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.

@psychomath
I don't think the situation is helped by the clickbait-y outrage that the left-wing media and Twitterati like to use, or the complete failure of both the left and right to acknowledge that most issues are nuanced...People's words are constantly taken out of context, their actions are twisted to seem as though they had the worst possible intentions.

I keep saying this and I’m sure people are bored by now but I honestly think the popularity of Twitter has played a huge part in the downfall in, not only politics but society in general.

@MrSpock
I don’t know your political views to know if I agree with them or not and am sorry you received death threats, that must have been scary.

But the fact the people are saying that the UK is a far right and racist country is laughable.

I think the OP is saying the Far Right are a threat. That isn't the same as saying the UK is, currently, a Far Right country. In fact, it's the opposite, pretty much. If it were, the Far Right would no longer be a threat - it would be an actuality (and we wouldn't be calling it the 'Far Right', we'd be calling it 'normal').

jaysus. thank you but I have more skeletons in my closet than an entire dormitory of med students so politics isn’t for me I’m afraid.

don’t know your political views to know if I agree with them or not and am sorry you received death threats, that must have been scary.

I’m a democratic socialist, which some see as far left.

But the fact the people are saying that the UK is a far right and racist country is laughable.

I think it depends. Some of the threats I received were down to the race of my DP and the mixed heritage of our children.

@thecatfromjapan
That’s true, I got mixed up in my first post. I know that there are far right people in this country.

Sorry, I keep tagging everyone I know some don’t like it, I’ll try to stop, bad habit

Mission I do feel that social media is a huge issue in the rise of the Far Right.

I'm a Left Centrist myself but even I know that the spending-power of the extreme Right is massively greater than the Left and that plays out in the use of social media.

And I say that despite getting very, very tired of social media insults directed at wet Left centrists such as myself.

MrSpock

If you are far left then we would probably disagree on a few things. I’m not a crazy screaming loon though so would just probably smile, agree to disagree and move onto another subject As would most people I think.

It’s quite embarrassing when shouty loons or patronising drones on both sides represent right and left while those who were on the fringes are shuffling ever closer to the centre, not wanting to be associated. So many people I know, including me, have said things like how they’ve “given up on politics”.

As for your threats that is absolutely awful and completely unacceptable. But, (and I’m not trying to downplay this as a mixed race person myself) when I see or hear comments that the UK is racist because it is leaving the EU, I think back to the abuse I experienced in countries within in (and outside it for that matter).

thecatfromjapan

I blame twitter specifically!

I think it's ... interesting ... that Bannon is courting Boris (Fucking) Johnson for his Far Right movement.

My feeling is that the Far Right have an image problem in the UK.

To quote The Jam: '(They) smellof pubs, and Wormwood Scrubs, and too many Rightwing meetings.'

If you think of the Far Right at the moment, very few of us would place ourselves within their number. I guess we think of them as anti-social losers, a bit sociopathic, spending long hours on the internet, posting selfies with Nazi regalia in the background. Or running to seed louts, who miss being able to have a good ruck at a football match.

They are hardly charismatic or respectable.

Obviously, that stops us looking at the disaster-capitalist, shady bastards who have managed to infect the Conservative Party.

But hey ho.

Getting Boris Johnson - or someone similar - on board is, I guess, necessary to give them an air of respectability and get them into the mainstream.

The man's a disgrace.

Brexit brought the far right out of hiding as it were. The paper that supported the Blackshirts has a nasty agenda, with The Sun not far behind. All made easier by a Labour Party that has become a sect and the Lib Dems becoming less relevant by the day.

The OP is not being unreasonable.

The Centre is very precious. We have become used to it just being there. I do think we need - all of us - to think about, and act upon, ways to defend it.

Even if your politics are a little further out than the centre, it still requires defence.

MrSpock

As a black person witha whit husband a mixed raced children I don’t want to down play your issues hower this is not a result of brexit

I was called a wog in the 90s some of the worse racism o suffered was in the 90s
Black and brown people will always have countries even more so if you choose to live in a mainly white area however as a black person who has suffred in my own right and also in a mixed couple

I would rather be black in the U.K. than in the following countries

US
Russia
Poland
Hungry
Pretty much all eastern Europen country’s
Australia who surspened their race relations act just so they could fuck over their black population

You have no real idea of far right until you have lived in the Us

In my cousins state the local serif was a former grand dragon 🐉 oh yes and he’s is in charge of black and brown peoples safety a liberty

That is fear their is no country even the liberals beloved scadivan country’s were as a brown person you would not have a issue

I keep saying this and I’m sure people are bored by now but I honestly think the popularity of Twitter has played a huge part in the downfall in, not only politics but society in general.

This with bells on and also the blood lust

With the Twitter hounds

Metoodear, would you be concerned about Steve Bannon's interference in Europe?

How can you think the Left is more of a problem than the rise of the Far Right?

Because we have as a country had long term a successful measures in place to ensure the Far Right can’t seize power.

Children are educated in school about Hitler and the Nazis. There are laws in place which make it hard for the Far Right to spread their message and they face prosecution if they do. It is not socially acceptable. They are usually shunned by most of the rest of society, they cannot hold positions of trust like civil servants, teachers and doctors and if exposed often lose their jobs as people don’t want their businesses to be seen to condone the far right.

The far left on the other hand are hailed as heroes even when coming out with some pretty terrifying opinions and treat their opponents with ruthless violence and intimidation.

Nobody teaches them about the 25 million Stalin killed or the famine and starvation inflicted on Russians or the gulags for dissenters. They don’t know about the secret police watching every move and neighbours informing on neighbours or sometimes against their own family. They don’t know that if your father said one misjudged comment about ‘the party’ 20 years ago that would leave you branded for life and not able to get a good education or desirable careers.

And if you don’t know about something how can you avoid doing it again? Antifa harassing MPs and no platforming, people being hounded out of jobs because of a silly tweet years ago, belligerence and abuse towards Tories or dissenters. The Remainers who demand that ‘thick’ people shouldn’t have the vote and normal people are incapable so we should just ditch this whole democracy thing (As suggested by Lily Allen today) and turn to violence and direct action. All of these seem to me to be things which are quite clearly embryonic parts of what could be a very oppressive far left state.

And these people will hold trusted positions with no problem even in the civil service. Their views are welcomed in educational establishments and they can openly and freely express all of their opinions all the while seeking to curtail freedom of expression for everybody else.

So yes, I do view the far left as much more dangerous than the far right because they have more power, and a veneer of respectability and powerful connections.

The far right haven’t the remotest chance of gaining power and if it looked like they might every single institution and politician and judge would make sure it never, ever happened.

The far left however have a strong chance of gaining power. So of course the left is a bigger threat than the right. When you have a roaring hungry bear right next to you it would be foolish to think the threat came from a Tiger locked in a cage three miles away.

Apileofballyhoo

It’s a mess of our own making when you step away from the center you take a step into the unknown

Also I think the rest of Europe give the SB a run for his money I already said as a black person I would not travel to any county in Eastern Europe as I wouldn’t feel safe
And tbh and life for black people in France is not exactly awsome this was happening before brexit and it will happen after their will always be whites who hates blacks

Life is exactly the same for black people in the us before trump while trump and will be after

Of course we are not a racist country, - who said that? (No one) who said that we are racist for leaving the eu? (No one) but yes We’ve seen a rise in racist incidents recently, we’ve seen racially motivated attacks, murders and rhetoric, a hostile environment for immigrants and the wind rush scandal. - I don’t get why we have to argue for this to even be acknowledged.

I love the taxation and public goods structures of the Scandinavian countries but I'd cry if London turned into Stockholm.

It is very homogenous (as a Londoner, I was a bit dumbfounded) and they have their own problems with the Far Right.

We visited a few years ago and saw swastikas painted all over the place. One, depressing, instance was when we were sitting eating a sandwich in a school playground, looked up and saw a large swastika and a whole load of slogans on the playground wall.

It's certainly not Eden in Stockholm. ☹️

For what it's worth, I suspect it might prove fertile ground for Bannon's plans. I guess we'll see if inequality or some vague, emotional nonsense about culture or identity is s bigger recruiter for the Far Right.

However, I think Bannon's focus is on the UK and EU countries. And I suspect he'll be trying to harness that vague, fuzzy, authoritarian populism, as a Trojan Horse for all his libertarian, anti-workers' rights, anti-taxation, globalist billionaire friends.

YADNBU

And I'm ignoring many posts on this thread.

Helmetbymidnight

Because I am black and their have always been these things for you

May have only noticed since brexit but for me murders harassment and racism is just the same

Same day different shit got called a wog in the 90s when labour in power got called a coon 4 weeks ago in traffic

Black men more likey to be in jail than uni in 90s 2018 the same is true

For me your outrage is a bit 😐sorry to be rude but largely white middle class people trying to convince me racism has got worse because of brexit no one who hates black people hated me more because of brexit

I am afraid

Really, if you worry about the way Eastern European countries seem to be heading, appreciate that the UK is less racist than many countries, then you need to fight - really resist - the rise of the Far Right in the UK.

It really is time to take a look around, appreciate what we hold dear, and make a decision to protect that fromFar Right forces who intend us harm.

These people hate the UK as it is now.

I have to say. I've noticed racism in the rise. And dog whistle racism in public political discourse.

It needs to be resisted.

You can't appease the people these messages are aimed at. It only emboldens them. And we lose something in the act of appeasement.