Morrissey was quite prolific in his writing yesterday at TrueToYou.net.
In his first lengthy note of the day, he accused a TSA officer at San Francisco International Airport of groping him while going through security and, when the action was questioned, all he could get was a repeated standard reply from the officer.
San Francisco International Airport
On leaving the US on 27 July I flew from San Francisco International Airport to London on flight BA 284.
At 2:30 in the afternoon I went through the usual airport security procedure including the stand-up ‘scanner’, and all was well – no bleeps and nothing unusual.
Before I could gather my belongings from the usual array of trays I was approached by an “airport security officer” who stopped me, crouched before me and groped my penis and testicles. He quickly moved away as an older “airport security officer” approached.
The officer who sexually assaulted me was identified as the General Manager On Duty. Luckily I was accompanied by two members of British Airways Special Services, who were horrified at the sexual attack and suggested that I lodge a complaint. I asked if there would be any point in lodging a complaint since, as with any complaint against a figure in “authority”, the complaints are simply collected in order to protect the guilty officer should the matter go further. The British Airways Special Services employees assured me that a complaint was worthwhile, and so I filed the appropriate information. However, before doing so, the guilty “officer” was confronted, and the conversation went thus:
You have just sexually groped this man.
Officer: That’s just your opinion.
What you have done is illegal.
Officer: That’s just your opinion.
You have no right to do what you have just done.
Officer: That’s just your opinion.
Apart from “that’s just your opinion”, he would not comment, even though, since the penis and testicles were mine and no one else’s, then my opinion must surely have some meaning. But, of course, what the airport security officer was saying was: your opinion will never count in the eyes of the law. The words “that’s just your opinion” volunteered themselves from this ‘officer’s’ mouth before he had even heard the question. He knew he could be confronted, but he also knew that he could never be challenged (even though the entire incident is most certainly on CCTV camera).
In the interests of imperishable bureaucracy my submitted complaint against this ‘officer’ will obviously be either unread or ignored because, as we all know, on matters of officialism it is not possible to be pleasantly surprised by anything at all. However, what is clear is that, should you find yourself traveling through San Francisco International Airport, you should expect sexual abuse from the so-called ‘security officers’ who, we are unconvincingly warned, are acting only for our security.
Do people have minds?
Morrissey
Later, the singer claimed that his North American tour, the first he has been able to get through in a couple of years without having to cancel dates for health problems, took him back to the glory days 1991-92. In a note titled “Now My Heart is Fuller”, he said:
Now I know what Rollermania was like (you are too young to remember), and now I know what Osmondmania was like (you are too young to remember), and now I know what Beatlemania was like (everyone is too old to remember). Thank you for our best ever American tour. We are engulfed by a sense of indebtedness and joy. The credit for such a wonderful tour is all yours. We simply turn up and hope for the best and that best is you.
Even though Morrissey was obviously happy, it didn’t keep him from, once again, attacking Steve Barnett of Harvest/Capitol for his perceived lack of support for the singer’s last album, World Peace is None of Your Business. Instead, he says the success of the tour was the fan’s support for the situation:
Why now? I rashly imagine it is partly public support in response to World peace is none of your business being axed in its prime by Steve Barnett – that cheap model of Humpty Dumpty whose Harvest/Capitol label can offer the world absolutely nothing in place of World peace is none of your business. I believe that his actions have enraged many people throughout the world, and the fact that he still has a job indicates the hellward march of a music industry that will never allow itself to be surprised by anything that is not endorsed by television ‘talent’ shows (none of which have yet produced one single lasting or meaningful star). However, he is now unworthy of further mention. He lives inside his own skin, which is surely punishment enough.
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