AIBU to think this quote sums up Tommy Robinson and his supporters?

[Gingerbreadtree]

The quote is taken from the British philosopher Bertrand Russell's essay on Fascim in 1940,

"The first step in a fascist movement is the combination under an energetic leader of a number of men who possess more than the average share of leisure, brutality, and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other."

To me it sums them up, but it sums up a lot of the far right in general. The same could be said about Farage and many of his supporters too.

What I don’t get is embracing the qualities the UK fought against in Second World War and at the same time thinking the UK is still the powerhouse that helped win that war.

It’s very bizarre.

Also over 70% of people arrested after Southport inspired riots had previous convictions or warnings for domestic abuse/violence, and these were the ones where there was police involvement I assume the percentage who have never had the police called and who agree with putting women in their place would be close to 100% yet they shout the slogan save our women and girls.

It felt like if you shoved all those lit on an island the drop in domestic abuse would be considerable.

Theres nothing inclusive about pretending women don't exist in any real biological sense.

I wouldn't agree that capitalism is based on liberal ideology. Capitalists capitulate to whoever will continue to line their pockets. Look at how American corporations and tech oligarchs have fallen in line under Trump.

Sound like EE communists too...

People are right. Far tight and far left are the same issue
Fyi German big businesses supported rrgome because 1-they were laregly about to bankrupt, 2-they didn't have much choice.

Interestinglly, Uk people somehow talk about ww2 more than people in my country which was actually taken by nazis.

I think that sums up all the left parties, including Labour, quite well.

100%, they're thugs and bullies nothing more. Men out looking for a victim whether that's women and children or immigrants. They're inadequate human beings who take out their feelings of inadequacy on whoever they can. It's why they buy into the racism, it gives them a feeling of superiority. Anyone who thinks these men are decent people need to give their heads a wobble.

Labour and ‘energetic leader’?

I will vote YANBU if you also include Zack Polanski and the Green Party voters who are not questioning why a party build on ecological concerns has morphed into one whose candidates have expressed many antisemitic views.

I agree with that entirely but I have similar concerns on the left.

The reason for a rise in fascism is because people are leaving the more nuanced middle ground and that middle ground has been heavily influenced by ideas emanating largely from the left.

I think most people in this part of the word support a safety net provided by social democracy for poor, vulnerable and people who fall on hard times but they also want to see tonnes of opportunity alongside that safety net as a way of people bettering their circumstances. You shouldn’t survive cancer treatment only to have the next generation liable for crazy debts incurred through treatment for example and the vast majority of people agree with that.

It is my opinion that the left has largely lost its way entirely and the values they are espousing have reached the point where people’s care and empathy has been weaponised and prevented rational debate on very serious issues such as illegal migration, religious extremism and extreme niche ideologies such as the trans issue.

I think people don’t want their care and empathy weaponised as has been happening. The wrongful protection given to grooming gangs so as not to be seen as racist as an example.

Illegal immigration needs to be scaled back massively.

Fundamentalism and religious extremism needs to be very loudly counteracted and the actual values of liberal democracy equality, safety, freedom, protection for citizens including security and cybersecurity need to be prioritised.

Niche harmful ideology needs to be put back into its extremist box but it is largely the values of the left and their weaponising shame against people who disagree with them you are a racist, anti Islam, anti semitic, transphobic if you don’t agree with these damaging policies.

This video for me sums up the problems with politics across Europe at the moment

AIBU to think this quote sums up the far left?

• "So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot". George Orwell.

Is disagreeing with the actions of the Israeli government anti-Semitic now? I thought it was anti-Semitic to conflate the actions of the nation of Israel with the Israeli government. It's also kind of anti-Semitic to minimise his own Jewish heritage, which the media have been trying their best to do.

I’m finding Mumsnet pretty depressing these days. Someone starts a thread, concerned about the rise of the far right - a strand of political activity that includes people who advocate for the mass deportation of all Muslims and the ‘Hitler had a point’ crew. And even more mainstream commentators stirring up hate against refugees and blaming immigrants for all of the UK’s problems.

And then the majority of the replies are either ‘the Green Party is just as bad’ or saying the rise of the far right is the fault of the left or the fault of the government for being too ‘politically correct’.

You know, the fact that Mumsnet "feminists" have to bring everything back to this one argument is rather dull.

But necessary.

Completely agree. Mumsnet has become some sort of extension of the Murdoch press. It's very frustrating as it used to be a helpful site where people got real advice.

Oh have a day off 🙄🙄

Where are the Islamic extremists? I don't see any - can you point them out?

Well, no, not really. What might have started as a genuine concern has morphed into full-blown hysterical transphobia. Posters say things such as "you might think a trans woman in the toilets just does their business and leaves, but you can bet they are recording the sound of you peeing and rifling through the sanitary bins"... Which is clearly blatantly transphobic and not a genuine concern about women or girls at all.

I think people failing to recognise the similarities is what led us to this point and turned people away from the left because they seemed more like the monster raving loonies.

The centre must hold, however imperfect. It's just not very nice being between the two equally grubby arse cheeks!

The centre is the rectum. Is that where you prefer to be?

A day off from what? Recognising reality? Fuck, if only I could! Maybe that's why the Greens are so pro drugs! It all makes sense now! 😂

Yes how dare anyone point out the real extreme threat. You'd love that to be buried wouldn't you? The hard left make TR look like an angel. If this had been about Polanski, Robinson and Farage would have been mentioned in the first reply. Hypocrite.

What does transphobic actually meAN?

It is a made up word trying to silence women.

I am inclined to agree.