Canada recently began its annual seal hunt, drawing the passionate ire of many, many animal-rights types, including, unsurprisingly, Morrissey. In one of his characteristic inflammatory online posts, Moz took special aim at Canada’s federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea: “If she considers such butchery to be so ‘humane,’ why doesn’t she place herself among the tens of thousands of grey-coated harp seals that will be slaughtered within the next few weeks. She could then test the humane aspect of having her head blown off for herself.” Shea, perhaps not realizing that it’s impossible to get into a public debate with Morrissey and win, clapped back, via a spokesperson named Sophie Doucet: “This is clearly just another case of a millionaire celebrity, desperate for a hobby, shamelessly regurgitating misinformation and myths that fringe animal-rights groups have been pushing for years.” Obviously, nobody would expect Morrissey to shrug at this and move onto something else. He was always going to respond. And now, he has responded. Here’s what he says:

Canada: right of reply

There was something more than slightly desperate in Gail Shea referring to my recent comments on the annual Canadian seal slaughter as “ignorant”, as reported in Canada’s National Post.
Speaking on behalf of Gail Shea, Sophie Doucet – showing symptoms of the same Shea disorder – stated: “I would urge Mr. Morrissey to consider the impact that his ignorant and inflammatory statements have on the livelihoods of thousands of hard-working men and women in rural communities”. I should remind Sophie Doucet that building and maintaining the Concentration Camps of Auschwitz also provided livelihoods, but this hardly made the Camps warranted. Let it also be added that the vast financial benefits of the seal slaughter are not directly intended for those hard-working men and women in rural communities, who, in fact, are merely used by the Fisheries Minister to do the messy task of searing flesh.

Further, Sophie Doucet’s shrill tension claims that my anger against Canada’s carnival of death: ” … is clearly just another case of a millionaire celebrity, desperate for a hobby”.

I can assure Sophie Doucet that I know more about the seal hunt than I wish to know, and only by suppression of humanity could anyone look away and not care. Also, whether a challenge comes from a millionaire or from someone who is homeless is a remark that would only be made by someone of imperious ignorance, who cannot develop the moral debate, and whose own personal financial agenda comes before the lives of thousands of healthy beings.

More importantly, Gail Shea is so constantly absorbed by challenges and counterchallenges of her actions and beliefs that we must wonder why it has not yet occurred to her that she might be doing something wrong. The answer, as it usually is, would be the impossibly constricted mania for financial profit – at any price.

In Western culture, there is no acceptance of the Canadian seal slaughter, and simply because someone bears the badge of Minister does not insulate them from being a disreputable thug. Murder is not debatable, and the people of Canada must speak up and stop this carnage in order to restore the global image of their country. As ever and as always, it is always up to the people to put things right.

Morrissey
23 April 2014
Los Angeles.

(via True To You)

Obviously, when someone busts out an Auschwitz comparison in the first paragraph, the conversation has already gone downhill. But public officials should have figured out by now that “shut up, famous person” is not a strong rhetorical stance. And when most of the world is banning the use of seal products, Morrissey isn’t exactly an isolated voice in this particular conversation.