Morrissey’s Defense Of Free Speech Underlines What Both Right And Left Get Wrong - The Federalist

Morrissey’s Defense Of Free Speech Underlines What Both Right And Left Get Wrong - The Federalist

Morrissey has penned an eloquent attack on those who oppose free speech, but it has lessons for the defenders, too.

Excerpt:

"Former Smiths front man and international superstar solo artist Morrissey has found himself in progressives’ crosshairs again. This time, the controversial crooner has hit back in a new form. After being savaged as a racist xenophobe by the United Kingdom newspaper The Independent in what was supposed to be a concert review, Morrissey launched a new website with a brutal screed attacking both the outlet and British society in general.

This is not the first time Morrissey has been attacked by the politically correct brigade. Last year he came under fire for suggesting that acts of Islamic terror are often committed by Muslims and that the U.K. government has been far too lax in confronting the problem. This year the issue seems to be that he has said nice things about Brexit and had the temerity to waive a Union Jack flag that a fan brought to his concert in London."

The Federalist.com - by David Marcus.

A long examination of the topic.
Regards,
FWD.


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I think it has a lot to do with aging. As I am very close to his age there is a lot less introspection of youthful concerns and more focus on things happening outside of one's self. Not to comment on his religious or political views because honestly I have no idea what he is trying to convey these days, but it is clearly more important to him now. Nearing retirement with less and less left in the well of introspection to pull from we are left with this. I, like you, am here for the music, but talk to anyone over 50 and they will be too happy to remind you of "the good ole' days." Myself included.
I am always keen to remember that I considered the good old days kind of shite at the time they were happening.

I'm fully aware of the irony of expressing my futile opinion on this, but there's too much information in the information age, and a platform where everybody spews their opinions on any subject they come across, as opposed to them coming up naturally in conversation isn't the healthiest or most helpful thing for humanity, and all of our minds. Bullshit travels fast now, and I think getting agitated over everything only serves as fuel to let the news cycle of un-newsworthy things burn longer.

I'm missing half bored coffeeshop conversations while chain smoking under outdoor awnings on rainy days now. My sofa just lacks immediacy, you know?
 
I am always keen to remember that I considered the good old days kind of shite at the time they were happening.

I'm fully aware of the irony of expressing my futile opinion on this, but there's too much information in the information age, and a platform where everybody spews their opinions on any subject they come across, as opposed to them coming up naturally in conversation isn't the healthiest or most helpful thing for humanity, and all of our minds. Bullshit travels fast now, and I think getting agitated over everything only serves as fuel to let the news cycle of un-newsworthy things burn longer.

I'm missing half bored coffeeshop conversations while chain smoking under outdoor awnings on rainy days now. My sofa just lacks immediacy, you know?

I would love to spend some time on your sofa chain smoking (back when I used to smoke) discussing all things yesterday, today and tomorrow possibly whilst consuming numerous cold beverages! I agree that the "information age" is devoid of the emotion of speaking face to face hashing out the topics of the day, but still...it allows us to have a discourse...so there is that after all.

Things change. For better and/or worse. Bullshit, as you say, does travel at light speed today, but at least it is not clogging up my mailbox. ;) Just coupons for Bed, Bath & Beyond.
 
I would love to spend some time on your sofa chain smoking (back when I used to smoke) discussing all things yesterday, today and tomorrow possibly whilst consuming numerous cold beverages! I agree that the "information age" is devoid of the emotion of speaking face to face hashing out the topics of the day, but still...it allows us to have a discourse...so there is that after all.

Things change. For better or worse. Bullshit, as you say, does travel at light speed today, but at least it is not clogging up my mailbox. ;)
I wouldn't dream of chain smoking nowadays. Filthy habit- but basically everybody has an opinion on life while sacrificing larger chunks of it to the machine. I think in my personal life, I strive for a kind of gentleness and simplicity as my goal, and allowing myself to be bombarded with negativity makes me want to scream about it all- and I do sometimes- but as I get older I find myself less inclined toward trying to convince anyone else of much of anything, which is far different than my 20s and early 30s.

Some day I'll probably end up on a small plot of land, obliviously feeding my eventual pygmy goats (I hate doing yard work) while bombs rain down on my head that the news has been trying to warn me about for weeks.
 
Apparently a lot of people care. I guess that's also the point, morrissey doesn't see what he does entirely as work which is a good thing
Well rah-rah Morrissey for something or other 2020 then. I could have sworn he was a singer, not a bloviating Grandpa hell bent on going down in history as one of the world greatest political orators.
 
I wouldn't dream of chain smoking nowadays. Filthy habit- but basically everybody has an opinion on life while sacrificing larger chunks of it to the machine. I think in my personal life, I strive for a kind of gentleness and simplicity as my goal, and allowing myself to be bombarded with negativity makes me want to scream about it all- and I do sometimes- but as I get older I find myself less inclined toward trying to convince anyone else of much of anything, which is far different than my 20s and early 30s.

Some day I'll probably end up on a small plot of land, obliviously feeding my eventual pygmy goats (I hate doing yard work) while bombs rain down on my head that the news has been trying to warn me about for weeks.

You crack me up G23. It takes a lot to do that. My sister and her husband have two sheep in their back yard, and all they do is eat, sh*t, and baah! So good luck with the goats.

Yes, age has a way of wringing the life out of you. I work with so many people so much younger than myself and I think you sorry bastards you have no idea what life has in store for you. But that is for them to learn. My teaching days are over.

Gentleness and simplicity...how wonderful that sounds. Good luck on that endeavor. Nothing in this world lends itself to this so it will surely be an uphill effort.

KaleidoscopicImaginaryIndianskimmer-size_restricted.gif


They are cute though.
 
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The author also doesn't mention the attacks on Margaret Thatcher, the Royal Family, Theresa May or Donald Trump.
Neither does Thickskinny. But that's his cloistered, insular, petty world...

Well, I didn't like Margaret Thatcher, don't particularly like the Royal Family or Theresa May and Donald Trump.
Am I in a cloistered, insular and petty world?
 
You crack me up G23. It takes a lot to do that. My sister and her husband have two sheep in their back yard, and all they do is eat, sh*t, and baah! So good luck with the goats.

Yes, age has a way of wringing the life out of you. I work with so many people so much younger than myself and I think you sorry bastards you have no idea what life has in store for you. But that is for them to learn. My teaching days are over.

Gentleness and simplicity...how wonderful that sounds. Good luck on that endeavor. Nothing in this world lends itself to this so it will surely be an uphill effort.
Goats are at least cute and frolic a lot. I had a friend with a pair and they kept the lawn short (and the siding on the corner of the house nibbled) but provided a lot of affection and entertainment.

I wouldn't say I don't have the fire anymore, I'd just say that I use it as a tool more than a way of life. I think it's a lot to do with me coming around to the fact that I can't change the world, but I can do my best to positively affect it in my immediate area and community. When there's so much hate, stupidity, and violence, being calm, measured, and kind is nearly a subversive act, and all the talking in the world amounts to jack shit without action or personal hands-on influence, even if you have an audience like Morrissey. He has the opportunity to add something beautiful and uniting to the ugliness of the static we live in, and chooses not to. His worst sin in my opinion anymore is being boring, and failing to stir in a meaningful way.
 
Well rah-rah Morrissey for something or other 2020 then. I could have sworn he was a singer, not a bloviating Grandpa hell bent on going down in history as one of the world greatest political orators.

He’s a person who exists in the world and that alone makes him eligible to comment and express his thoughts on it. At the end of the day no ones making anyone read it or pay any attention to what he says. If people just want him to sing then why don’t they just listen to him sing and let that be it instead of suggesting he shouldn’t express his opinion. It’s like they can’t let it go. That he should just go to work hush and sing for them because duh he’s a singer
 
He has the opportunity to add something beautiful and uniting to the ugliness of the static we live in, and chooses not to. His worst sin in my opinion anymore is being boring, and failing to stir in a meaningful way.

Yes, he is an enigma. You seem to have your house in order, but our Moz may have a few tiles missing from the roof. He and his music meant so much to me growing up that I find it hard to find fault in his current state. What would one expect given his past? I have always seen him as a self-absorbed, single-minded, oblivious to those who live in the real world man, but that is what drew me to him in the first place.

Off the rails I was and
Off the rails
I was happy to stay
Get out of my way

This is how I have always seen him so the Moz of today fits quite well given these lyrics.
 
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Most Brits here would be aware of Orwell’s essay The Lion & The Unicorn. It’s a brilliant skewering of England and Britain from an old fashioned patriotic socialist, but is famous particularly for a passage often quoted when discussing the modern left. I’ll paste it here for those abroad who may not have read it:

“In intention, at any rate, the English intelligentsia are Europeanised. They take their cookery from Paris and their opinions from Moscow. In the general patriotism of the country they form a sort of island of dissident thought. England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during “God save the King” than of stealing from a poor box. All through the critical years many left-wingers were chipping away at English morale, trying to spread an outlook that was sometimes squashily pacifist, sometimes violently pro-Russian, but always anti-British.”

It is as true today as when he wrote it in 1941.

https://www.orwellfoundation.com/th...the-unicorn-socialism-and-the-english-genius/

The left are so intolerant now even pointing out there are two genders sends some over the edge. You can’t have meaningful discourse with such people. It’s become a form of insanity, first fostered and now magnified by social media.

The problem with most people, across the entire political spectrum, is that they don’t think. They regurgitate opinions they’ve heard elsewhere. Anyone who can stomach more than ten minutes of the BBC’s Question Time must see that, yet the banality of the points made by the panel of experts and MPs or a carefully selected member of hoi polloi is matched only by the seal like clapping of the audience when the latest tedious platitude is delivered. In part it is because people are so busy in their daily lives they have no time to ponder the great issues of the day.

If John Oliver or some other talent black hole tells you Trump is bad or Brexit is worse and your reaction isn’t “he’s an unfunny, smug self-satisfied arsehole” you really aren’t paying attention. You are letting Mr. Oliver give you an opinion to share at work the next day with the rest of the nodding dogs.

My disagreements with Morrissey have never been about politics or the Monarchy, but when I’ve believed him to be being wilfully offensive to get attention, Utoya being the most egregious example.

He can hate Thatcher or the Queen for calumnies not always outlined if he wishes. That’s entirely his prerogative. I can think he’s wrong, and that’s mine.
 
Yes, he is an enigma. You seem to have your house in order, but our Moz may have a few tiles missing from the roof. He and his music meant so much to me growing up that I find it hard to find fault in his current state. What would one expect given his past? I have always seen him as a self-absorbed, single-minded, oblivious to those who live in the real world man, but that is what drew me to him in the first place.

Off the rails I was and
Off the rails
I was happy to stay
Get out of my way

This is how I have always seen him so the Moz of today fits quite well given these lyrics.
I don't even know that I have a roof. I may live in a mental teepee, or a yurt of some kind. I wouldn't say my house is in order. I'm just scratching my head at the times we're in like a monkey trying to figure out a jigsaw puzzle. I think about the fact that exactly half of my life was free of the internet, cell phones, all of this tech, and the other half has been spent living in it trying to make sense of it- watching it and the people who use it simultaneously evolve and decay. It's weird. It puts this Hesse quote in my head. It's often there.

“Every age, every culture, every custom and tradition has its own character, its own weakness and its own strength, it beauties and ugliness; accepts certain sufferings as matters of course, puts up patiently with certain evils. Human life is reduced to real suffering, to hell, only when two ages, two cultures and religions overlap... Now there are times when a whole generation is caught in this way between two ages, two modes of life, with the consequence that it loses all power to understand itself and has no standard, no security, no simple acquiescence. Naturally, every one does not feel this equally strongly.”
 
He has the opportunity to add something beautiful and uniting to the ugliness of the static we live in, and chooses not to. His worst sin in my opinion anymore is being boring, and failing to stir in a meaningful way.

It's quite remarkable that the most ardent advocates of "free speech" nowadays tend to be people who have something ugly to say.
 
He’s a person who exists in the world and that alone makes him eligible to comment and express his thoughts on it. At the end of the day no ones making anyone read it or pay any attention to what he says. If people just want him to sing then why don’t they just listen to him sing and let that be it instead of suggesting he shouldn’t express his opinion. It’s like they can’t let it go. That he should just go to work hush and sing for them because duh he’s a singer
No, I get it. It's not the same thing, but as a bartender, people talk my ear off. They think they know me better than they do, and I keep large parts of my personality hidden while I play host for a living. When I'm asked my opinion on politics or religion- things that I have pretty strong opinions about, I say quite rightly in the situation "It doesn't matter what I think." and I can't help but feel the same about anyone that has a platform, be it facebook or the stage or the recorder of a music journalist. We all have opinions, and they do nothing but fill the air with noise. And yes, I'm self aware enough to know I'm doing the same thing here, but my opinion is to just keep your opinions to your friends and family. They don't do anything positive for a career or the way people think of you.
 
It's quite remarkable that the most ardent advocates of "free speech" nowadays tend to be people who have something ugly to say.
I've always said freedom of speech doesn't spare you from people thinking you're an asshole or being anti-social or even violent in return. Go ahead and say it, whatever it is, but don't cry and squawk about it when people shit on you for it.
 
No, I get it. It's not the same thing, but as a bartender, people talk my ear off. They think they know me better than they do, and I keep large parts of my personality hidden while I play host for a living. When I'm asked my opinion on politics or religion- things that I have pretty strong opinions about, I say quite rightly in the situation "It doesn't matter what I think." and I can't help but feel the same about anyone that has a platform, be it facebook or the stage or the recorder of a music journalist. We all have opinions, and they do nothing but fill the air with noise. And yes, I'm self aware enough to know I'm doing the same thing here, but my opinion is to just keep your opinions to your friends and family. They don't do anything positive for a career or the way people think of you.

I used to hate it when people asked me my opinion as a barista at work because I often couldn’t actually say what I wanted to but had to be nice. Of course global warming doesn’t exist because it’s cold today etc. I’d rather people say what they feel and just deal with it for he most part. In morrisseys case I think he’s created his own platform because people care about what he has to say so I feel he’s entitled to it and I dont have to listen if it bothers me or support him if I don’t want to. I don’t need to agree with or have my artists, those who’s work I enjoy, think or feel like me and nothing morrissey has said has made me think him horrible enough to actually be angry with him (or his public persona at least). I’m fine with enjoying his music and saying what I disagree with to the small group who might actually listen to what I have to say. I don’t think morrissey really cares if people disagree but he gets a lot of insults and at times warped exaggrated claims and imo illogical biased allegations thrown at him. I mean I can’t tell you how many to
Ive read and half the venue walked out when no video shows this to be true and most comments said the opposite. I guess like most of morrisseys statements I feel like he’s somewhat got a point there though the way he expresses it and how far he takes it is counter productive
 
This is not the kind of endorsement you want. Anyone who knows the Federalist knows that it is a Trump loving, far right magazine similar to Breitbart. It fabricates news, and seeks to exploit wedge issues. It doesn't care about Morrissey, or free speech. It cares about legitimizing racial, and cultural resentment.

If they can use Morrissey as a weapon, then wonderful.

Morrissey has the freedom to lie, and attack other people. He's still doing it. He did it to the German interviewer. So, I don't know what then bugaboo about all of this is; other than wanting people to like what you have to say. People like him don't want criticism.

There was nothing eloquent about Morrissey's rant. It was verbose, inaccurate, and self-serving. Actually there is very little that is eloquent about the Morrissey of today, and maybe there never was. Maybe it was all youthful naivete about what an intelligent person was supposed to sound like.

Again, if these are the kind of people defending you, then you're on the wrong track. So, let's be honest Morrissey is a full blown right wing figure at this point, whether he thinks he is or not. He has not spoken in favor of a single liberal cause, except vegetarianism, but most liberals aren't vegetarian. He's simply a single issue anti-immigrant crusader.

As you grow older, you realize that the aging process is like a form of of psychosis for many people. As they slowly lose touch with society, paranoia begins to reign, and we're seeing this happen to many in the old guard.

It's all too predictable.
 
Well, I didn't like Margaret Thatcher, don't particularly like the Royal Family or Theresa May and Donald Trump.
Am I in a cloistered, insular and petty world?

No, you just sound like another apathetic fence rider who lives up his own ass.

You know, "Ho hum. When's dinner?"
 
It's quite remarkable that the most ardent advocates of "free speech" nowadays tend to be people who have something ugly to say.
That's what it all comes down to.

It's meant to try and legitimize attempts to marginalize people as a form of protected speech worthy of not being criticized.

It changes nothing, it solves nothing. It's simply a form of racial, and cultural resentment from groups who are not used to having their styles, and ideas questioned by the broader culture. They're used to it being all about them, and any hole in that bubble gets treated like a life or death matter. Having the mirror turned on them is a new phenomenon, and they're not reacting well to it. It's undignified, but what are you going to do?

Sometimes you have to wait for the two year old to have a tantrum, and then let it take a nap.

The problem in America is that there barely is a culture to protect, and that causes confusion, and resentment. In England, it's an attempt to recapture a rotting culture distinction that is far past due for replacement.

The reality is, they're pissing in the wind, and the culture, and demographics will change no matter how angry, and resentful they become. They're making themselves even smaller than they really are.

They don't even realize how much society has already moved on from their generational trends, but this is how many people typically die.
 
The saddest thing about all this is that people rarely talk about Morrissey's music anymore and instead talk about his political views. The same old S.O.S. but with brand new broken fortunes.
It's okay because when I listen to his music no one is talking about him.
 

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