Nicholas Barrett

So I clicked onto Guardian.co.uk to be confronted by a Morrissey with a cat on his head.  Why?  Because he said something impeccably stupid, an irritating quality to a fan who has fallen in love with impeccably brilliant lyrics.  While talking about the mis-treatment of cats by the chinese branded them a “subspecies”.  ’Hand in glove’ just became ‘foot in mouth’.  You can’t go around saying thing like that, yes some chinese people treat cats badly but some British people force dogs to tear apart foxes, are we a ”subspecies”?  A minority of the Spanish enjoy watching a bull being set on fire and tortured in stadium, should that deny every Spaniard the right to call themselves human?  Is Morrissey himself guilty of this due to shared nationality?

So how can I, a devoted Morrissey fan, known for (at least online) for speaking out against racism, reconcile this comment with my believes?  Well i’ve come across a lot of racist’s and I’m sure Morrissey is not one of them.  I think this was a calculated comment designed specifically to raise awareness of animal rights and his new album. He has started a national conversation putting himself and has activism at the heart of every newspaper and radio phone-in.  Perhaps I’m to quick to defend my hero?  I could be ‘in his thrall’ like Myra Hindley, to the extent I could forgive him almost anything.  Well that could be the case but even if it is animal cruelty is kind of (dare I type the next six words) the best reason to be racist.  As a species or “subspecies” we do treat animals very badly and some of what I see makes me ashamed to be human, we need to talk about it more and change the way people think.  As for Morrissey, I think is an alienated and lonely person that has been divided from reality by the trappings of fame and celebrity.  When a person is surrounded for years by people who tell them they can do no wring and everything they say is gospel they are more then likely to occasionally talk rubbish.