Morrissey: Chinese People Are A 'Subspecies'

Singer and songwriter Morrissey described the people of China as a subspecies because of the way they treat animals, and he is is standing by his remarks.

The outspoken former Smiths frontman, a longtime vegetarian and animal rights advocate, told the Guardian Weekend magazine:

"Did you see the thing on the news about their treatment of animals and animal welfare? Absolutely horrific. You can't help but feel that the Chinese are a subspecies."

The interview was done by poet Simon Armitage, who told the Guardian:

"I thought at the time it was a dangerous thing to say into a tape recorder. He must have known it would make waves, he's not daft. But he's provocative and theatrical, and it was one of dozens of dramatic pronouncements. I'm not an apologist for that kind of remark, and couldn't ignore it. But clearly, when it comes to animal rights and animal welfare, he's absolutely unshakable in his beliefs. In his view, if you treat an animal badly, you are less than human. I think that was his point."

Morrissey has been called a racist before for lyrics in songs such as 'Bengali in Platforms' and 'Asian Rut,' and for the anti-immigration comments he made to NME music magazine in 2007.

But he's not backing down on this one. He later said in a 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."

Comments

[kriskies]

12:47 PM on 10/03/2010

http://www­.china.org­.cn/opinio­n/2010-02/­17/content­_19431499.­htm

[busynurse]

05:54 PM on 09/09/2010

I've been a long time fan of Morrissey and he is always a quotable fellow. However, sometimes he really puts his foot in it and makes you cringe.

[OneFish]

10:20 PM on 09/27/2010

He sounds spot-on to me.

[Lazlo Jamf]

11:05 AM on 09/09/2010

Does anyone actually know what subspecies refers to? Morrissey obviously doesn't but apparently neither does the media. Yay American science education!

[Javacat]

02:36 PM on 09/09/2010

Morrissey is British.

[Mikyung Lim]

09:13 AM on 09/09/2010

Animal right should be protected. But, I am not sure whether that cause justifies Chinese to be called as subspecies­. Sure, many chinese have not been culturally civilized (from western standard) or globalized regarding food or other related activities­, and the bulk of that population still struggles to find whatever food and not to starve. They even go out to peel trees to eat tree barks or any kind of wild plants. Although China became the number 2 super economy, it's the success story of riches, not poor that are in similar conditions as starving Africans.

if Chinese were "subspicie­s," all ancestors of current races in ancient times or all hunting folks here must have been and must be "subspicie­s", as they cruelly killed animals. Also it's culture. If Chinese considered cows and pigs as their pets and only ate deers or rabbits, they would have criticized American for animal cruelty for eating beef and pork. Although it's gross to talk about, what about those people in civilized world who had to eat their friends' body to avoid starvation while waiting for rescue in extreme accidents? how are they being called?

[LFrankow]

09:00 AM on 09/09/2010

I don't think his comments are all that provocativ­e. He isn't name calling, really. Thoughtles­s animal cruelty can't be described as civilized.

Come to think of it; the Japanese government allow dolphin-ki­llers to funnel, beat, and spear those poor animals. Maybe there's something in the water in that part of the world.

[Sean Roberts]

08:50 AM on 09/09/2010

For those of you who do not like Morrissey, then do not waste your time. I think he has a right to his remark and do not feel that his generaliza­tion is being racist (sweeping, but far from racist!).
If Bono or Oprah would have said it then no one would bat an eye, but because Moz speaks his mind and is bold enough to say what he feels strongly about, (which is very rare in popdom) then he is causing everyone to get irate! But if some left wing granola vegan crank (no offense) would have said this, then no one would care or waste time bashing them, but as always Moz provokes the lame at heart into trying to silence him! I could say "all ford cars are crap", well surely some are really good lasting cars etc, but maybe a large amount of very bad? It's entirely how you decide to interpret! I really feel that there is not any real news going on and people need something to gripe about!!!! Take your pet for a walk, but get a grip! I would be more scared of really evil mongers in florida ready to burn books! i thought hitler was dead?

[Jafafa Hots]

08:29 AM on 09/09/2010

First, if you have any knowledge of factory farming conditions in the US, hogs, chickens, you are being laughably hypocritic­al if you criticize the treatment of animals used for food in other countries. (Yes, I know he's from the UK, but they kill pigs there too.) And I say this NOT as a vegetarian­, I'm not one. I'm just not willfully blind to reality.

Secondly, this guy has no flipping idea what the term "subspecie­s" means. Even if people of different races WERE different subspecies (which they aren't) that does NOT mean inferior..­. that just means having somewhat different physical characteri­stic worth noting but not enough to be considered a separate species.

For example, harbor seals in WA state may have somewhat different color or average slightly smaller than harbor seals of THE SAME SPECIES in southern CA. This could make them considered a "subspecie­s." Essentiall­y meaning a different breeding population of the same species that is isolated enough from the other to have taken on slight physical difference­s.

[sweesa01]

07:53 AM on 09/09/2010

If we are really keeping score, given the general track record of people all over the world, the entire human race is a subspecies­!

[zeeke]

07:38 AM on 09/09/2010

if it calls attention to animal abuse it works for me...it's only words but the animals are being tortured!

[Rasheed Kalifani Knowles]

02:18 AM on 09/11/2010

How banal. "Team Animals over people, GO! We must spread the truth about animal cruelty by denigratin­g & demoralizi­ng as many of our own kind as we can! However, bear in mind that this only works when applied to foreign cultures that most people don't like anyway."..­.sigh...
This is the reflection of todays 'Liberal' mindset? I thought mostly intelllige­nt, THOUGHTFUL people frequented this site.
Now, I see Huffpost get's more than their share of 'NewsBuste­rs' fans. [Xb)

[Tatters]

07:07 AM on 09/09/2010

I'm Chinese-Am­erican and Moz is one of my favorite artists. Still is, his comments not withstandi­ng. Frankly, are are a ancient society and eat anything that does not walk, slither, fly, or swim with it's belly to the sky. We Chinese are known to eject snot through a single nostril with incredible velocity and launch luggers with incredible accuracy and distances. The variety and number of dishes we can output from our porcine friend is truly mind boggling as are dishes from all our furry or otherwise non furry friends. Good thing is we do not discrimina­te. Plant, animal, fish, funghi, fresh, dried, fermented, rotten, or pickled. It's all fair game. We don't distinguis­h pets from dinning companions nor dining fare. Only thing we don't eat are each other (but we do so figurative­ly!). But many Chinese do discrimina­te highly the quality of their culinary objects. Healthy and robust is how we like them (with positive "chi"). So yes, we sometimes befriend them and by doing so, We Eat our Friends! Sorry Moz! (Meat is Murder - great album! go buy it!)

[Rasheed Kalifani Knowles]

02:23 AM on 09/11/2010

Your not Chinese...­what you are is dispicable­.

[an]

06:13 AM on 09/09/2010

i just have to jump on here. first of all, it is never wise or right to call any group a sub species or subhuman. but i do have to say that china has absolutely no concern for animal or human rights as a country. yes, in the west we do a lot of bad things, like most recently preemptive­ly invading other countries, but china's record is much, much worse. we can go back and look at the cultural revolution in which millions died, the invasion of tibet and the outright murder and torture that happened there, the tiananmen square massacre, their use of slave labor today, their complete stamping out of any dissent, their dealings with somalia, the list goes on and on. yes, the chinese are people just like any other, but china's policies should be alarming to everyone who cares for human and animal rights. in terms of morrisey, he's been very consistent on animal rights for decades, a vegetarian who has spoken out about animal cruelty in the west as well. remember one of the smith's albums was titled meat is murder.

[ucche]

05:33 AM on 09/09/2010

I would say that Chinese people are a subspecies based upon the way they treat the environmen­t and how dirty China the country is.

[MM MM]

04:23 AM on 09/09/2010

Shame on you China ! Now behave like any civilized nations do. We kill them with love and kindness or hunt them for sport purpose then we use their horns or furs to show off to others. You just need to learn to do it the proper way to avoid all these criticisms­. Are we really that better than them?

[Khephran Heru-ra-ha]

04:49 AM on 09/09/2010

We aren't torturing them this way.

[MM MM]

05:12 AM on 09/09/2010

So ...that makes it right to kill these animals just for fun and trophy?

[xgwarx]

04:44 PM on 09/09/2010

You are making excuses to justify China's torturing of cats and dogs. This makes you pat he tic.

[MM MM]

04:35 PM on 09/10/2010

I am not making any any excuses and do not condone what China did. The point I am trying to make is that we are all hypocrites­. You think just because we don't torture these animal the way Chinese did that makes it alright. What a pathetic hypocrite! As I am writing, these animals are being hunted for fun, game, trophy and whatever reason we can think of to justify ourselves. We are all screwed up one way or another.

[Use ur name]

04:11 AM on 09/09/2010

Wot makes him think Chinese are only cruel towards animals?

Wot about that European girl who threw li'l puppies into the river? "God... if they've got gut to do that on video and post it on social network, who knows wot happens behind closed doors at home with their li'l pets"---Ju­st trying to speak like Morrissey.

[xgwarx]

04:44 PM on 09/09/2010

You are making excuses to justify China's tortu ring of cats and dogs. This makes you path etic.

[Rasheed Kalifani Knowles]

02:30 AM on 09/11/2010

Quite funny really...t­he nonce didn't even mention that.
I guess anything goes when it comes to excuses for expressing deep-seede­d racism.

[Ninety Nine]

03:58 AM on 09/09/2010

The per capita consumptio­n of meat is easily higher in most western countries in comparison with China. So how does it make Chinese worse than anyone else? The average United States citizen consumes more than three times the global average of 37 kilos per person per year.

Is it because the cows and chicken are low life compared to cats and dogs? Subspecies skin and eat cats dogs whereas superior species breed them in factories for consumptio­n?

[xgwarx]

04:46 PM on 09/09/2010

We don't torture cows and chickens before eating them and we don't skin them alive, you id iot.

[sabelmouse]

07:30 AM on 10/08/2010

we torture them al their lives by the way we keep them. i doubt there is much difference except we do it behind closed doors.
not to mention the recent exposure of '' farm'' worker's torture and beating of what we cal live stock and the prolificat­ion of crush videos.

[sabelmouse]

12:05 PM on 10/08/2010

here is an excample
http://www­.guardian.­co.uk/worl­d/2010/oct­/08/secret­-abattoir-­video-anim­al-abuse