Talk:Bengali in Platforms

Nothing racist about it

The lyrics are an accurate summary of the political situation. What's racist about it?

Diana writes: To call Morrissey racist because he acknowledges the awkwardness of assimilating shows he's empathetic and compassionate. Morrissey is telling the person Bengali is trying to befriend to put aside his plans for once and take a little time to get to know the new guy. After all, "such a little thing makes such a big difference." DiosaDBK 03:33, 9 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I LOVE Morrissey, but this song is clearly written in a mocking tone. There is nothing empathetic or compassionate, just patronizing. Notice especially how he rolls his r's at the beginning of the song, as though he's spitting them out. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.122.72.190 (talk) 22:23, 7 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"Life's hard enough when you belong here" is extremely problematic. The fact that Morrissey was himself born of Caucasian Irish immigrant parents - who arrived in England just before he was born - suggests that he's picked out Bengali immigrants specifically for their ethnicity, rather than just their foreignness; he presumably sees nothing wrong with Irish people moving to the UK. Morrissey's immigrant aspect is mentioned in this article here ("Virginmedia: Top 10 Most Offensive Songs") but as the years go by it seems increasingly likely that the record label will quietly replace it with a contemporary b-side when they sell the album. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 15:14, 29 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You ask a question, wishing people to explain to you why this song is racist, but then make a statement asserting your belief that it's not. Is it worth anyone explaining the answer to you if you don't wish to listen to what they have to say? I will try, regardless: The problem is not that Morrisey is confronting the awkwardness or being a foreigner, it's because his lyrics literally state that foreigners do not "belong" in the UK. Johnny "ThunderPeel2001" Walker (talk) 17:01, 29 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have found nearly all of those who regard this song as racist either have a personal ax to grind, or are those on whom abstract,critical or multi dimensional thinking and realistic empathy is lost, not to mention those of have a poor grasp of the English language in general, and the multiple meanings of the words "belong" and "shelve" in particular. Webster defines Morrissy's use of the word belong is the lyrics as follows:"to be attached or bound by birth, allegiance, or dependency —usually used with to <they belong to their homeland>" There is nothing racist, biased, xenophobic or even parochial about this use of the term. Webster defines his use of the term "shelve" as: 'to put off or aside <shelve a project>" in other words to delay or put off, and when put into context with the first two lines of the song,precludes the notion that he is implying that he believes any thing close to the notion foreigners should stay in the home of their birth, and in fact shows disdain for those who do harbor such notions Cosand (talk) 01:58, 24 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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