In a Morrissey Central interview with ‘John Riggers’ published in April 2018 there was the following exchange.
JOHN: Your last album was dedicated to Dick Gregory, yet a question of racism has always chased you through the press.
MORRISSEY: People accuse, yes, but they can’t penetrate or illuminate. The sole point of all of those NME slurs was to turn my audience against me. I recall one NME piece many years ago which addressed its readers with ”we just can’t turn you off him, can we ?”. That said it all. And as far as racism goes, the modern Loony Left seem to forget that Hitler was Left wing! But of course, we are all called racist now, and the word is actually meaningless. It’s just a way of changing the subject. When someone calls you racist, what they are saying is ”hmm, you actually have a point, and I don’t know how to answer it, so perhaps if I distract you by calling you a bigot we’ll both forget how enlightened your comment was.”
https://www.morrisseycentral.com/messagesfrommorrissey/there-is-a-light-that-must-be-switched-on
His remark that Hitler was left-wing was widely condemned by people who believed that they couldn’t misrepresent words on his own website that they’d taken out of context and made the worst interpretation of.
It really wasn’t such an unfounded thing to say.
The Observer reviewed ‘Liberal Fascism’ by Jonah Goldberg in 2009 and was persuaded that there was a case for fascism being on the left.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/feb/08/goldberg-liberal-fascism-review
In 1998 The Independent said, “It is now clear beyond all reasonable doubt that Hitler and his associates believed they were socialists, and that others, including democratic socialists, thought so too. The title of National Socialism was not hypocritical.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/hitler-and-socialist-dream-1186455.html
And as it was prompted by his dedication to Dick Gregory, an American civil/animal rights activist & comedian, who said “Animals and humans suffer and die alike. Violence causes the same pain, the same spilling of blood, the same stench of death, the same arrogant, cruel, and brutal taking of life. We don’t have to be a part of it”, it was unlikely to be some twisted way of justifying racism.
But Dorian Lynskey decides this interview proves Morrissey has repugnant views:
And accuses him of having an obsession with Islam, when he’s barely mentioned Islam & was only calling the left ‘loony’ because he didn’t understand why the left had become so censorious and had made some topics, like Halal slaughter techniques, taboo.
It’s fair to say Morrissey has tunnel vision about animal rights & is so ardently opposed to authority that he has a terrible taste in marginal politicians – but everything else is just wanting him to be normal.
He’s still a sensitive, humane champion of the marginalised and vulnerable. Far more sensitive and humane than the journalists who pretend that his muddled remarks make him a racist rape apologist.
You’re just never going to get a sane, coherent, workable political manifesto out of him.
Folk Devil 