Tag: Media

Afraid to stay in UK after Tory victory

Whilst the press was jumping over the Labour party because of around 0.01% of members with anti-Semitic views, British Muslims were looking in a different direction. They saw plainly what many others did not. They saw the rampant Islamophobia and racism that has overtaken the Tory party.

I’ve never been all that impressed by the conservative party and its callous attitude towards ordinary people but at least it used to maintain at least a veneer of fairness and decency. Nowadays the party that brought us forced deportation of genuine Brits, Grenfell and the hostile environment is almost as openly racist as it was in Enoch Powell’s day.

Of course there’s more evidence to come but for now I recommend you read this little article from the Metro detailing the fears of British Muslims fleeing the country. This is what a Tory victory means for them. They know the signs all too well and the rest of us had better start watching too.

If we are to prevent a national decline into full on racism we need to do two things, and we need to do them relentlessly…

1. Challenge racist and religious bigotry of all kinds whenever we see it.

2. Make it clear to our Muslim, Jewish, European, Black and Asian neighbours that they are accepted by the decent majority of Brits – especially by those of us from a white, working class, Christian heritage.

Unless you want to live in an increasingly racist, bigoted, mean-spirited and hate-filled society please consider this a duty.

Antisemitic labour? Don’t make me laugh!

I’ve been a Labour party supporter all my adult life. Apart from a brief period when Tony Blair took us into an illegal war I’ve been a party member too. And I’ve never met a single Labour party member who I  would consider to be antisemitic.

Workington man – the trouble with stereotypes

The trouble with stereotypes is that they’re far too easy!

Yesterday morning a London-based reporter popped up on my local politics Facebook page. I’m a Workington man, born and bred and although I’ve lived and worked in various parts of UK I’m home now and very definitely still a Workington man. So I was a bit surprised to read what he had to say.

This young bloke who presumably hasn’t ever set foot in West Cumbria was looking for a dinosaur from the 1970s, a stereotypical middle aged, white, beer-drinking, rugby league supporting, slightly dim-witted and extremely uninformed, male voter to tell him why he hated Jeremy Corbyn. And, of course – if you look hard enough you find what you’re looking for.

And where might you find such a relic, a blast from the disreputable past? Look no further than Wetherspoons where one Mr. Pennington, retired manager of Workington Job Centre and alleged former labour voter (if you can believe that) holds his court.

So… as one Workington man to another, here’s my response to the good Mr. Pennington. I hope he’s listening.

Oh dear Bill. Boris would see the economy crashed just to appease his backers who are actually gambling on UK’s economy failing. That’s why they and Boris want us out at any price to the people.

This tory stereotype really does appear to be what they think of people in the North. They see us as uneducated, outdated, sexist bigots (there’s no Workington woman caricature, after all).

Personally I think the Workington man stereotype sums up the tory attitude to we Northerners very well. Not only do they think we’re stupid but their economic decisions over the last 9 years have shown that they think us undeserving too.

Let’s boot the patronising bastards out of power and enjoy a proper, traditional, Northern Christmas with a labour government at the helm to bring a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

Propagandists past and present

Is it fair to compare modern anti-Muslim propagandists to Hitler’s arch rabble-rouser and Jew-baiter?

Julius Streicher was a Nazi party member from the beginning in post WW1 Germany. He was also the editor of Der Sturmer, an anti-semitic propaganda tabloid and a Gaoliter (a regional official) once Hitler came to power. Hated for his vindictiveness and uncouth manner even by his fellow Nazis, Streicher dedicated his publication to disseminating libellous slurs towards Jews, trade unionists, socialists and all who opposed Nazi ideology.

He incited hatred and violence and was instrumental in fuelling the intense prejudice against innocent Germans that contributed to the horrors of Kristalnacht and the atrocities of the holocaust. Streicher was hanged at Nuremberg for his crimes against humanity in 1946.

Katie Hopkins is renowned for using her social media presence, her newspaper column and her radio and television appearances to spread lies, hatred, exaggeration and generalisations in an effort to whip up hatred against Muslims and immigrants just as Streicher did against the Jews. Across the Atlantic, Steve Bannon used these same techniques and prejudices so effectively he used the alt-right Breitbart online media machine to get a 70 year old vindictive, narcissistic, overgrown child elected into the Whitehouse.

Just as Streicher used the media of his day to commit and incite crimes against humanity so Hopkins and Bannon do the same with the media opportunities of today. Less prolifically but equally dangerous are the likes of Boris Johnson who cynically jumps on the discriminatory bandwagon because he thinks it will get him a few votes. British newspapers have jumped on the same bandwagon, routinely publishing headlines and articles that would have been unthinkable in this country just a few years ago.

The similarities between Streicher’s Der Sturmer and some of our domestic tabloids are both striking and terrifying. Is it any wonder then that hatred against foreigners and Muslims is rising across the West? Hate crimes are still rising here in UK, proving that the idea of a ‘post-referendum’ spike was false. There is a sustained hostility toward immigrants and Muslims nurtured by regular additions of anti-Islamic, and xenophobic slanders from these modern day Streichers.

I wonder how much more Western societies can take before we have to start prosecuting them for incitement to violence. Freedom of speech is one thing but deceptive incitement to commit violence has never been protected by free speech in any modern civilisation, not even America, a nation that probably enjoys the laxest free speech laws of all.

I say we need to stop winking at these hate-mongers and start prosecuting them. After all, it’s not as though we don’t know where this sort of publicised hatred leads, is it?