My son has gone on the march

[funkadelic]

Hi, have been on here years but only lurk, don’t post. But today is the day.
I am in bits. My 22yr old DS is in London on this march. I am shaking and utterly appalled. We differ on politics massively and have done for some time. I work in education, have travelled and am bit of a lefty hippy but to be honest it’s becoming more about values and morals. He is fully immersed in the manosphere algorithm and I’ve always thought he is exploring himself and things and have chats about why he has the opinions he does and try and understand his point of view. I try not to belittle him but try and get him to critically think about things.
But this I can’t deal with. I am so upset that my son has gone to this, and that it is something that is so far away from me and my values, something that I thought I had instilled in him as well.
I am totally aware that it’s triggered embarrassment but that is my issue and I’m not putting that on him. He is still my son and I love him and his passion and interest in the world, just in something I believe is so wrong and makes me sad.
Please talk some sense into me.

Nice try 👏🏻

I've got some bad news for you about TfL

https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/88/

Both sides? Seems not.

I don’t think it’s funny personally. I just think it’s a bit of a ludicrous stretch in this context.

Maybe that's what the OP's son looks like 🤷‍♀️

I did notice that a lot of the counter protestors were in black wearing masks which made me wonder why.

The Met police have only tweeted that the Unite the Kingdom crowd are assaulting police officers haven't they? Not the anti-racism protesters.

No! The irony!

That is the whole point we are making about YL's promo photo. It features that one bus route out of 675 possible routes. It is no co-incidence.

WTF?!!! 😂

The number 88 when used by people not associated with far-right groups is just that - a number. But it's been very well known for a very long time that it's used between neo-Nazis as a symbol.

It seems very unlikely that given the context, that bus just happened to be an 88.

Nobody has said they are, but I doubt the majority of people have heard of it.

You can’t possibly know that though. It’s just speculation.

Have you considered that perhaps your son feels the same about your own political views and hopes that you will come around to his worldview?

Those saying he will “grow out if it” infantilises his political views and says much about the potential for open minded political discourse with such people. The world is a different place to when you were growing up and different views have spawned from it.

Have you considered joining your son at the rally and getting a better sense of why people are joining the movement?

Do you remember that guy who went to an "Immigrants welcome" march with a clipboard, looking to sign people up to house an immigrant? Every single protester was a NIMBY. A million and one reasons why they couldn't actually have an immigrant in their home. Oh no. But it's okay to shove them in hotels near everyone else.

And for everyone on this thread who are pro illegal migrants, you'd have an entirely different view, if the house next door became an HMO, and foreign men (from countries where rape isn't a crime), were following your daughters home from school. Don't tell me you'd be okay with that, because I DON'T BELIEVE YOU

OP despite my endless lectures my son is very pro Trans. It drives me nuts, but I'm not about to label him Far Left or any other unhelpful 'identity'. We have lots of lively debates and I hope one day I manage to win one! Its better than your son sitting in his room in front of the screen, at least he's out there meeting real people, seeing that the world is not black and white, right and wrong, but infinite shades of grey. Chill woman!!

He’s an adult. He’s entitled to his views. They will probably change over time anyway.

And you think no neo nazis would have been aware of today’s march unless that picture had been posted?

Not my experience.

Well done to your son for standing up for what he thinks is right for this country 👏👏👏

^Exactly. Ridiculously OTT. And I hate the way VAWG is being used by Tommy Robinson and others as a cynical ploy to provoke this backlash against asylum seekers. They really don’t care about women and girls.

@funkadelic why haven't you answered which camp your son belongs in? A few people have asked. It would help us decide if YABU. We can't know if you're unreasonable without knowing if hes attending the march because he's some rabid racist or because he simply has genuine concerns about uncontrolled immigration along with the societal problems that that brings.

Who is saying that and why would they? I'm sure neo-Nazis have many ways to communicate and we can see how they organise and rally together on days like today. The bus picture is a nasty little wink to those who know, not their sole means of contacting one another.

Not sure of your maths here, or your facts.

If 83 women were killed in domestic homicides in the year ending March 2024 that works out as 1.59 women killed a week. That's three women a fortnight killed by a family member.

In fact in 2022, a total of 122 women were killed by men in the UK, which works out as more than 2 every week.

Because they are racists. You’re welcome

Clearly not. Are you deliberately misrepresenting (why if so?) or just unable to read any sort of non-literal text?