Am I a far right extremist?

[Isitme245]

I had a conversation with my best friend of 25 years the other day and she called me a far right extremist and how my views are scary, dangerous and 'nazi coded'
I was really shocked as I didn't think any of what I said was bad. I'm not a particularly avid supporter of any political party and very much keep opinions to myself. She's very supportive of labour and anti trump and always has been. Usually when she asks me my opinions I just don't want to get into it but I did the other night and now I feel bad.

Here's the breakdown:

• she sent me an article and told me that Nigel Farage is going to ban abortion eventually if he wins an election. I read the article and pointed out he only suggested lowering the abortion cut off date to 22 weeks (not 24 as it is now). I told her it wasn't the end of the world and it's reasonable if you read his reasons. I also made the point that men shouldn't really be getting involved in abortion law but that what he said wasn't the end of the world.

• she asked me about immigration and I said that it's great but that we should be prioritising skilled immigrants and have stronger immigration laws. She also asked about asylum seekers and hotels and I said that we should have stronger laws about monitoring people and collecting documentation when people arrive.

• she sent me and asked about Elon Musk's Nazi salute and I said I didn't interpret it that way

• I said that immigrants who rape or murder should be deported.

To me this feels really reasonable and not over the top but she really attacked me for it? Now I feel really awkward and uncomfortable talking to her. Is this far right??

I just wanted to figure out what my political position is based on my views as I'm not sure. I'm not interested in continuing the discussion with her so no I wouldn't say anything

You need to go to The Guardian re-education camp urgently, mate, or you'll be an actual Nazi by tea time.

Your friend sounds exhausting. Some of the views that are labelled "extreme right wing" at the moment have no relationship (or at least a highly complicated, non-linear relationship) with the left-right political dimension. Your friend sounds like she's one of the many who seem to think unless you buy into a very specific set of narratives (with little logical connection, seemingly), you're an evil "right-winger". Please don't let this affect you - continue to be open to your own sensible, thought through opinions, whichever political parties/individuals they have been erroneously associated wth. And be very cautious of anyone who seems to want to "educate" you (including on this thread!) to be more in line with theirs.

Labour is right of centre nowadays, and you are right of the Tories, leaning towards Reform/Farage. This makes you far right on the absolute political spectrum, but merely on the right for the U.K. nowadays.

Left/right is a bit like skinny/fat - it can be hard to see how on the right you are when the whole country has shifted to the right, just like it can be hard to see obesity when the whole country is fatter.

Hardly a compliment considering the shite contenders for those opinion polls.

Three of your bullet points are neither here or there in many conversations.

Seeing a bloke doing a nazi salute in plain sight twice and 'not interpreting it like that' is messed up.

Your friend is a virtue-signalling idiot. I see the Elon-Musk-is-a-Nazi brigade were out in force first thing! Ignore them, OP. 'Nazi!' is the new 'Cunt!', designed to shut women up. If it makes you feel any better I'm apparently a far-right FemiNazi bigot while also being an active and involved member of the Labour Party. Dump your friend.

You dont know he is supporting a nazi party in Germany? And that his dad had nazi connections?

There are plenty of online quizzes for that. I'd say you're right wing but not an extremist, although you could be vulnerable to going that way from what you've said.

My first thought on reading the OP was that this is an AI-generated bot designed to start making Farage and his ilk palatable to the mumsnet audience.

It’s not a Nazi salute, simple as that.

Yes, my first thought on seeing it very fleetingly was that he was trying to do a Usain Bolt victory pose. I hadn’t connected it to a Nazi salute because his posture was too laid back and his arm was to the side, rather than high up in front.

I’m not saying it wasn’t an intentional Nazi salute, just sharing what my brain first associated the image with. I can imagine others might not immediately connect it to a Nazi salute as their initial reaction.

Elon knew exactly what he was doing, he is not a nazi but he is a media whore and it's got him a whole lot of media attention.

I would say you aren’t a far right extremist until I read about you not interpreting Musk’s salut as Nazi salute. Like, why?? Are you blind?

so you’re saying Musk is a woman?

I would disagree with you here, the OP does not come across as right wing.

Your choice of the term "pro-choice" is quite interesting. That's not a term I ever hear used in real life by people living in the UK.

But, to take that point, if the proposal was to reduce the gestation limit from 24 to 22 weeks. The current figures show that only around 1.5% of abortions take place during weeks 20 and later.

In any event, many of these later abortions are also done under "Ground E" - substantial risk that the child would be seriously handicapped - and so wouldn't be affected by reducing the limit from 24 to 22 weeks anyway.

"...thousands of non-citizens who commit crimes are already deported every year"

This is quite true. In 2023 there were 3,936 enforced returns. The top five nationalities being Albanian, Romanian, Brazilian, Polish & Lithuanian.

However, there are many ways in which a foreign offender can get around being deported. One of the most common ways is by having a child born in this country.

Even where there is a deportation order in existence the Home Office are not exactly the most efficient at tracing these offenders and, as of Sept 2023 there were over 11,800 people liable to deportation that had been released from prison into the community.

"...you’ve ended up defending a clear Nazi gesture."

Oh good grief, have you seen the video? That was definitely not a Nazi salute. If you have a look at other (especially Democrat) US politicians then you will see the exact same movement. Take for example, Tim Walz, who made the exact same gesture.

I don’t consider myself a far right extremist and I agree with everything you have said, in fact I think the majority would

Your friend seems to have just been drawing you in and angling for an argument

if you watch the video there is absolutely no doubt it was a Nazi salute. It looks nothing like Usain Bolt gesture.

What’s wrong with it is that it immediately and completely denies the existence of any other identification than man (now synonymous with male in the US) and woman (now synonymous with female). That, no matter what your position, negates the lived reality of thousands of people and puts them at risk.
I also think the idea of being gender critical has been hijacked by the right and that perfectly considerate and well meaning people are inadvertently supporting some really rather authoritarian ideology. But that’s an issue for another day.

It's possible to discuss in a better manner

If you asked me my gut reaction then I might agree with the OP, as I know two toddlers born at such a young age, although not without a traumatic time for all.

But you are right, to make such a decision you would want to understand the frequency and circumstance around this happening under the current laws. Thank you for highlighting this.

Maybe don't jump down people's throats though, it's a difficult subject, as it should be. Like assisted dying.

We are in a place now where a person in power can do what is clearly a nazi salute and people will tie themselves in knots to defend him because he says exactly what they want to hear regarding the trans debate.

You are being played like fiddles. Elon does not give a single fuck about women's rights.

How do you explain the numbers of people who have no choice but to make the incredibly dangerous journey across the English Channel then, if our migration rules are so lax? They just fancy a cruise?

How does asking males who identify as women to stay out of women's spaces and sports and removing violent male criminals from women's prisons 'negate the lived reality of thousands of people and put them at risk'.

Unless you care more about the males that the women that their lived reality impacts?

And what about pointing this out is authoritarian or makes a woman 'right wing'?

Op if you asked me I would say you are right of centre, but not far right. You are open minded to issues and options it seems
But you are far away from your friends view.
And she doesn't seem flexible, even if I might agree with some of her views

Guessing you’re not Jewish then. 80 years since the liberation of the camps, glad to see you find it funny.

I agree with your views 100 percent. I am not far right and my family come from another country. I feel like British people are too scared to say the truth, there are too many illegal immigrants here. Yes we need skilled workers and they are welcome. But not thousands of unskilled unknowns!