Nothing Compares to the Price of Courage against Mass Blindness (December 8, 1966–July 26, 2023)

Sa Báwat Páhinâ ng Pánitikan

To the uninitiated, the justdeparted Irish singer Sinead O'Connor catapulted to popularity after the release of her debut album, 1987's The Lion & the Cobra, which contained the song "Mandinka"; "Emperor's New Clothes" and the breakthrough single "Nothing Compares 2 U," on the other hand, were from the followup, 1990's I Don't Want What I Haven't Got. Eight albums more ensued, the last of which was 2014's I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss, which spawned the fan-favorite "Take Me to Church.".

In 1992, her popularity turned to infamy (at least to the eyes of many blind or uninformed individuals) after her SNL performance that year, during which she tore apart a photo of Pope John Paul II, the then head of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church, which continues to cuddle the pedophiles and other sexually deviant individuals in its rank and cover up their crimes by paying off the aggrieved families and then transferring the erring persons to different churches instead of reporting their crimes and surrendering them to police authorities.

The backlash was great, but O'Connor did not stopped from expressing her protests through interviews and especially her music. Sadly, she apparently suffered also from mental struggles, most likely intensified by society's disapproval of her activism.

Just about a year before her death, her 17-year-old son took his own life, which surely aggravated her already challenging life.

O'Connor died on July 26, 2023, in London, England. She was 56. Cause is yet to be publicized.

Contrary to popular belief,

O'Connor was not an atheist and did not hate all religions. What she was clearly fighting against was the tolerance and complacency of top leaders of certain religions like some branches of Christianity for the sexual crimes committed by many of their clergy. She still believed in a god; in fact, in 2018, she converted to Islam.

The Last Leaf

Our society really need to learn how to acknowledge the real enemies of humanity and start acknowledging (instead of misunderstanding) the sentiments of brave people, like O'Connor when she was still alive, who are willing to stand up against the hypocrisy, depravity, deceit, and tyranny of many throned and veiled leaders and controllers of weak, gullible, desperate, and hopeful minds.