AIBU to be worried about the normalisation of far right politics?

[Apileofballyhoo]

Just that really. I'm interested in what people consider to be far right and what people think causes it and what should be done about it.

I think it's caused by inequality and people feeling hopeless.

This is why the right is on the rise (yes it is the Daily Mail);

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6001135/A-devastating-report-reveals-300-000-illegal-migrants-living-one-French-suburb.html

One of the things that has shocked me is that these people have refused to appear before MPs, walked out of committees and generally behaved as if they are far more important than British elected representatives.

It’s as though they think Parliament is no longer relevant - and that worries me.

You say to a brexiteer - oh look the Russian money in the leave campaign, the racist targeting, the illegal spending, the anti-Semite leader, the rise in racism since the ref, that taking back control is illusion, the economy is fucked, the Irish question unresolved... and they go..

yeah but Jeremy Corbyn

It should worry us Tanith, its very disturbing. However whilst we have lindalee and her 'just as valid as yours' opinions and the daily mail is distracting us with scary migrant stories, who's going to change it? I have never seen such an enfeebled collection of politicians as the current collection, across the board hopelessly floundering. And that's just the good ones.

yeah but Jeremy Corbyn

Im a remainer, but people bring up Corbyn because people like to paint Brexit as just a right wing issue.

As for russian influence no one is denying that, but JC and many in his party are pretty well known for Russian apologism, and anti-semitism well, we everyone knows the history of anti-semitism in the far left, and how its bubbling up through corbyns ranks

Most of the time its people refusing to point the finger equally and play party politics instead.

Most of the time its people refusing to point the finger equally and play party politics instead.

YY.

There are duplicitous liars across all political parties.
There are bigots across the political spectrum.
There are wankers, racists, bigots & liars on both sides of the Brexit debate.

This applies to both politicians themselves & the population as a whole.

The biggest worry for me is not so much far left/far right politics in the UK, which I think is a little hyperbolic but the increasing intolerance for people's views when they don't match one's own.

Lurker you are insulting the members of my family who stood against the right wing fascist Mosley blackshirts who were creating the usual violent anti semitic disorder at Cable St. The left stood alongside the East End Jews to face down Mosley and his vile henchmen and did so throughout the thirties and well beyond. As you must know.

Isitsixoclockalready

...the increasing intolerance for people's views when they don't match one's own.

This bothers me too, but also I see more extreme views expressed e.g. there is a current thread where somebody has posted that tax is theft.

Tax is theft. Quite a popular view in America. Many shudder when they hear of our taxpayer funded health and education systems. Makes us nearly communists. Just imagine how much money investors could make if there was, no commie nhs.

It’s not really surprising though. The left in this country has gone too far, the pseudo liberalism which espouses freedom to do as you want as long as it tallies with the select view points pushed by certain pressure groups do not tie in with what many think and therefore there’s a reaction to it. The vote for Brexit, the popularity of Tommy Robinson in certain quarters embodies in a very exaggerated form what many people feel and never allowed to express

Things that are facilitating the mainstreaming of the Far Right:

1. The collapse of the distinction between the 'Right' and the 'Far Right'.

There exist important distinctions. Personally, I'm not sure about even calling the 'Far Right' by that name. I think I might prefer 'Authoritarian nativists, linked to international Libertarian Capitalists'. It's not snappy but it covers some of the basic identifiers and it highlights the fact there is a difference between your average conservative voter and the nutters who dream of the UK becoming some sort of homegenised fascist kleptocracy, where people know their place.

1. Attempts to infiltrate the (traditional) Right.

Obviously, a great way of taking the Far Right into the mainstream is by parasitically taking over a mainstream party.

Two ways: (a) you can get the mainstream parties so scared by a defection of voters towards an authoritarian group (BNP, UKIP) that they will fall over themselves to take on some of those policies, or adopt 'dogwhistle' political messages. I think we've seen that with both Labour and the Conservatives talking about the 'problem' of immigration in a truly shabby way.

It doesn't work, of course. It simply moves the Overton Window and makes political discourse grubby.

(b) You can actually hi-jack a pre-exisiting party.

Worryingly, white supremacist Steve Bannon is talking to Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. Remember, Bannon's aim is to establish a Far Right party and to 'destroy the EU'.

Let's hope the sensible members of the Conservative Party completely reject these plans.

1. Swamping social media so that it looks as though the Overton Window has moved.

1. On the Left - attacking 'centrists', thus making it really impossible to make a simple statement such as: 'most Labour and Conservative voters have more in common with each other than the Far Right' without being called a Red Tory.

Keeping the distance between the Authoritarian Nativists in Alliance with International Libertarian Capitalists and Fascist Kleptocrats and most normal political groupings is important. It matters. It really does.

So those are just 4 I can think of, off the top of my head.

Frankly, anyone on this thread trying to collapse the difference between the Far Right and Conservatism (social and/or economic) -and turn this into a Labour-Conservative thing - is highly suspect, in my opinion.

Meanwhile, the far left continue their persecution of the Jews...

news.sky.com/story/labour-suspends-councillor-over-jew-execution-post-11451400

The Left need to draw a strong line around anti-semitism. As we can see from your posts, LostinCake, it's helping to normalise racism, splitting progressives, and distracting from the fact the Far Right are recruiting - quietly but firmly - through a capitalisation, extension and radicalisation of a worryingly widespread Islamophobia.

For what it's worth, I have no time for anti-semitism. It disgusts me.

Anyway, just for you: hope you don't find it triggering

Bet you hated all of that, eh?

And trigger for racist pseudo-patriots

The far right and the far left bend so far around they are basically the same thing.

I doesn't matter what you hate, it is the hate that is the main thing.

Women are, as always, fucked from both sides.

This is why it matters that Steve Bannon is over here, in talks with Michael Gove and Boris Johnson about a new Far Right party/mainstreaming the Far right: theintercept.com/2017/08/18/steve-bannon-is-gone-but-his-bigotry-stays-in-the-white-house/

About third paragraph in is a summation of what he's about, what he's associated with.

Read it and recognise it.

Because the point is ... her weaponises and radicalises disgusting opinions, in order to produce a state of hate and fear in which rights and regulations are rolled back, and only the super-rich prosper.

Very, very few of us will flourish in Bannon's dream state. So, if you find yourself having your secret anxieties and fear called upon, with someone proposing simple solutions to the complexities of the modern world ('Send them all back!! We're being swamped!!) ask yourself - who is saying this? why are they saying this? is their solution actually, really likely to work? will in fact, this be a Trojan horse to usher in a lot of changes that I will, actually, regret?

And the big one, ask yourself: Am I being played?

Sometimes, when someone is telling you an opinion you have is wrong, instead of feeling defensive, digging in through a feeling of shame, be brave, and self-reflect.

Don't get used.

Couldnt agree, more cat. Anti semitism needs to return to being a line that cant be crossed, its alarming to see how its been grabbed and twisted to serve its traditional enthusiasts. Steve Bannon and his new friends are very disturbing too. Too horrible to think about. Gove, Johnson and Farage. God's teeth.

Excellent summary. Look what the bastard did for Trump. I hope people take note of what you say. Sadly we seem to be at a point where no matter how much logic and evidence one brings the further in they dig shouting no go away its not true you loony lefty pinko commie rat. Sigh

YANBU!

Most of the time its people refusing to point the finger equally and play party politics instead.

Absolutely, which is why it’s so funny that you had just said this:

and anti-semitism well, we everyone knows the history of anti-semitism in the far left, and how its bubbling up through corbyns ranks

I mean, do you genuinely not know about far-right anti-semitism? or were you just pretending anti-semitism is mostly a problem of the left to play party politics?

YANBU.

Can someone explain in what way Steve Bannon is a "white supremacist"? I'm assuming there are some quotes from him about the superiority of the white race and the desire to supress others?

Just Google Steve Bannon on race. Plenty to keep you occupied there.

The brainwashed in the UK need to reject hate.

There is another way.

Embrace hope and love!

Just
#WalkAway

www.youtube.com/watch?v=51UGcghHZsk