I've been listening to Morrissey on Radio 4 and not for the first time he has annoyed me. The cause closest to Morrissey's heart is vegetarianism and spreading his passion for it, and frustration at anyone who enjoys a good leg of lamb every now and then. How awful, he once whinged in his song, Meat is Murder, that 'this beautiful creature must die', talking about little lambs and cows, while lamenting how terrible abbatoirs must be and how he has never understood how humans can kill a flufffy little lamb and then eat it.
Mmmm...Well, I suppose we should all give up something for Lent.
My point is this: Morrissey is a Catholic. Vegetarianism and concern for little animals is all very noble. But what about the human abbatoirs? What about the fact that the unborn are slaughtered week in, week out in every town and city of the UK? What is more important? The plight of the animals or the plight of the unborn, who are fully alive, but unprotected by society and who are totally undefended and unprotected by law?
You cannot murder a cow, you can only kill it, and even then, did the cow really long to see old age? Does the cow think, "Well, this is just unfair! What about my right to life?" We shouldn't be humanising animals. We should be recogising all human life as human.
Mozzer...Meat is not murder. If I kill a bunny rabbit, rightly I am not wanted for murder and I have not placed my immortal soul in jeopardy.
Abortion is. If I kill another human being I should be wanted for infanticide and I have placed my immortal soul in dire jeopardy. The fact that nation states have given abortion clinics across the World a carte blanche to kill as many human beings as they like doesn't change the fact I would be killing a human being. Abortion really is a case of 'this beautiful creature must die.'
What really irritates Moz is the idea of people eating meat. Apparently he can't even sit at the same table as you at a restaurant if you do so. I don't usually act out of spite but I'm going to go to Sainsbury's now and spend a voucher my parents kindly sent me today on some lovely meat, before Lent kicks in.
UPDATE...UPDATE...UPDATE...
My friend Nick at Choir practice tonight said he saw Morrissey having some noodles in EAT, in Piccadilly Circus today. He was on urgent Police business so couldn't try and talk with him. Luckily for Nick, he didn't have a burger in his hand, otherwise he'd have been scowled at...Nick is a huge Morrissey fan. I remember the time I saw Jarvis Cocker in a cafe in Paris, and I giggled like a schoolgirl.
Now, I was an avid Smiths fan in the 1980's I had all their stuff. I even saw them in concert. However, Morrissey will never be the same musically or mentally until he breaks bread with old band mate Johnny Marr. Looking back at Morrissey's lyrics their is not much to like.
ReplyDeleteHe does not mind "Hanging the DJ" but eating "Meat is Murder"?
Hi, I find what irritates me is generalisations. "What really irritates vegetarians is the idea of people eating meat.." actually, I'm a vegetarian, and that doesn't irritate me. What irritates me is that any catholic can denounce abortion, or those protecting animals or choosing not to eat them or even having empathy for a living being, while the Catholic Church (and it's followers blindly or not) continues to refuse or allow poor women in poor nations to have access to health care that may help their future (whether that be birth control, access to condoms to protect from HIV and other life threatening diseases, control of their own bodies, leaving many to backyard abortions or even unsanitary environments to give birth in (hence long term health problems, or ridiculous levels of infant mortality). Come on, at least musicians can use their voice for good, not just more spin and more deaths by the ignorance of a once great religion.
ReplyDeleteSorry...correction. 'What really annoys Morrissey is the idea of people eating meat.' I shouldn't generalise.
ReplyDeleteI didn't denounce him, just said as a Catholic, I've always found it irritating the protection of animals rather than the protection of human life is top of his list of concerns.
'What irritates me is that any catholic can denounce abortion.'
Every Catholic should denounce abortion because every time it happens, an innocent human being has been killed. This teaching has not changed since 50 AD, by the way.
The World, on this issue, is divided between those who seek to protect the right to life and those who seek to protect the right to kill.
Also, we don't 'blindly' follow Church teaching.
ReplyDeleteWe defend all human life from conception to natural death.
Yawn.... please go out, meet with those who have been hurt, affected, discriminated against, killed and mentally tortured because of your church. While you are out, go and find a copy of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Hardcover)by Christopher Hitchens (Author). Open up your empathy levels, and consider that for every animal that cries in pain, screams in terror, flinches from the knife before being killed, or even mourns for the loss of their offspring - then look your own children in the eye - and ask the mother in your life - if truly infant animals do not feel the same pain? How very big headed of any being to think that they (you) are more important to the next. At least Morrissey, like most vegetarians have reduced suffering and pain in the world from his beliefs each time a dinner bell rings. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteOh... the generalisations again (the "all" in "all human life" is only really for those the church seems acceptable - ie those who suggest to African villages, that condoms WILL kill you, not SAVE you, or the child who is shunned for being born into the wrong household)...
Of course it would be wonderful if Morrissey were to champion the pro- life ethics, but at least he is standing up for an issue he truly believes in, and he is showing that he does care about suffering in one form or another. Animals do feel pain, and it is only right that farming methods should be improved, for the sake of their welfare. Perhaps we should pray for him, that he may also speak out so vocally against abortion.
ReplyDeleteI have, along with most of my family, have been vegetarian for a long time. I have to say, I don’t find myself irritated by the idea of people eating meat, or try to ‘convert’ people but of course, if people question why I am vegetarian, I will tell them. The main reason is because I am against factory farming. I know that you are no longer a vegetarian yourself, but I am sure you are aware of the cruelty and suffering involved in this practice. There is also so much wastage, with over production of food, and I feel it is terrible that all this goes to waste and so many animals are killed for nothing. As factory faming looks set to continue, why can’t supermarkets at least donate some of the excess to the homeless? I read an article a while ago where a woman was able to eat easily from the food supermarkets threw away, most of which was food that was still in date. Going veggie isn’t for everyone. If only more people would consider how the food got to their plates, then at least they may think about buying free range/ organic meat. People complain it is too expensive, but if more were to buy it, then the price would go down. I think it is a small price to pay to improve the lives of these animals. Factory farmed meat is so cheap, because it is mass produced, and because of the conditions these animals are kept in. I am glad that chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnly- Whittingstall have recently increased public awareness on factory farming. It may seem extreme, but I feel that it should be banned. Of course, this will never happen, due to pure capitalist greed.
As for the abortion issue, I feel that more pro-life politicians should stand up for their beliefs, and also, that the Catholic Church in the UK should voice their concerns a bit louder. In response to Brenda re: contraception/ HIV in the Third World: Education, awareness and healthcare is the key here.
Brenda
ReplyDeleteOpen up your empathy levels, and consider that for every unborn child that cries in pain, screams in terror, flinches from the knife before being killed, look your own children in the eye - and ask the mother in your life - if truly human unborn children do not feel the same pain?
All human rights derive from the first inalienable and inviolable human right. The right to life.
Tanya - I'm not against vegetarians. I just think that the human right to life is more important. For public Catholics to campaign so vociferously for animal rights and to remain totally silent about the rights of the unborn is irritating.
I know it isn't a theological question, really, but I do sometimes wonder: Did the Son of God eat meat or was He a vegetarian?
I agree about that Vegetarian Catholics (in particular, Morrissey) should be speaking out equally about abortion, if they care so much about suffering. Human life is so preciuous, so it should be number one on their list of campaigns.
ReplyDeleteI know that of course, you’re not anti- vegetarian, and I did not want to give this impression. I just wanted to highlight the point that most vegetarians are so, because of suffering and cruelty, i.e.: factory farming, and mention the alternative of organic meat for dedicated meat eaters.
In Jesus’ time, there was no factory farming. I am sure He would be disgusted with this practice, but ultimately would be more repulsed by abortion.
Adolf Hitler was a strict vege, so this is a matter over which cognitive dissonance is not unknown. I know too many people who love animals but not people. In truth humans and animals are part of the same creation.
ReplyDeleteHere in the west, too much meat is eaten. It is a wicked thing and extremely wasteful to grow food that people could eat and feed it to animals. And animal-rearing is often unnecessarily cruel. That happens when farmers treat their animals as things, not living creatures. But there is a place for a little meat eating in the overall scheme of things. No harm is done by eating an animal that has led a natural life in the open. But I could not eat and enjoy eating meat from an animal that had spent its life in a crowded shed.
I almost never buy meat but my principle is to eat what is put in front of me, partly because to strictly adhere to a particular diet cuts one off from one's fellow humans.
As regards abortion - this is killing another human. It is not the removal of a limb. It is a fundamental human right not to be aborted. Human life must be considered to begin at the moment of conception because there is no other event that can be specifically identified or defined.
The demand for abortion rights has arisen primarily as a result of failure to deal with poverty.