Long winded entry about Morrissey, read at your own risk.

It has been said that I may have an unnatural love for Morrissey. I wont deny this, but it does not mean I am a blind follower. As most pre-teens and teens do I fell prey to many things that I probably wouldn’t have done, cared about or said if I hadn’t had a fascination with some singer/band. I don’t think I did anything too serious (or have forgotten) and certainly nothing insane like heroin. Mostly I fell prey to funny clothes and big hair.

I did however decide to be a vegetarian for about a year and a half while in high school. This was not solely based on Morrissey; in fact the vast majority of the bands I adored were both British and vegetarian. Up until very recently I favored rice and vegetables to meat most of the time and could go days with out eating any meat so for the most part it was never that hard for me. I did have a hard time, and would cave under the pressure of my mom’s Korean food and let’s be honest; I had a cheeseburger or two when eating out during that time. Lucky for me the 80’s was very salad and baked potato bar friendly and stir-fry was all the rage.

Back to Morrissey.

I will defend Morrissey to the end when it comes to music, lyrics, entertaining and being awesome. I however have to admit that sometimes I think “oh Morrissey, why did you say that?” I commend his unwavering dedication to his beliefs, but I believe he would do far more for his causes if he would just stop talking a little sooner than he does. He negates his earlier comments, which many times are well founded and are said with out a tone of crazy. Morrissey will always have obsessive fans and he will always have his critics. I propose that he not give the critics more to play with. It is too easy to point to the crazy comment and have that overshadow everything else that has been said.

This was most obvious to me about a year ago when Canada was going to allow a seal cull and Moz announced he would not tour there until they stopped. At first I was thinking “that’s great Moz, you said it with some self deprecating humor, but still got your point across”. Then I kept reading and thought “oh no” and I winced a little. See if you can see where I think Moz crosses the line right into what I like to call “crazy-activist-that-no-one-will-listen-to-because-he-made-some-crazy-far-fetched-comaprison”.

I fully realize that the absence of any Morrissey concerts in Canada is unlikely to bring the Canadian economy to its knees, but it is our small protest against this horrific slaughter - which is the largest slaughter of marine animal species found anywhere on the planet. The Canadian Prime Minister also states that the slaughter is necessary because it provides jobs for local communities, but this is an ignorant reason for allowing such barbaric and cruel slaughter of beings that are denied life simply because somebody somewhere might want to wear their skin. Construction of German gas chambers also provided work for someone - this is not a moral or sound reason for allowing suffering.

See what I mean? If he would have just left off the comparison to the Nazi’s I could have supported his statement. Instead, he made himself look crazy. Very few people will actually think that a seal cull is equal to the gas chambers, no matter how you spin it and they will now dismiss you as crazy and will not listen to you.

Morrissey has similar reasons for not touring China.

I would go to wherever there seemed to be interest - except China, which is too barbaric. In China, as we all now know, cats and dogs are skinned alive for the fur industry. Come, come, nuclear bomb.

My problem here is a bit difficult for me to explain, but mostly it comes down to “bigger fish to fry”. The least of China’s “barbaric” actions is using cat and dog fur. Although I agree that China does have problems his statement doesn’t really help.

Then, when asked about being a vegetarian he said

Being vegetarian is a political gesture, so it can't fail to affect your life. By becoming vegetarian you are rejecting a dominant, macho, wife-beating, throat-slitting lifestyle. Vegetarians are also often disliked because they cause so many people to do what they'd rather not do: think. Also, vegetarians, by the nature of their existence, are telling flesh-eaters that what they, the carnivores, are doing, is wrong – and nobody likes to be told this. In a basic sense, I can't bring myself to sit at any table where flesh is served or eaten – unless, of course, it's human flesh.

Oh Morrissey, why do you make me shake my head? I want to love you unconditionally! But seriously, “macho”, “wife-beating” and “throat-slitting”? Come on. I can sort of understand the “macho” comment, since Burger King recently did an advertising blitz based solely on being a manly man and eating burgers with lots of meat. But, “wife-beating” where the hell does that come from? And of course he tips over the edge of totally crazy when he jokes (I think) about human flesh. I have many vegetarian friends and none of them say crazy stuff like this.

So, you want to know what my long-winded point is? I kind of do too, sorry this got so long.

I still love Morrissey and I want you to as well but I understand if you don’t and wont tell you that not liking Morrissey means you might as well say the you want all babies to die and think that we should imprison anyone who jaywalks.