"These are days of savagely superficial moral outrage" - brief Morrissey interview - El Comercio

A publication he's spoken to before.
Via translate - so take with a pinch of salt:

Morrissey: "Son días de indignación moral salvajemente superficial" -
El Comercio Perú

By José Tsang, Nov. 23, 2018.

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Morrissey:
"These are days of savagely superficial moral outrage"

Before his concert in Peru, the former The Smiths answers a questionnaire to refer to "El cóndor pasa", Venezuela, his intoxication in Lima and other issues.

The healthy exercise of thinking differently seems devalued. In music, an illustrious member of that minority club is called Morrissey . The media usually highlight their statements and the 59-year-old British artist defends himself with his songs. His latest album, "Low in High School" (2017), includes a song like "Spent the Day in Bed", which states: "Stop watching the news / Because the news manages to scare you / To make you feel small and alone / To make you feel that your mind is not yours. "

The contribution to the music of Morrissey is unquestionable: the band The Smiths is one of the best acts of the 80s, and his solo career also generates admiration. On the other hand, his opinions produce resistance, either because of his militant veganism or to criticize current feminism because he believes that he does not aspire to reach a higher intellectual level.


Morrissey - confessed by a scathing writer like Oscar Wilde - will offer a new concert in Peru this Tuesday, November 27. Before the evening, the singer and composer answered in writing a questionnaire from El Comercio. Among the issues addressed, the figure of intoxication in Lima in 2013.

-The Pretenders played in Lima a few months ago. At the concert, his singer Chrissie Hynde said that you are one of his favorite composers. What inspires you? And what does "Back on the Chain Gang" - you just make a cover of this song by The Pretenders - for you?

Chrissie and I have been friends for years. She is an impressive composer who can bring an unusual feeling to her songs, while most writers copy what has been successful. She is determined and does not have that paranoia to do or say what others believe is right.

-The world of music has changed. The physical disk is disappearing. How not to lose faith in these times? Is it a lost battle? Can we be optimists?

People will always find music and will need it, but at the same time I think they are all exhausted by the promotional machinery that drives the same faces with the same content. There is no more that thing called natural success. Every move is made. We constantly look at what number 1 is and we do not believe in it even for a second. We are tired of hearing about artists who sell millions, although we know that such artists do not inspire love for music.

-In this final phase of 2018, what is Oscar Wilde's phrase that comes to mind the most?

What we fear is what happens to us.

-Let's talk about your last album "Low in High School". What musical spirit did you look for in it?

I'm interested in making songs that start conversations, which is easy in these days of savagely superficial moral outrage that everyone seems to want to express. If you offer a song to people, you should raise their lives for at least four minutes; otherwise, it does not make sense. The greatest honor I receive is when they tell me: "Nobody could have written that song, except you".

-A song like "Who Will Protect Us From The Police?" (Who will protect us from the police?) Is dedicated to Venezuela. What is your point of view about your situation?

Last year I often saw television images in which the Venezuelan police attacked people, which was because they were tired - as you know - of economic corruption. I wondered what gives the police the right to attack people, which rather pays the police for their protection. It seems to me that whenever the people have had enough of the dishonest governments, the police begin to attack the citizens, but they do not attack the dishonest government. How is this fair or civilized? Governments do not pay the police. People do it.

-In your last concert in Lima, in 2015, you sang "El cóndor pasa". Why did you choose this song?

I feel that it has a great moral virtue for the people of Peru; It's like a hand on the shoulder. We all want freedom, we do not want to be the snail or the nail [the phrase in English presents a play on words: "We do not want to be the snail or the nail"], and we imagine that the birds that pass have the final freedom . The song is obviously very old, but it still means a lot because every day we see and hear people who cry out for freedom. Why is it so difficult to get it?

- Fortunately, the episode of poisoning in Peru, in 2013, was overcome. You said you were "officially dead for nine minutes". What did you see in those nine minutes?

When you survive a terrible disease, you recover your health but you realize the unbearable meddling of society in your life, your money, your body and your thoughts, just as you see that we have almost no right to relax and be ourselves. People do not seem to realize that just a sneeze separates us from death. We are willing to live as slaves in one way or another, persistently doing what has been said by people we do not respect. We are all slaves in many ways.

-What can we expect from your new concert in Lima?

I say what I believe and I say it well. Music brings us closer to other people who share our beliefs. If they come to the concert without expecting anything, they will be disappointed.


Regards,
FWD.
 
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Just before Donald Trump’s election victory a very bright journalist - there are still such things - said of Trump “His opponents take him literally but not seriously and his supporters take him seriously but not literally.”

I think you could say the same of Morrissey.

I wonder who he has to blow to be taken seriously AND literally?
 
Just before Donald Trump’s election victory a very bright journalist - there are still such things - said of Trump “His opponents take him literally but not seriously and his supporters take him seriously but not literally.”

I think you could say the same of Morrissey.

Don't understand why people ignore the fact that Morrissey does exaggerate to make his point, he is an Artist! a POET!!!... emotions dictate, the heart leads! DARE TO FOLLOW !!!! :cool:

I’ve had a Bowie day today. Glorious. I feel extremely influenced.

:thumb:

There's always a Bowie song or record that can reflect and transform
any day or night of the year. And I usually gravitate towards 'Heroes' as the winter draws near, it just fits.

:)
 
I'm fascinated by NDE's and what might "lie beyond" so I really enjoyed reading that. How did you feel at the time? Some people say they felt darkness, like velvet, and sunk deeper and deeper but were very calm. Others heard voices or described seeing their body. Morrissey dodged the question.

I won't tell some details because I could be misunderstood. But I can tell you that the experience (actual death, dream or whatever name you want to call it) made me understand there's a reason for being here in this material world and that we don't need to be afraid of the next step if and when our time arrives. But not before that moment, that is what I learned from my experience. Maybe that's why religions consider suicide as a sin, with wich I totally agree. We always should fight for being alive, no matter what. I'm sure suicides never went through an experience like this, because they never would have taken that bad decision.

I know some people here will laugh about it, but others could feel less alone if they suffered this experience. It's like rape, lots of people suffered it but few tell it publicly because they are afraid of being discriminated by people who never experienced it.
 
Morrissey overestimates the importance of music. Music is a throwaway affair. A mere distraction. Music is whim and fickledom. It's soothing, to a degree, but that's about all. The older I get, the less music means to me. Of course, I'll have a tune at my funeral, but music all the time? There's more to life than a nice tune. Of all the arts, music is the one I could most easily forgo. Even the most majestic of key changes fade on repeated listening.
Party on Wayne!
 
I won't tell some details because I could be misunderstood. But I can tell you that the experience (actual death, dream or whatever name you want to call it) made me understand there's a reason for being here in this material world and that we don't need to be afraid of the next step if and when our time arrives. But not before that moment, that is what I learned from my experience. Maybe that's why religions consider suicide as a sin, with wich I totally agree. We always should fight for being alive, no matter what. I'm sure suicides never went through an experience like this, because they never would have taken that bad decision.

I know some people here will laugh about it, but others could feel less alone if they suffered this experience. It's like rape, lots of people suffered it but few tell it publicly because they are afraid of being discriminated by people who never experienced it.
Suicide is a sin? The ones who have taken their own lives have suffered enough. How about letting up on the judgement and let them have their rest in peace they deserve.

In other news near death experiences are a surge of adrenalin coupled with the undying willingness for the human brain to fool itself even beyond the hospital bed as it seems. There is no next step. This is the only step there is. Get in line and enjoy.
 
I believe him because I was dead during some hours many years ago. I was alone, felt very bad and went to the bed where I fainted (or died). I saw the strong white light and dead people talked to me. My grandmother made me come back, I knew it was her but I didn't see her neither heard her voice. I felt it was her in the same intuitive way I felt who the other people were. It was not a dream, it was totally different and I didn't have the same experience again. I can't tell this to people in my life because they will think I'm insane, but I had this experience and many people had it as well. Believe it or not.


I'm dead right now.
 
"Died for 9 minutes" eh????
I truly call BS on this. My spouse is an emergency room doc and he said that clinical death, aka cardiac arrest, after food poisoning, would be a very life-threatening situation. Only about 10% of patients who are revived after cardiac arrest make it out of the hospital. Not saying miracles don’t happen, but if he was really clinically dead for 9 minutes, and survived with no brain damage, Moz is a lucky s.o.b. indeed. And he’d definitely need to be monitored following this cardiac arrest for a time in a hospital ICU, as there would be a strong possibility of residual shock to the organs after being deprived of oxygen for that long.
Anyway, glad he’s ok in any case!
 
Not saying miracles don’t happen, but if he was really clinically dead for 9 minutes, and survived with no brain damage, Moz is a lucky s.o.b. indeed.

I guess there are many who would argue that one :lbf:
 
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I reckon suicide is a sin per the California Son's strong Catholic beliefs. I ye reckon how can any of you lots thick wacker reckon that suicide is not a sin and be a fan of Air Morrissey. Reckon Uncle Steve and Aunt Nancy are usually at the 10:00 mass every Sunday at Our Lady of Malibu inn nn nn n din't inn nnn n n it mate.

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That may be truer today, but the popular music of the 1950s until perhaps the early to mid-90s has certainly been hugely influential on western society, particularly.

Those kids at Woodstock or on the streets of Paris in ‘68 became our Prime Ministers, Presidents, Ministers, professors, lecturers, teachers, architects, research scientists, surgeons and doctors.

Clinton, Obama, and Blair and Cameron over here, all admitted to using illegal drugs. That was the era they grew up in and it was shaped in no small part by the culture, including the music. Nobody has yet said “Do me a line, I’m going to put some Paganini on.” Except perhaps Sherlock Holmes and (spoilers), he’s not real.

Fifty years ago a public admission of drug taking would bar you from almost any office, let alone the highest in the land. You take experiences such as those, be they good, bad or indifferent through your life. It’s a good bet that politicians and activists pushing for the legalisationn of marijuana are likely to be in the “I tried it and it didn’t do me any harm.” camp.

It may not have overturned governments directly, but music has changed social mores and in turn that filters through and changes policy on sex, abortion, women's rights, drugs, war and a huge range of other issues.

I think music can and does change people’s lives. The Smiths released their first single thirty-five years ago. There must be something that keeps so many of us coming back here. It wasn’t the sleeve.
Thanks, JB. All of this is very true, but in a way, that's what worries me about music. The way it can make people act as a mob rather than individuals. You have military music that can see armies off to war, patriotic music that can glorify nationalism/racism, music that makes people literally 'dance to the tune' We have that awful phrase of 'all singing from the same hymn sheet' when organisations wish their employees to toe the line. It worries me when music is used to these ends. It is easy to use songs to invite jingoism, by the fact that lyrics usually rhyme, and so the words become embedded in the national psyche and the message can be dangerously overlooked. Many nursery rhymes have very sinister meanings that have been forgotten. When it comes to Morrissey touring, I try to be interested in the threads on his live performances but it feels like a very private and intimate experience of mine is being displayed in a very public way. I'm a hypocrite though, because I play instruments and also sing when I'm drunk, but perhaps the latter goes some way to explaining what I mean.
 
First, blaming a kid for being raped isn't "moral outrage". It's morally scant, yes. Moral outrage, as I see it, is people whining about how evil others are, believing that they're on "the good side". It's believing the way I'm thinking is the virtuous way to think and everyone who doesn't think this way is a bad person, which I guess you can say about his fight for animal rights ("If I'm introduced to anyone who eats beings, I walk away. Imagine, for example, if you were in a nightclub and someone said to you 'Hello, I enjoy bloodshed, throat-slitting and the destruction of life,' well, I doubt if you'd want to exchange phone numbers."), but I, for my own personal reasons, deeply object to it being called "superficial". I'm not willing to argue that it's not, so I submit to your first point.

But, he didn't really blame the boy for being sexually abused. He intimated that the boy had some say in it: that is was actually consensual underage sex. He went on to say that underage sex was very widespread in the entertainment industry and "you can't lock everyone up". I don't know if it makes a difference to you or not. Rather, I don't know if condoning underage sex is on equal moral ground as blaming a rape victim for being raped, in your eyes....

Notice I used the word moral. That's because what you've just displayed now is superficial moral outrage!
He DID blame the kid for being molested. This is really one that people should just drop because what Morrissey said was absolutely blaming the victim and even "where were the parents?" See, if you leave your 14 year old in the care of an adult you're pretty much asking for them to be molested.
He didn't "condone underage sex" because that is not what happened. That is not the issue here.
"Underage sex" between two people who are underage is still maybe not completely acceptable to all, but it's a lot different than what actually happened.
Just let it go. What Morrissey said was indefensible, but even if it wasn't you would not be the one who could make the case for it. He did not say that "underage sex is widespread in the entertainment industry." He questioned why the boy was there, which might be a reasonable question, had it not been answered previously to his statements. It's almost as if, and I know this is impossible, but it's almost like Morrissey picked an issue that was in the news which he hadn't even bothered to learn about and formed a super hot take on it guaranteed to get his name in the headlines. How completely out of character!
The boy was an actor and was working with Kevin Spacey. Kevin Spacey took the boy and his friend and showed them around town. To a normal person this would be mentoring but if Kevin Spacey is the one doing it, it's called grooming. He gained the trust of the boy and his parents and then invited him to a party.
This happened a year after he is accused of having raped another 14 year old boy but no one knew that at the time. The point is he planned it. He chose a victim who was vulnerable, being in town working alone. He acted like a nice guy and nobody was alerted to his intentions. It didn't seem that strange to invite a professional actor to a party with other professional actors even if he was just 14. But then, according to Spacey, he doesn't remember what happened at all but he's certain he was drunk. And I think that the boy wasn't too socially mature or he would have left then party when he got bored. Instead he watched tv in the bedroom.
This is where everyone says "He went in the bedroom? Obviously he wanted to be raped!" Or maybe that is where the tv was? But if Spacey was a decent person he would have called a cab for the kid when he got bored. Instead he got rid of everyone else and then tried a clumsy attempt at getting the kid to have sex and the kid left.
This is not "underage sex." Just. next time you want to talk about this, do Morrissey and everyone else a big favor and keep your arguments to yourself. We've all mostly forgotten about it and moved on. We don't need to revisit it anymore. It was a stupid thing to say. He even denied he said it until the audio was posted and then he put down his drink for long enough to get a clue that maybe he should shut up about it.

What he said was widespread was actors/actresses having sex to get roles which I'm certain is true but Harvey Weinstein is accused of rape which is very different. And Morrissey's comments about that, which again he denied, and again, were later shown to be exactly what he said, were more along the lines that actresses are these cynical people that have sex for a role and then later on they need attention so they say they were sexually assaulted.

And here's the important thing. This quote, that has been run through google translate, about "moral outrage" sounds like he's revisiting his comments about Spacey and Weinstein but when you actually read it he's not. Professional troll that he is, he's maybe implying something that will get people to pull their hair out in fits of rage but he's not actually saying it. His outrage game has improved. He isn't even talking about that anymore, for which I think we should all give thanks, and he definitely doesn't need you to "explain" it so please don't.
 
I truly call BS on this. My spouse is an emergency room doc and he said that clinical death, aka cardiac arrest, after food poisoning, would be a very life-threatening situation. Only about 10% of patients who are revived after cardiac arrest make it out of the hospital. Not saying miracles don’t happen, but if he was really clinically dead for 9 minutes, and survived with no brain damage, Moz is a lucky s.o.b. indeed. And he’d definitely need to be monitored following this cardiac arrest for a time in a hospital ICU, as there would be a strong possibility of residual shock to the organs after being deprived of oxygen for that long.
Anyway, glad he’s ok in any case!
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