Laurence Fox libel trial

Do you think it's likely that a teacher would keep their job if they posted a swastika? Do you think a politician would keep the whip if they posted a swastika? Do you think a doctor could post it, or a civil servant, or anyone in a professional job with standards to uphold? Or do you understand that posting a swastika is generally considered to be abhorrent and something that most people would condemn?

would have tagged @Delightfuldays but i suspect there's some name changing going on so she would have gotten the message anyways😂

Fox defended changing his profile picture to an image of an LGBT pride 'progress' flag in the shape of a Swastika.
He said: 'I've got no objection actually to the rainbow flag because of the persecution homosexuals suffered until quite recently.
What I object to is inclusion of the black line for Black Lives Matter and the brown line which is meant to represent all brown people, and the blue and pink line which is meant to represent transgenderism.
Ms Skinner said the tweet was overtly hostile to black and brown people and offensive to Jewish people.
Ms Skinner referred to a tweet where Fox objected to football fans being arrested for chanting 'get your face out' to a Qatari waitress with her face covered.
'You're celebrating there the abuse of a Qatari waitress,' she said.
'I thought it was quite funny,' Fox replied.
Ms Skinner asked if it was offensive when Fox posted photographs of himself and his children 'blacked up' with a face app.
Fox replied: 'It certainly wasn't offensive to my own partner who's mixed race.'

I haven’t said it was a good idea. I just said I didn’t think his intentions were racist (or homophobic for that matter). I have no reason to disbelieve his explanation.

‘What kind of person posts a swastika fashioned from a British flag? And what kind of person thinks 'that's nice, I like it, I'll make one as well using the Pride flag'?
I do not think he made it. He retweeted it.’

oh that’s fine then. Like I said, have your views however repugnant I might find them but keep on being such an twatty twat and there may be consequences.

When I say ‘understand’ I don’t mean ‘endorse’. I mean simply, I understand the point he was making.

If you don't think posting a swastika is a racist action then I don't think you understand what racism is.

Accepting Fox's explanation of what he did at face value is naive or disingenuous. You know he posted it to cause offence. You know that reasonable people would not do this, and that there are consequences for posting swastikas.

@Braindrops if you 'understand' ther reasons why someone would post that image, there's something wrong with your moral compass. There's no understanding posting a swastika. There is never a reason why you should want to post the image of a swastika. If you want to make a point about your perceived intolerance of the Pride movement, there are better ways.

I agree that it’s not great, but I also don’t think it’s evidence that he’s racist.

It’s not something I would do

Im not sure if you’re misreading my posts. Saying I understand the reasons is not the same as saying I ‘support’ the swastika.

I don't think the question of him supporting Nazi ideology really matters. But everyone knows posting a swastika is not ok. It's not just unacceptable for Nazis to do it; it's offensive and revolting for anyone to do it. It was posted to cause distress. Again, most people would be facing disciplinary action at work if they did this. Fox has lost career opportunities because of it, because it is not an acceptable way to illustrate a point.

It’s disappointing that posters can’t disagree with LF without all the nasty personal insults. For people who care so much about racism it’s pretty intolerant.
He says he posted the swastika because he thinks elements of pride are intolerant (like the Nazis). I don’t think he’s lying. It’s not something I would do but I also don’t think it means he endorses Nazi ideology.

They really are. They are the worst.

It's hilarious and disappointing in equal measure.

And he knows the implications of that. Nobody thinks that gay people will feel supported by their flag being twisted into a swastika (nor would they later feel supported by him burning rainbow flags as pp has mentioned - support of gay people is not his intention, clearly). Tweeting or retweeting swastikas would get most people fired. Because it is a terrible thing to do.

But just like the QT thing, youre investing in a false narrative - there it was the pretence that he was shut down because of his skin colour (wrong, as explained at length) and here it is the pretence you, or he, could believe he posted the swastika to show support for the gay community. Neither is remotely convincing; both are smokescreens for racism.

As if that makes one iota of difference! It's still either evil, completely thick or deranged. Or a delightul mix of all three.

Fox is not mentally ill; he's a privileged provocateur who has messed up all by himself

I do not think he made it. He retweeted it.