Is intolerance getting worse on GN?

Wonder if anyone here also supported Powell's dreams for Great Britain

I can safely say that living on the Isle of Wight, I considered myself far too cool to support anyone called Enoch! 😱

GrannyGravy13

Doodledog

Oh, I'm sure we all do - anyone who put pop stars' political allegiances at the top of their list of things to worry about would be very strange.

It doesn't mean that knowing what he's really like sits well, though.

Do you or any other posters on here ask what a persons political allegiances are on first meeting them?

Do you or any other posters on GN only have friends whose political affiliations are the same as yours?

I can only speak for myself but the three girlfriends I have been friends with (I suppose they should be called women friends) for 52, 45 and 30 years, all have different political views and affiliations, none of which align with mine.

I know that my Scottish friends have no time for the SNP.
Apart from that, I really have no idea of anyone's political allegiance.

I agree Claremont. Being friends with anyone and everyone sounds great but there is a limit.

Wonder if anyone here also supported Powell's dreams for Great Britain.

I expect many were at infant school.

Claremont

No comment about Rod being a keen Enoch Powell supporters in the 70s. Wonder if anyone here also supported Powell's dreams for Great Britain.

Never knew that he was.

I was listening to The Carpenters! No idea if they were Democratic or Republican either. 😁

Cossy

I have friends of all political persuasions and beliefs and opinions, I try very hard with some of them to avoid this topic.

Oh so do I. And our family goes from the sublime to the ridiculous politcally. But I do think I would have to draw the line at Enoch Powell, really. We can agree to disagree on so many things, but sheer racism, inctiment to violence against certain groups, is a massive red line.

GrannyGravy13

Doodledog

Oh, I'm sure we all do - anyone who put pop stars' political allegiances at the top of their list of things to worry about would be very strange.

It doesn't mean that knowing what he's really like sits well, though.

Do you or any other posters on here ask what a persons political allegiances are on first meeting them?

Do you or any other posters on GN only have friends whose political affiliations are the same as yours?

I can only speak for myself but the three girlfriends I have been friends with (I suppose they should be called women friends) for 52, 45 and 30 years, all have different political views and affiliations, none of which align with mine.

I find that people I meet often slip anti immigration comments into a conversation ( it happened with someone that was doing some work on my house the other week). And I’ve pointed out in the past that the odd job man I use ( and unfortunately depend upon) does the same. Someone in my dog walking group called coloured people darkies. No idea how he managed to get that into the conversation but I got thrown out of the group when I eventually lost my temper about his racist comments. When I still worked people in the waiting room used to go on about foreigners. Same thing happened when I used to go to the sauna at my gym, so I started going in the evening when there was a younger age group.

I have friends of all political persuasions and beliefs and opinions, I try very hard with some of them to avoid this topic.

Claremont

No comment about Rod being a keen Enoch Powell supporters in the 70s. Wonder if anyone here also supported Powell's dreams for Great Britain.

No! But I’m pretty sure (sadly) my late parents did! Very right wing people, strangely were amazing parents, kind and loving people with some very “strange” (to me,) beliefs.

“Do you or any other posters on here ask what a persons political allegiances are on first meeting them?

Do you or any other posters on GN only have friends whose political affiliations are the same as yours?” GrannyGravy

I never discuss politics on meeting new people (as I mentioned earlier today when lemon sucking was then posited 🫨) but have met so many interesting folks on my travels, from a man who joined Hitler Youth to women stalwarts of Greenham Common!

My oldest friend calls me a lefty, some think I’m right wing and my family vote Labour, Tory, Liberal and Plaid Cymru without any falling out. There may even be a few Greens amongst the youngsters.

GrannyGravy13

Doodledog

Oh, I'm sure we all do - anyone who put pop stars' political allegiances at the top of their list of things to worry about would be very strange.

It doesn't mean that knowing what he's really like sits well, though.

Do you or any other posters on here ask what a persons political allegiances are on first meeting them?

Do you or any other posters on GN only have friends whose political affiliations are the same as yours?

I can only speak for myself but the three girlfriends I have been friends with (I suppose they should be called women friends) for 52, 45 and 30 years, all have different political views and affiliations, none of which align with mine.

No, as I have said many times I have friends of all political persuasions - I believe in democracy and the right to think what you like.

As I said upthread though, my point about RS is that when it comes to pop stars (particularly rock stars) their image is part of the whole, and whilst someone may seem attractive if they are rebellious, or suave, or whatever you personally like, to me any attraction would disappear if I knew they are racist. As RS's songs are all about 'love' (fairly loosely defined in his case, although he does have some good ones) the appeal is therefore lost.

Yes, in the 70s I was falling in love; getting pregnant; getting married (in that order); wondering how to put food on the table; learning how to raise a child; wiping damp from the walls of our tiny terraced house… Rod Stewart was the soundtrack to all of that!

No time to think about his politics back then. They don’t sit well with me now, but I can’t erase his music from my life.

Doodledog

Oh, I'm sure we all do - anyone who put pop stars' political allegiances at the top of their list of things to worry about would be very strange.

It doesn't mean that knowing what he's really like sits well, though.

Do you or any other posters on here ask what a persons political allegiances are on first meeting them?

Do you or any other posters on GN only have friends whose political affiliations are the same as yours?

I can only speak for myself but the three girlfriends I have been friends with (I suppose they should be called women friends) for 52, 45 and 30 years, all have different political views and affiliations, none of which align with mine.

Me too GG13 I was pregnant with my first baby and excited. No time for politics in those days.

Oh, I'm sure we all do - anyone who put pop stars' political allegiances at the top of their list of things to worry about would be very strange.

It doesn't mean that knowing what he's really like sits well, though.

Claremont

No comment about Rod being a keen Enoch Powell supporters in the 70s. Wonder if anyone here also supported Powell's dreams for Great Britain.

When Enoch Powell made his controversial speech (20th April, 1968) I was more concerned about going to Grammar School in the September, and having to wear a uniform and school hats for the first time.

When in a 1970 interview Rod Stewart said he agreed with some of what Enoch Powell said, I was knee deep in homework.

I had far more important things to worry about than pop stars political allegiances.

No comment about Rod being a keen Enoch Powell supporters in the 70s. Wonder if anyone here also supported Powell's dreams for Great Britain.

Claremont

Oreo

The past is a another country, they do things differently there.

Tonight's the night- is really quite shocking in today's money- about sex with a virgin child.

I remember when Rod was a keen supporter of Enoch Powell- and now seems to think Farage is worth a chance- so not that much changed!

Not just sex with a virgin child - but full of gaslighting and pressure to have sex that night by flattery, persuasion, put downs, sweet nothings..

Re-read...

"Come on angel my hearts on fire
 (flattery)

Don't deny your man's desire ( how could you deny me)


*You'd be a fool to stop this tide*
 (gaslighting)

Spread your wings 
and let me come inside
 (if I come inside you girl I'll wow you... I'm all man and want you - ^possibly true, as long as she believes him^)


Tonight's the night
It's gonna be alright
 cause I love you girl
 (this isnt about sex - its love)

Ain't nobody gonna stop us now (c'mon, make your mind up)


*Don't say a word my virgin child

Just let your inhibitions run wild* (Yup, I'm all man)

*
The secret is about to unfold

Upstairs before the night's too old* (no pressure, then...)

Its all male fantasy stuff, and of course the pressure on males to "perform" is great, but the worst bit imo is that old chestnut - - generalising here of course - women read sex as love, men as sex, and often "conquering".

(yes, I just find this sort of analysis fascinating, especially as my conclusions come from lived experience.)

I thought Maggie Mae was transported to Botany Bay in the original song. I expect she did very well for herself out there.

No doubt . There are many versions.

The only words I half remember is the one that goes something like 'Oh Maggie Maggie May, they have taken her away/And she'll never walk down Lime Street anymore./
The judge he guilty found her for robbing a homeward–bounder/You dirty stealing no good Maggie May.

LizzieDrip 😃

Maggie May was released in 1971.

It was the song that caused my husband and I to meet! I was just about to leave the disco (!!!) at the end of the night when the DJ played Rod Stewart’s new release ‘Maggie May’.

Along with my friends we ran back in squealing (oh the freedom of youth) and danced to the song. A handsome young man saw me dancing and asked if he could walk me home (the past was a different place).

Two years later we were married with a baby, and we’re still happily married after 52 years😮

So, thanks Rod😘

Wyllow3

Doodledog

Maggie May was a Liverpool prostitute who features in other songs. She steals a sailor’s money in some and gets him transported to Botany Bay in others.

Tonight’s The Night is grim though.

Ah, that answers it, thank you.

Thanks Doodledog , yes it was a folk song

I thought Maggie Mae was transported to Botany Bay in the original song. I expect she did very well for herself out there.

AmberGran

If anything Maggie May should be a warning to all impressionable schoolboys to stay away from older women!

Poor lad, seduced by probably his first major crush who appears to just want him for sex , and abandons him when she's not interested. But a major crush in a youngster being what it is he hangs around, even though he knows he's been stupid and should get back to his own life.

Not a huge Rod Stewart fan but I loved Maggie May, and still do.

AmberGran
😁

To be fair I am currently following the Diddy case on a podcast and it is monumentally depressing, it makes Rod Stewart look like a teddy bear.

Wyllow3

Rod Stewart released "Maggie May" in 1981. The questioning/critique of misogyny was very well underway by then by both women and me.

Released in 1971, well, that would have been a different matter.

But the whole issue is changed anyway by the fact that"Maggie May" was a sex worker. The young man is paying for what he gets.

I do understand, some young men lack confidence, and turn to a sex worker, possible in 1981 when everyone around seemed to be very active in that way:

However he pays for it, which is bold not shy, and also paying for it just avoids all that Rod Stewart is moaning about.

Maggie May was released in 1971, not 81.

Apparently (well, according to the Internet ) he dedicated it to his first 'conquest' but it was based on the famous Liverpudlian 'lady of the night' and borrowed from that story.

Many lyrics from the 70s (and before and after) are dodgy by today's standards, and I'm not in favour of banning them any more than I would ban Shakespeare or other writers from different times - we have to see them in context. Racism, OTOH, is different. I dare say if he'd kept his odious views to himself we'd be none the wiser, but he didn't, so we are. I'll still sing along to Mandolin Wind and so on, but I'll never be a fan. I'm sure he won't give a proverbial.