to be so angry at this..Sick bastards burn effigy of Grenfell Tower for Bonfire Night.

[HelenaDove]

Im absolutely disgusted at this and it shows how far the stigma against social housing tenants has gone.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/grenfell-tower-effigy-video_uk_5be05c4be4b01ffb1d04873b?ncid=other_twitter_cooo9wqtham&utm_campaign=share_twitter

Worked?

One of them uttered "this is what happens when you dont pay your rent"

So couldnt this be construed as a threat.

A threat to whom helenadove. ?

Ummm tenants who might be in rent arrears. That comment proves it was driven by a hatred for tenants as well as race hate.

If someone had aimed something similar at women and said "this is what happens when you dont stay home and cook for your husband" there would be a clamouring of people saying it was a threat and rightly so because it would be misogyny. Why is there such a blind spot when it comes to class.

I'm inclined to agree with Jovial.

The trouble is they put it on the internet for all to see, share and put their political and moral slant on. Once upon a time people would burn the effigy of whatever with friends and family, some would think it funny, others say 'OMG you're a dick' and that's that. The internet allows offence and moral outrage to spread, amplify and upset people. People love to bray for blood and others like to use it to spread hate. A stupid, sick joke these days has social and political consequences if shared online.

Do we know who put it online and why, as opposed to it being shared on a closed chat group?
Sadly being a tenant is not a protected characteristic whereas gender is.

Buster i know i was just making a comparison.

The shitty attitudes towards tenants have been rife for a long time.

O Hagens hatchet piece on the Grenfell residents for the London Review of Books wont have helped either.

I agree Helena.
Bunch of smart arse we're alright Jacks laughing and joking.

They're not finding it so funny now are they!!!
Is it any wonder lots (not all I must stress) of teenagers are running a mock when we have 55 46 49 year old adults behaving like that

YY Spider. These were middle aged adults. i wonder what their employers think.

Utterly disgraceful, the only positive is they handed themselves in

I saw the video on the news last night and I was stunned that someone would do this.

I also don't understand how it can be called a stupid, sick or misjudged joke.

No. Some things just can't be apologised for and people need to be reprimanded. As a society we need to send a clear message that this won't be tolerated.

We won't tolerate offense?

Dear me.

The video speaks for itself. There's no need to characterise it. That said, it's not (or shouldn't be) illegal.

Boris Johnson raised Charlie Hebdo in his article regarding free speech in the Telegraph yesterday. Please be reminded that the religious zealots who killed this guy were mortally offended, too, at the way in which he portrayed Allah.

People like O Hagen and also The Times and the Daily Mail who did hatchet pieces on Joe Delaney.

They cant pretend that their "othering" of the Grenfell residents hasnt contributed to bottom feeders like those in the video thinking that this behaviour is okay

Sadly I can imagine certain sick cunts people of that generation doing this, I'm pretty sure I've met some of them.

Not sure why there is surprise about their age, you get angry young men yes but watch out for old angry men on the turn. They're the most bitter and uniformed as in this case.

Uninformed *

Nearly 3,000 people died in 9/11 and over 6,000 people were injured. Police, fire and emergency responders are still dying from the after effects and cancers caused by the twin towers collapsing. It was a terrorist incident not a terrible fire. The two are not comparable. 9/11 changed the world forever.

Mysoginy is not a hate crime, so if someone was burning effigies of women and saying "this is what happens when you come out of kitchen" or whatever I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be a crime.Would it?
I'm uneasy with the arrests as well. Obviously these people are thick and revolting, but what if you wanted to make a political protest and burn an effigy of something and someone else found that offensive? Isn't Guy Fawkes night, in origins,celebrating the torture and burning of a Catholic?
I'm NOT saying these people are not racist scum-they are- but the arrest thing just bothers me.

That 19 year old will get the worst of this. He will have to change his name. If not, every time he applies for a job, gets a girlfriend, etc., he will need to explain himself. Most employers google potential employees these days. Who would hire him? Let's face it, most people google new partners too. Who would date him?

He will be haunted for life by his silly joke. I hope his dad feels some guilt over that.

Not seen the video but it's just sick. ( heard lots on the news about it today etc)
It's just Shameful.

Those scummy pigs went to the police of their own accord and although arrested haven't yet been charged but the police have searched one of their houses so I wonder what else may be going on as apparently two bin bags were taken away

It's disgusting, two girls did similar in a club competition in Chester though and they actually won the competition (they were dressed as the twin towers with people jumping out of windows)

So getting hounded out of their existing job is not enough, you would prefer it if they were unemployed for the foreseeable future

I didn’t say that or imply it. A pp said their lives would be ruined, I was simply pointing out that they might lose their job from this but they'll get another one as some people will be sympathetic / will agree with them etc so I don't think their lives will be ruined as the pp hoped.

"Nearly 3,000 people died in 9/11 and over 6,000 people were injured. Police, fire and emergency responders are still dying from the after effects and cancers caused by the twin towers collapsing. It was a terrorist incident not a terrible fire. The two are not comparable. 9/11 changed the world forever."

Actually, there are quite a lot of parallels with Grenfell Tower. For example, very high levels of brominated dioxins were found around the Twin Towers. And while the authorities here have yet to actually take any toxin samples, there is no doubt there was also high levels of brominated dioxins, mainly because you only get them when brominated flame retardants burn; and the tower was packed with those, mainly in products such as upholstered furniture. Also, responders at Grenfell, like the police and fire services, will likely have been exposed to cancer causing chemicals such as brominated dioxins. Finally, the authorities around the Twin Towers - e.g. the Environment Protection Agency - claimed at the beginning that there would not be anything to worry about from toxins. It was 10 years before the head of the EPA admitted that she'd got that wrong. The authorities around the Grenfell fire are also currently claiming that there's nothing to worry about regarding toxins.

I agree but one is a tragic fire the other was caused by an act of terrorism. The twin towers would not have come down otherwise. I know firemen who attended Grenfell and who went in for several days after. Who knows what will happen in the future.