I Googled "the smiths+incels"—was it
this Vanity Fair article? It has a link to a thread on this forum. It's a couple months old. Has it been posted in the "Strange/unexpected" thread or the Trump thread?
A pretty nasty piece. "Morrissey and the Smiths were brilliant at giving voice to resentment and self-pity, but lacked the ability to extend that pity outward to others
." James S. Murphy must've not heard
Meat is Murder.
Yes, that's the one. I only stumbled across it because I often search for any articles which mention Morrissey or The Smiths.
I also winced at the line you mentioned - it's very easy to paint The Smiths and Morrissey into a corner. That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore is just one example of numerous courageous and compassionate songs.
I think what people sometimes struggle with is the victim syndrome, which has been a continuous thread.
On the one hand, that's just looking at things in a very surface way. But through time, Morrissey has (for good or bad) made it his trademark to withdraw and wallow, to blame and lash out, to deride and seek revenge, and to avoid personal responsibility and/or accountability.
Morrissey himself once wrote:
It's so easy to laugh, it's so easy to hate
It takes guts to be gentle and kind
But paradoxically, his modus operandi towards many has not involved kindness. Then again, we're only human and we often make rash knee-jerk decisions in the moment (which are only natural, immediate responses to some form of trauma, hurt or rejection we feel we have experienced, and must be avenged)
I'm open minded and usually give him the benefit of the doubt, but he does like to make it difficult sometimes. To be honest, most of the time I just want to look after him because I feel the pain of his vulnerabilities.
www.morrisseycentral.com
