The rage around her Pope-photo-tearing photo on SNL I think was about: we're trying to sell/watching a entertainment products here, and now you've just gone and made things intense. They just wanted the dancing bear.
She was an intense personality, an artist, not an entertainer. Maybe getting a billboard #1 single and becoming a sensation was the worst thing that could have happened for her. People just wanted to be entertained -- they wanted the fantastic voice but without the powerful emotions and convictions behind it -- and she didn't want to be a 'product'
I agree it's especially jarring in the context of a Bob Dylan tribute.
She said as much herself in her recent memoir: “I feel that having a No. 1 record derailed my career, and my tearing the photo put me back on the right track.”
i don't know if the religious or the apolitical/centrists are worse.
So to get yourself onto live television in a popular spot, and do what she did was ballsy, and obviously clearly intended to make impact... but you can also see how people who tuned in expecting one thing and got something else could get angry. Which was of course her intent.
I know the enlightened viewpoint is that tearing up the pope's photo was brave and progressive, that Sinead was ahead of her time in recognizing the faults of the Catholic church -- but yes, exactly, she absolutely failed to "read the room."
SNL in the early 90s was one of the best eras, but it was also one of its silliest. Hans and Franz, Wayne's World, Farley, Sandler, Spade. There was absolutely no way, at that time, any kind of serious mid-show protest would gain positive attention. She screwed up, no way around it.
Believe it or not, not everybody is selling themselves all the time.
That is completely debunked by the facts and a very bonkers statement. It provided survivors with a sympathetic voice that helped many of them come forward, especially in Ireland. Please get your facts in order before making such an egregious statement.
Years later I grew up and apologised to Sinead O Connor on Twitter for thinking this way. But a lot of people never did grow up, not just Catholics but also people from other conservative religions. People still feel religious ideas are somehow innate, and therefore the criticising religious ideas is wrong. But no idea is innate, people can and do leave and join every religion and every set of spiritual beliefs all the time, so no idea is beyond criticism. A crowd of people booing Sinead O Connor 30 years ago is very similar to people attacking Charlie Hebdo in 2015 and sadly people still make excuses for both.
Erm. I don't think it's that similar.
Differences: In one case, a dozen people are murdered; in the other case, not.
They were similar in type but different in outcome.
In the same way we don't equate people being shouted down in a government house debate with people being mown down in political violence, even though there is a superficial similarity in underlying reason.
The irony of this moment was the song she was about to perform was "I Believe in You". This would have been the most religious song sung that evening by far.
It was brilliant on her part to separate the failed human organization from her beliefs.
This is what happens when you simply shout someone down. You miss the opportunity to better understand them.
Here is the rehearsal:
The thing about Sinéad is that she was, right until the end, a strong believer in one god and if anything more of a critic of the church due to their betrayal of religious/spiritual/moral principles as hierarchical institutions, rather than their promotion of theistic beliefs.
She always considered herself a theologian, she said at the time of the pope: "Why do we need a pope? Christ doesn't need a representative".
She also later said of converting/"reverting" to Islam: "The reason why I like Islam is, I can keep Christianity and Judaism, which are two religions which I loved and studied.."
While her speaking out against the church would have resonated with many atheists and agnostics at the time, and even more with today's less religiously dominated Western society - it certainly resonates with me for this reason - I think her own perspective was a little different.