Ahhh…the sounds of The Smiths and Morrissey harken me back to my teenage years as a punk rock girl in New Hampshire when I dyed my hair purple and painted my nails black. Yep. All seemed like good ideas at the time, even the safety pins in my ears. Side note: You will never see a snowflake do that with a safety pin!

So when Morrissey took to Twitter to sound off on the Manchester suicide bomber, I had to throw on some tracks from, The World Won’t Listen, Louder than Bombs to celebrate his birthday and, quite refreshingly, his honesty:

Hard to argue with Morrissey here…#ManchesterArena pic.twitter.com/ZRT3WOqUhY

— Alexis In NH (@AlexisinNH) May 23, 2017

SPIN Magazine didn’t seem to like his comment much at all, calling it “predictably dumb” and “jumbled”.

Enter disappointed fans:

It's sad to see how Morrissey has transitioned from being the anti-Thatcher beacon to endorsing Brexit and sanctions against Islam

— scooter (official) (@BarneyxHall) May 23, 2017

It's official Morrissey is now a full blown facist. 🙄😡

— Manicben (@BenWhoIsManic) May 23, 2017

really disappointing to read Morrissey Official's "statement" . His wording is divisive and utterly wrong. What the hell happened to him??

— Nicholas Hancock (@onenickhancock) May 23, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnNJyNBUDhw

To their dismay, “Bigmouth” struck again. Morrissey grew up in Manchester where he formed The Smiths and later went on to pursue a solo career. Despite becoming a vegan and having quite the hipster following, he has fallen out of favor with many because of his views on Brexit and immigration.

“The British political class has never quite been so hopeless, but the same can be said for the USA. What has happened is that news media can no longer attach any nobility to old-style politics because although politicians do not and cannot change, the people the world over have changed.”–Morrissey

Stop me if you've heard this one before, but this is well written by Morrissey. #Morrissey #manchesterattack pic.twitter.com/CsuZQ5aN1X

— Brian Tebay (@BrianTebay) May 23, 2017

Morrissey is now being called the “bigoted uncle”, several colorful names that are unfit for print and a “racist”, a “xenophobe”, a “fascist”. Why? Because of one line:

“In modern Britain, everyone seems petrified to say what we all say in private”.

Why are we afraid to say what we all say in private? Perhaps because of the sheer fatigue of individuals coming up with the same rebuttal tactics (namely vulgarity and name-calling) over-and-over-and-over again. I mean, it’s exhausting. While we are in a terrible state of affairs when we cannot acknowledge something for what it actually is, it’s even more heartbreaking to know that the enemy is winning and will continue to gain traction so long as we are shrinking violets and, to quote Morrissey in one of the more well-known Smiths songs, How Soon is Now?, victims “of a shyness that is criminally vulgar”.

We live in a world where we cannot call illegal immigrants in our sanctuary cities, “illegal”. We have to call them “undocumented citizens”. We cannot call inmates “prisoners”, we have to call them “students”. We have to now call suspects, “community members”. Radicals, are not really “radicals”-we have to “peacefully” try to “coexist” and “understand” them. We have to exercise “tolerance” for the intolerable. We cannot call “terrorists” what they are. At the rate we are going, what gives?

Bigmouth, Bigmouth
Bigmouth strikes again
And I’ve got no right to take my place
With the human race.-The Smiths, “Bigmouth Strikes Again”

At least they don’t think so. Kudos to Morrissey. After all, doesn’t it seem bizarre that we are now living in the sad irony of a Smiths’ song? A cheery melody that is camouflaged by insanely morbid lyrics. Based on some of the reactions to his post, a good amount of the population on both sides of the pond are still in a coma. And it’s something serious.