How fairly do you think the Guardian handled "subspecies-gate"

How fairly do you think The Guardian handled Subspecies-gate?


  • Total voters
    39

Maurice E

Junior Member
The magazine interview was carried out weeks ago.
On the day of its publication The Guardian ran a major news story on page 3 of its main section highlighting the furore that the comments had caused with input from the Love Music/Hate Racism fella, and further quotes from Armitage. It seems, they also took a new quote from Morrissey.
 
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Yey...a poll!!!

Mehh...I wish it would just end! It's gone on for a few days and I already think it's very boring...
 
If Morrissey's said that, there's nothing wrong in publishing that. It's not a Guardian's fault.
 
To say he'd sparked a 'row' in the same day's paper that was publishing the said comments for the first time....seems like nothing but stirring up trouble to me.
 
What, are we supposed to blame the journalist because Morrissey said a racist comment on the record to a major publication?

Morrissey said this in defense of his racist statement: "If anyone has seen the horrific and unwatchable footage of the Chinese cat and dog trade – animals skinned alive – then they could not possibly argue in favour of China as a caring nation. There are no animal protection laws in China and this results in the worst animal abuse and cruelty on the planet. It is indefensible."

That makes all Chinese people part of a sub-human species? Morrissey ain't too bright....

Morrissey once claimed he was "incapable of racism" and that racism was "beyond reason". Now we know that's not true. And now that he's made a clearly racist remark that he can't claim was misquoted or taken out of context, that argument is over. The question becomes: How deep does his racism go?
 
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When Morrissey made controversial statements about immigration, I didn't join those who called him a racist, though I did disagree with his statements. I thought it was pathetic that he ended up bribing some stupid leftist group to get them to stop calling him a racist (a group that published articles defending Muslim jihadists violently attacking people and threatening newspapers over some Danish cartoons of Muhammad).

Though I disagreed with his views on immigration, I didn't feel he said anything that was beyond the pale, and it was simply a difference of opinion that decent folks can have. Though Morrissey is rarely one to be as tolerant of others having differing views, I hate it when leftoids try and shut down everyone they disagree with by screaming, "You're a raaaaaacist!!" (see, for example, the way leftists in America are trying to silence the Tea Party movement's concerns about taxes, Obamacare, the stimulus, bail-outs, Big Government in general, and the failing policies of our current single-party Democrat rule).

But going on about how Chinese people as a whole group are a sub-human species sounds like something I'd hear at a neo-Nazi event. It's probably something I'd excuse from a drunk person ranting at a bar, but it's not so excusable from someone drinking orange Fanta and speaking on the record to a Guardian interviewer with a recording device.

Maybe he just said it to get in the news again, as he has a pattern of saying controversial remarks when he wants to get in the news. But this comment was really stupid. And, yes, racist.
 
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I don't actually believe it was a racist comment. He said about there being no animal protection laws in China, that 'you can't help but feel....' and I think he has a valid point. If he feels (because of his views) that he's of a different 'species' to those who live in that (normal to them) culture, then surely he's allowed to believe that? And obviously, when he said 'the Chinese' , he obviously didn't mean every single Chinese person on the planet. There are always exceptions, and to anyone with a bit of intelligence, that would go without saying, so he wouldn't need to emphasise that.

That's my take on it anyway.
 
I voted: "The Guardian's behaviour was exemplary."

What did they do wrong?
 
And obviously, when he said 'the Chinese' , he obviously didn't mean every single Chinese person on the planet. There are always exceptions, and to anyone with a bit of intelligence, that would go without saying, so he wouldn't need to emphasise that.

He said Chinese people are a subspecies. Stop spinning.

The mods here would ban you for saying what Morrissey said. Well, a week ago they would've. Maybe calling the Chinese a "subspecies" will now become an exception to the no racism rule of SoLow.
 
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You might like to read the opinion of Neil McCormick - Music Writer from The Telegrah

"It is an unfortunate choice of word, certainly, although not quite the call to rise up and expunge all foreign blood from our soil that it is being portrayed as. It’s a bit off, is about the most you could say of it. Indeed, the comment was so throwaway that the self-absorbed interviewer (poet Simon Armitage) barely seemed to notice it at the time, including it amidst a jumble of disconnected quotes in his article, without any context or follow up questions or attempt to clarify.

Nonetheless, it has led to Morrissey being condemned as a racist, as if we haven’t all got more serious things to worry about than a famously opinionated pop star making provocatively controversial comments. It is the proverbial storm in a tea cup."
 
He said Chinese people are a subspecies. Stop spinning.

No, he never said 'Chinese people ARE....', he said 'you (he) can't help but feel.....' There's a difference. That is his opinion, nothing more. He wasn't stating it as fact, or as anybody else's opinion. That's the point I was trying to make. His opinions may be a million miles from anyone else's, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be allowed to have them.
 
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Nonetheless, it has led to Morrissey being condemned as a racist, as if we haven’t all got more serious things to worry about than a famously opinionated pop star making provocatively controversial comments. It is the proverbial storm in a tea cup."

I don't live in the UK, so I don't know how big a controversy this is there. Few people pay attention to Morrissey in America. Obviously people are worried about it on this site because it's a Morrissey forum.

Look, I don't think it's the biggest deal in the world. Morrissey's said a lot of stupid things over the years, and Morrissey is someone who goes through life with a lot of toxic, free-floating anger that causes him to lash out in extremist ways. Also, he's someone who intentionally likes to say controversial things to get attention.

I don't know how anyone can claim that calling Chinese people a "subspecies" is not a racist remark. It doesn't mean I think he should be tarred and feathered, however.
 
No, he never said 'Chinese people ARE....', he said 'you (he) can't help but feel.....' There's a difference. That is his opinion, nothing more. He wasn't stating it as fact, or as anybody else's opinion. That's the point I was trying to make. His opinions may be a million miles from anyone else's, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be allowed to have them.

Morrissey said: "You can't help but feel that the Chinese are a subspecies."

So, yes, he said he feels the Chinese people are a subspecies.
 
It was a poor choice of words maybe. I actually think he meant 'the Chinese who partake in the skinning alive trade' are a subspecies. Which I agree with. I don't think it was ever meant to include those who actually don't! But that's just how I read it.

I think the press will run with it for as long as they can because they love a bit of controversy and Morrissey has always been a favourite 'hate figure' for them in the UK. But yeah, let's hope it fizzles out soon.
 
Better poll: How many threads do we need about this topic?
 
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