To not understand the JD Vance weird face meme all over the Cotswolds?

[BlueJuniper94]

So I understand he is not popular and has recently been holidaying in the Cotswolds. But I don't understand this big exaggerated AI face some group has been putting on billboards and driving around.

Firstly, are they mocking his appearance? That's not very nice, no matter what someone's politics are, their actions should be the target not what they look like.

And if it is about his remarks about free speech - again, I really don't understand how this image "owns" him, he's a foreign politician. UK gov aren't going to care about that, wouldn't it make sense to prove the point by criticising power that is actually British?

Fill me in please, I don't understand - what am I missing?

Yes but I also characterised it as divided - not as a coherent entity as you did.

Anyway I stand by what I said - Farage is on the right (whilst it suits him to be) but if you want far right to need to look a lot further afield - because there are people out there who make Hitler look almost sane by comparison. There's a few quoting from that particular hymnbook on another thread right now.

Haters gotta hate

Well, like I already wrote, he was arrested for walking home in the snow. Or walking home. Or walking. Or breathing. Or something. Who knows?

I’m going to suggest the reason you haven’t heard of it is because videos like this are common in the US, aren’t they?

Here it is…

https://www.reddit.com/r/CringeTikToks/s/whqdMhk7dL

The bit I don’t get though is that he’s black. I mean, I understand the US police arresting someone for walking home, which is a well known crime after all, but arresting a black man? Who’d a thunk it, eh?

That was one of the worst things I’ve ever watched

Putting a fib in capitals does not make it true. Immigration in any country can check your 'phone, they only do it if they have some reason to suspect something. The American border force are not checking everyone's 'phone to see if they have posted derogatory comments about the administration, Just think logically how long that would take.

The US constitutions right to free speech is not unfettered, so at almost all practical levels they have the same freedom in the US as the UK. Except under their current government their rights are being eroded at an alarming rate!

However people in the UK have far more freedom in their their day to day lives, and less interference from religious zealots. We also, at the moment, still have more autonomy over our bodies.

Then of course, at a very basic level of freedom the US incarcerates almost 5 times as many people than we do per head of population. 0.6% of its population is in prison vs 0.14% in the UK. The US has less than 5% of the world’s population, but more than 20% of the worlds prison population. Think about that, in the land of the free ;)

Not only that, the US is the only developed country in the world not to provide healthcare for its citizens, and it’s still a very racist country with massive inequality. I loved my time in California, which, when I was there was a relatively civilised place. But the increasing inequality and poverty, increasingly visible when I return, is not good, and the rowing back on freedoms for LGB people is scary. When we left we said we’d had a great time, but wouldn’t want to live there, and my view hasn’t changed :)

Being shocked by a cultural difference is seldom about the practical realities of the difference.

Honestly I just find it irritating that British people throw around 'freedom of speech' when they say offensive things, because we don't have the right to freedom of speech and never did! Just like we don't get an automatic phone call if we're arrested or get charged for Grand Theft Auto if we nick a car. It's all language (and law) from US films.

Being shocked because Freedom of Speech is not a thing is completely reasonable if you don't understand the practical differences and realistic freedoms. Obviously you should try to understand it before you criticise it though.

They may not be, but they are requiring students to have their social media public if they want a visa and they do ask for account names on the visa waiver. And instances of border force asking to see phones at the US border has increased. None of this for other countries.

I bet Mrs Vance has to thank him after as well 😂

With respect, I think that’s a mistake. I don’t agree that just because Farage is not Hitler, his views cannot be considered as far right. The identification of ‘an other’ as a common enemy ( in Farage’s case, immigrants), the populist appeal to people’s need for a common problem, and simple solutions to it, are all hall marks of far right ideology and are very evident in Farage’s views as well as his appeal to many. It is dangerous to think that we could never return to a time when far right views prevail, as if Hitler was unrepeatable. After all, he had significant appeal to many at the time. Far right isn’t, in my view, something ‘ out there’ in the extremes, it is rapidly becoming normalised, and Farage is the figure head for this in the UK.

Also: https://www.channel4.com/news/nigel-farage-ukip-letter-school-concerns-racism-fascism

I'm sure he wouldn't sing Hitler Youth songs now though. Not publicly anyway.

And a huge security entourage. They have taken over the whole village.

I agree with some of what you say and can definitely see where you're coming from re: extreme views being normalised.

I also think that 'The identification of ‘an other’ as a common enemy ( in Farage’s case, immigrants), the populist appeal to people’s need for a common problem, and simple solutions to it, are all hall marks of far right ideology' are also hallmarks of a far left ideology. Which sadly we're also seeing more of. Possibly as a reaction to the growth of populism.

I don't like far right or far right views because both are equally destructive to a decent society and both are deaf to any opposite view and imo lead to intolerance.

I hope i make sense I'm sweltering and barely able to think !!

It's shocking to us that any old Tom, Dick or Harry can get hold of a gun so let's agree to disagree.

He's a fucking nut,his criticism of Scotland's buffer zones around abortion clinics designed to stop harassment of women using these facilities stretched to it was illegal to have private prayer in your own home... and how exactly would that be policed.

A Grade A fucking crank!!

For a bit of light relief…

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/15/my-summer-holiday-by-jd-vance

But hattie43, Bigly loves commies now, he's holding hands with Putin today and gazing admiringly into his eyes over the teacups, maybe cake too. And a bloody massive slice of Ukraine.

LittlePig, your meter is broken. Just because it's not decorated with the offensive symbol it doesn't mean F can't be correctly attributed by anyone with functioning eyesight. Get a new meter.

I'm glad you asked OP because I wondered this as well

All of this. And, he is an absolute turd of a human being.

These pictures are just freedom of expression. Presumably he is ok with that

I’m not sure why you’ve quoted me in your post; while it makes some interesting points they seem to be separate. I’m not the one bandying around ‘freedom of speech’ comments! I’m not shocked about anything, either US or UK, though I am amazed at how little most US citizens understand about their own rights, never mind those of other countries!

👏👏👏

Or any young Tom, Dick or Harry looking at the appalling number of school shootings. I certainly shan’t be lectured by a citizen of a nation where marriage between adult males and female minors is still allowed in several states.

Similar enough for the BBC to talk about the Lucy case in their reporting on the councillor, so save the faux naivety

So you don't know.