Is Morrissey, the singer, a xenophobe?

[Syrinx]

I like some of Morrissey's music, and music of the Smiths, but I don't claim to be a big fan of them.

I was kind of surprised to see the comments that he made about immigrants in the UK.

Is Morrissey a racist ass, or do his comments have some merit? You be the judge. ;)

The pop singer Morrissey claims he can no longer live in a Britain he believes lost to an "immigration explosion".

The former frontman of the Smiths, who is now based in Rome, claimed England was just 'a memory now'.

The 48-year-old added: "Other countries have held on to their basic identity yet it seems to me that England was thrown away.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=496992&in_page_id=1773

[Crunchy Frog]

1. Yeah, I agree with him. Need to get rid of them damn Normans.

Britain has just gone down the shitter since 1066.

[Apollo11]

2. He is an Englishman living in Italy

You can read more of Morrissey's comments in THE INDEPENDENT
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article3204066.ece

To be fair I can see his point. Europe is in the middle of a transformation, with the enlargement of the European Union from 15 countries to 27 countries since May 2004. Just like in the USA, any EU citizen has the right to live in any EU Member State. Some of the rich countries like France, Germany, Austria and Italy have temporary transitional arrangements. But the UK opened up its labour market to the eastern Europeans and since 2004 something like 1 or 2 million people from Poland and other eastern countries have moved to England.

But most of the eastern Europeans who are now living in England do make an effort to learn English - usually before they make the trip.

As I understand it - Morrissey lives in Rome, which is also his right as an EU citizen. I wonder if he speaks fluent Italian? :eyes:

[Syrinx]

3. ha!

That is a bit of irony!

[xchrom]

4. probably not in the sense that you're meaning.

europe has been undergoing a transformation since the end of WWII.

with immigration being the latest in a series of issues that has placed pressures on how europeans define themselves -- i.e. being british today really isn't the same as 30 years ago.

also remember that thse are much smaller countries and changes show up much more rapidly -- however they have done an extraoridinary job of taking in folk from all over and adapting relative to the size of their countries.

i will say that italy certainly takes in people from other countries -- and morrisey isn't going to escape that there -- but like france r spain - there are attempts to remain authentically italian.

the important word here is authentic -- and it really comes down to things like farming and bread making and how marriages go.
i don't think any of us -- well probably not free traders -- wants to live in a McCulture -- something bland and with out individual character.
how do you do that> -- europe is very much going through that kind of transformation.

[Syrinx]

5. great answer!

And this is why I wanted to be careful about branding Morrissey with some awful epithet.

I think the future world will be a better and more thrilling place if we preserve individual cultures forever.

And it will be a safer world if we exert ourselves, if necessary, to understand and appreciate the different cultures all around us.

The secrets to world peace aren't that profound, but true leaders are rare.

If we just have understanding and tolerance, people can do amazing things.

[xchrom]

6. well we're going to have to do something if we don't want to

live in a culture brought to us by coca-cola and displacement.

and displacement is exactly the word -- rather than immigration.

i find discussions re: immigration frustrating because they are so shallow -- few people can appreciate the difficulties brought about by extraction economics{i.e. the third world} the end of the cold war{post soviet block countries}.

[Berry Cool]

7. I guess he was happy in the haze of a drunken hour, but...

...well, you know.

[SidDithers]

13. He's miserable now?..

very nicely done :applause:

Sid

[LeftishBrit]

8. Morrissey has been in trouble for possibly xenophobic comments before..

but it's often been ambiguous whether he's being satirical or not. I'd wait for a source other than the Daily Mail. THEY are xenophobic and would not be above twisting someone's words to support their bigotry.

[Skidmore]

9. Never heard of him.

[Lex]

10. wow.

[H2O Man]

11. He plays bass

for the Patrick Buchanan Experience.

[DangerDave921]

12. He can be an acquired taste

And I don't mean that in the gay-pun way! :)

Morrissey was the front-man for the English band The Smiths in the 1980's and early 1990's before they broke up. Some ground-breaking music in the vein of depression, unrequited love, social outcast, and tongue-in-cheek wordplay. If you ever want to wallow in your depression, put on a Smiths album! Some people love the Smiths (like me) and some think they are pretentious and too artsy (which can also be true). Morrissey has had a huge solo career in England but not as much here in the states. I would recommend Mona Bona Drag as a good album to start with for his solo stuff.

I think I can understand his point. He grew up in an era when the English were still the traditional English. We all cling to our childhood visions of our home. In the last 20-30 years, England has seen a huge explosion in immigration, especially from middle-east countries, and it has changed the face of English cities and towns. I'm not saying for better or worse, but it is much different than when a 50-year-old man was growing up. I think he is lamenting the loss of his childhood vision of his homeland, not really insulting the immigrants themselves. And I think he is lamenting the loss of (or dilution of) the "English" culture.

[bbernardini]

14. Considering his huge Mexican fanbase, I doubt it...

Some of you may be familiar with the newspaper column "Ask A Mexican." In the author's recent book compiling and expanding on the column, he addresses the huge Mexican fanbase Morrissey has. A number of quotes in that article would lead me to believe that he's not xenophobic.

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. He doesn't like immigration, so now he has become an immigrant

Sounds like a real rocket surgeon.

[Reno.Muse]

16. umm, have you been there lately?