The World Won't Listen

[xfifthcolumnx]

so i finally wrote down some of the articles i want to do for thsi zine i've had in my head for literally three (or more) years.

The World Won't Listenaka: using Smiths imagery to discuss political messages. all of the articles will be linked to either a song title or lyrics from a Smiths/ Morrissey song. so far i've decided on

Comments

[xfifthcolumnx]

nope, probably won't use that one.

and those lyrics aren't really that deep, people shouldn't read too much into them.

well, i won't way they aren't deep actually, just that people make them into something they are not.

and its not nice to pee in other people's tea.

[runrevolt]

nolen was gonna pee on my pillow once.

[whether_or_not]

I have a friend whose writing/illustrating this childrens book...and get this...its about a dinosaur. I dont know if you would want or could put her book in your zine, but other than that she does really awesome and unique illustrations...and hey...you cant have ALL words in your zine. Comics, short illustrations...you know...yeah...just throwing something out there. You cant go wrong with dinosaurs.

[firefight]

I have always liked this not-too-deep quote:

"The gates of England are flooded. The country's been thrown away."

[xfifthcolumnx]

how about some context?

all of the quotes i have seen were mere statements of fact, not judgments. and if there were judgments i'll guarantee that they would have been printed by the interviewers. the people publishing these quotes were after sensationalist headlines, and i don't really find them that controversial.

everything i have seen is in the vein of "the Britain we knew is no longer with here."

he never says "immigration should be stopped, send them all home" or anything of the kind.

so what did he say?:
"Other countries have held on to their basic identity yet it seems to me that England was thrown away."

in the interview it is clear he isn't talking about the NATION (as in "immigrants have ruined our country), he is talking about the cultural identity of being "english" - as in:

"The British identity is very attractive, I grew up into it and I find it quaint and very amusing"which i don't find all that nefarious considering his affinity for things "British" and his career writing about the quirks and nuances of

[runrevolt]

i'm not familiar with the context...and i generally agree with you kurt...however this puts me off ever so slightly

"the higher the influx into England the more the identity disappears."

i don't know if this is the case or not, but it intitally came off as he was blaming the influx of immigrants for the disapearance of british identity instead of blaming the british for giving their identity away. so it sounds as if he is placing the blame on the immigrants and not the british. you know, the US equivalent being "now everyone has to speak spanish". though, previously he does say "england" is throwing away its culture.

just 2 cents.

[xfifthcolumnx]

i see where you're coming from there, but i guess i just see it as a matter of fact statement. of course an influx of people from another culture will have an effect

[firefight]

To quote Harjit from Scourge (who is South Asian), "In what context would those quotes be ok?"

The very nature of a rigid National culture being something of affinity is racist.

White kids love their Moz.

[xfifthcolumnx]

umm, a lot of non-white kids love their Moz too. don't try to dismiss my ideas by trying to write it off as some racist / classist bs. its pretty condescending and i expect more.

is one not allowed to have a sense of nostalgia for things past? i don't think there is anything inherently wrong with that.

i also don't think there is anything inherently wrong with people maintaining their cultural identity, which is pretty popular with a lot of immigrant populations, and i think its a great thing. why is this only ok for immigrant populations and not others?

does it make me racist to admit that immigration in the US causes some big problems? not at all, does it mean i'm against immigration? nope. is it ok for people in communities that go through a drastic change in a short period of time to reminisce about how things were or to feel nostalgic about those days? i don't think so, whether they are immigrants or not.

[xfifthcolumnx]

should say:

"is it [not] ok for people in communities that go through a drastic change in a short period of time to reminisce about how things were or to feel nostalgic about those days? i don't think so, whether they are immigrants or not."

[firefight]

Nostalgia of things past whether it be Mayberry, USA or some "quaint" notion of Britainia points to a mythical time when things were better.

"does it make me racist to admit that immigration in the US causes some big problems?"
Simply the phrasing of that sentence pre-supposes that immigration causes problems.
What problems might those be? Because I can't think of ONE SINGLE PROBLEM that exists because of immigration. I can however think of many problems that exist because of capitalism which force populations to relocate (and the myriad of issues surrounding the subjegation of such populations).

[ryansmithxvx]

that's really awesome. i can't wait to check it out

[ryansmithxvx]

actually, my possessions of a BA in sociology and an MA in Humanities/Social Theory studying basically sociology (the study of race, society, social problems, etc) actually makes me an authority on some of these subjects, not to mention that I sorta do work around these issues for a living.
-harjit

[ryansmithxvx]

since we already talked about this, i'll sum up my comment:
generally-respect authority vs. well-informed are 2 different things.

[ryansmithxvx]

and more importantly, what authority does morrissey have on the subject? his formerly living in a country and identifying with it?
-harjit