care of yourself and know that I am cheering you on.
What an ahole. I cannot believe that he is using slavery as a comparison.
On another note some pastor at Hillsong Church, the one Justin Bieber and company attends/attended, just passed away from Covid. Mocked the Gov’s vaccine efforts and refused to take the vaccine. 34 years old. Good old natural selection at its finest.
Good old natural selection for him—but not the people he potentially infected. :\
Oh SHUT UP MORRISSEY. My teenage goth heart dies a little more every time he opens his mouth.
***HUGS***
Slavery? He was told to stay inside while a virus runs rampant. Unless I missed it, he wasn’t sold as chattel and subjected to untold atrocities. Go sit and spin.