British Press promoting xenophobia

[Lico]

Hi,

Daily Mail and Daily Express -main culprits-promoting xenophobia and hatred towards foreigners.
Just watched this video; shocked that they can get away with it.

mailwatch.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=6373

I read somewhere that the Daily Mail was associated with fascism in the 1930's. Is this true?

[Fingeronthebutton]

It is true that the DM supported fascism in the 30s. But I think that now, people are more educated and comment on what they know and see going on in the own towns instead of relying on a newspaper to form their opinions.

[emilybohemia]

Yes, it was. Supported Mosely. A lot of the upper crust were quite fond of the fascists around that time too.

It is awful how people are being encouraged to hate others. Lots of people do have their ideas shaped by the media sadly. All we can do is keep challenging the hate and bigotry.

[Just5minswithDacre]

A list of people and organisations that were associated with or supported fascism in the 1930s would surprise a lot of people.

Ditto appeasers of Hitler, anti-Semites, inter war eugenicists.....


Half of the aristocracy (at least) for starters.

[bumbleclat]

Sadly doesn't surprise me.
:(
Isn't it just obvious that on a micro and macro level that the less fear and more acceptance we have of each other, the better?
That's what all UK primary schools are teaching children today only got children to enter into a world where hate-rags like the DM encourage such division- the power of the media is so easily abused.

[Atenco]

But I think that now, people are more educated and comment on what they know and see going on in the own towns instead of relying on a newspaper to form their opinions
I wonder.
A few years ago, when I lived in Dublin, the press was horribly racist against immigrants. Where I worked the caretaker was a lovely man whose son was married to a lady from somewhere like Madagascar and loved his DIL. But he was a terrible sucker for repeating anything that had been the paper the night before. So suddenly he would come out with this racist shit as if it were his own opinion and he didn't actually have racist bone in his body.

[ProfessorPreciseaBug]

Seeing as peeps are talking about fasicm...

Simple Definition of fascism from Miriam Webster.
: a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government

Without the bit about an identifiable "dictator" ... that definition seems a pretty good discritption of a well known organisation based in Brussels.

Come to think of it, having a bureaucracy instead of a dictator has the advantage of no identifiable leader for the populus to focus their anger against..there is less chance of a mob stringing the dictator up from a tree... so for sharing power the new form of dictator has a safer life.

[DrasticAction]

Lico, many people were associated with Fascim in the 30's including many establishment figures,

Before Hitler revealed his true colours, it seemed to be on the side of the communists or the fascists.

You know Hitler killed X million and Stalin killed XXXX million,

The Guardian supported the communists/Stalin.

The split in the Mitford Sisters illustrates all this quite well.

[DrasticAction]

of course having said that, there is the argument that Hitler was in fact socialist.

[DrasticAction]

A lot of the upper crust were quite fond of the fascists around that time too

Many supported the communists too. But I suppose thats OK is it!

[Lico]

My interests lie on 'how people are having their ideas shaped by the media (EmilyBohemia)'.

May I point out, ProfessorPrecise, that you omit most of the Webster definition of fascism which also includes: 'that exalts nation and race above the individual'.

This ties up with the title of the thread 'British Press promoting xenophobia'.
What bothers me are the Daily Mail and Daily Express hate speeches against poor and/or marginalised people.

On the world 'Genocide Watch' , there are 8 steps to genocidd. Step 3 is the dehumanisation of a group when one group denies the humanity of the other group. Members of it are equated with animals, vermin, disease et.(source : Genocide Watch).

Some of the language used in the DM and DE are regurgitated by a quite few people...which is a worry..

[JinRamen]

That video was very interesting, thank you.

[scarlets]

I despise these newspapers and abhor xenophobia. The Remain campaign, however, needs to be wary of dismissing voters' concerns about the effect of immigration on their communities as "racism", "ignorance" etc, and of implying that they are dimwits who have gleaned their views from the gutter press rather than from the worthy Guardian. This attitude caused problems for Brown and Miliband in the two most recent GEs. I'm a middle-class woman with a secure government job, living in leafy suburbia; I'm certainly not going to hector people in very different circumstances about what they can and can't complain about, based on their day-to-day experiences.

[emilybohemia]

It's very worrying, Lico. David Cameron is guilty of the dehumanising language with his 'bunch of migrants' and 'swarm.' comments. Vulnerable children are in that 'swarm' and that 'bunch.

The people of Cambodia were eferred to as 'cockroaches' before genocide there.

Scarlets, I think that the problem is that these complaints do often come from ignorance and fear, regardless of the class of person voicing those fears. The negative effects of immigration are often exaggerated and the positives downplayed. This allows immigrants to be a scapegoat and in encouraging them to be viewed as less human than the rest of us, the government seeks to deny responsibility for their welfare.

[Dapplegrey2]

"A lot of the upper crust were quite fond of the fascists around that time too

Many supported the communists too. But I suppose thats OK is it!"

Yes, it seems to be ok. Eric Hobsbaum was an unreconstructed Stalinist until the day he died, but this was regarded as an 'eccentricity'.
I don't know what the Guardian or the Morning Star's take on Stalin was, but certainly before his true colours came to light in the UK, I guess they were in favour of him - maybe someone on Mumsnet knows the answer to this?
It's easy with hindsight, but many of those who supported appeasement just wanted above all else to avoid a repeat of the Great War and its terrible slaughter of people from all backgrounds.

[ProfessorPreciseaBug]

Lico,
Fair point.. I had not spotted the second and more full definition. Having read and considered it, it still makes me wonder. Without democratic accountability and the wherewithall to kick out the government, one can argue the EU is about the state above the individual. Indeed the EU is very keen to promote itself.. "built with EU funding".. I do not seem to hear much about individual liberty in the language of the EU...

Do remember the ECHR is not actually part of the EU..

[Lico]

Good morning,
Let's hope that xenophobia and acrimony did not contribute to MP Jo Cox murder.
My thoughts with her family.