It’s not a protest, numbnuts
Firstly, you absolutely must go here and read this. It's a wonderful piece that removes all the fluff and nonsense that surrounds the issues of why people vote for fascist scum, leaving you with one inescapable conclusion: that scum are scum and vote for scum because they're scum.
But no. People - ironically, it's often the exact kind of people who would be deliberately simplistic about issues like crime, claiming that kids who nick a penny chew from the pick'n'mix are 'feral' and so on - like to get all complicated about the reasons why people vote BNP.
First, they blame the lefties. That's the most important group to blame. People who believe in something other than what the BNP believe in are somehow to blame for the rise in the BNP, because they are not doing what the BNP wants. The logic goes like this: we haven't given the BNP what they want, therefore they are getting more support. I'd say this: you shouldn't give the BNP what they want, because on almost every subject ever, they're as wrong as wrong can be. Whether you give them more or less support because you deny them what they want isn't really relevant if what they want is completely and utterly discriminatory, unfair, unpleasant, nasty, racist and anti-freedom.
Lefties are to blame somehow, because of the things they've done in terms of diversity, human rights and so on. By giving a shit about minorities, they have stoked the fires of the BNP, says the argument. I'd say this: giving a shit about diversity is important, and right, and if you upset people by doing this, then the people you are upsetting are not only idiots but unpleasant idiots. If you positively discriminate in favour of minorities, constantly discriminating against the so-called 'indigenous population' then that's a different matter - but this isn't happening. There is no 'indigenous population' anyway. I don't go out on my council estate and see mud-painted natives going fishing with a coracle. There's no such 'indigenous population' and the term is one used by the far right - and the Daily Mail - as a dog-whistle to appeal to racists.
Political correctness is also blamed. The PC Brigade - remember them, with the big pink diversity van coming to make you tick a few diversity boxes? - have meant that 'ordinary' (white) people have felt 'disenfranchised'. Again, I'd say no. Not letting people get away with saying nigger, wog and Paki is a good thing. Racism is a bad thing. If someone feels disenfranchised because they're not allowed to be a racist, then they're a racist, and if racists feel disenfranchised then that's because the mainstream parties, quite rightly, are not racist and don't like racists belonging to them.
Other targets are blamed. Immigration, which has been happening for donkeys' years now and which is - outside the EU - strictly controlled and more strictly than ever before, is depicted as 'uncontrolled' and a 'mass wave'. Idiots like Christopher Monckton are allowed to say in the national media - unchallenged by Victoria Derbyshire (well obviously) - that two million Muslims have come to Britain since Labour came to power. Benefits are ignored; only the downside is depicted. There is not fair coverage of these issues by newspapers like the Mail. Yet they blame the immigration itself for people being against it, not their one-sided depiction of it.
Moneygrabbing politicians are blamed. The Speaker is blamed. People claiming cash for stuff they shouldn't claim cash for are blamed. And they are to blame for a general malaise in mainstream politics; they are to blame for anger felt by the public; they are to blame for people looking elsewhere when they come to cast their votes. But there's a world of difference between saying "These Labour and Tory politicians are sticking their snouts in the trough" and then going on to make the leap to "I will vote instead for a party that represents views that are vastly removed from the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, which is racist, and which only allows people of a certain ethnicity to belong". That intellectual gulf is just too wide. This isn't a protest vote. If people want to vote BNP, it's not because of disenchantment with the mainstream. You don't vote for people like that unless you believe in them. And if you believe in them, then there's no helping you.
Even the right is blamed. People blame the Conservative Party for being too wishy-washy. They say if only the Tories pandered to the more rabid elements that made them so hated and despised by half the country during the 1980s and early 1990s, then things would be better. They ignore the strides made by William Hague (eroded a bit by Michael Howard and the other one, whatever his name was) to try and politely say no thank-you to "Rivers of Blood" types.
But beneath it all is a truth. People may be disgruntled, but a vote for the BNP is not a protest vote. It is a vote for a system that will disenfranchise far more than merely feel disenfranchised right now. It is a vote for hatred and racism. It is a vote against things that simply do not exist, based on lies and prejudice. It is a vote against reason, and truth, and fairness, and liberty. It is a vote for hate. And those people who choose to vote that way know what they're doing.
They wouldn't change their minds if only the mainstream moved further to the right. They wouldn't change their minds if 'political correctness' were consigned to the bin tomorrow. They wouldn't change their minds even if the liberal-left elite running our country, which doesn't even exist, suddenly existed only in order to disband itself. They won't change their minds. They are wrong, and they hold wrong views because they're wrong. And that's why everyone with any decency must fight against them - left, right, libertarians, socialists, all of us. I don't care what makes us different, but what unites everyone must be the fight against hatred and the fight against lies. That fight is the fight against the BNP - so let's get on with it.
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May 18th, 2009 - 14:50
*applause*
Bloody hell. You should be in politics with a speech like that.
May 18th, 2009 - 14:51
This pulled a few united heart-strings for me.
Brilliant.
May 18th, 2009 - 14:57
I think people are voting for what the BNP pretends to be*.
On the surface, every political party has the same message – “vote for us and things will be better!” Every election leaflet from every party promises more jobs, better security, a cleaner environment, non-corrupt politicians.
The BNP, in this respect, are no different from any other party. The method by which they would achieve their promises is vastly different (and, needless to say, abhorrent).
But non-wonks don’t really care about different schools of economic thought – they want something that they can easily understand. Which is an easier policy to explain on the doorstep – “quantitative easing” or “send ‘em back”?
Both dyed in the wool socialist and New Labour supporters think that Labour best represent them and their views. Both are wrong – but they fall for the marketing hype.
So when someone comes along claiming to represent you – it’s fairly easy to think “this’ll stick two fingers up at the current shower” without doing any research.
Voting for the BNP *is* a protest – albeit a dirty one.
T
*At least, I really hope so…
May 18th, 2009 - 15:08
Bloody fantastic.
May 18th, 2009 - 15:25
I’m in.
May 18th, 2009 - 15:45
brilliant, couldn’t agree more, well said.
May 18th, 2009 - 17:21
Brilliant post.
May 18th, 2009 - 17:55
‘Well said’ times infinity.
May 18th, 2009 - 17:56
Well said, sir! As Goya quite rightly noted, “The sleep of reason brings forth monsters”.
May 18th, 2009 - 23:08
A good post, but I think that you may have missed out a reason for people voting for the BNP – that of simple fear of ‘the other’.
I live in Dagenham where the BNP has a stronger than average base of support and part of this is, I think, because the people of Dagenham look West to Newham and see the area as being full of Asians and can see them ‘spreading’ into Dagenham.
It’s not hate, it’s fear, fear that you won’t be able to talk to your neighbours because they won’t speak the same language as you. It’s fear that because people are coming from ‘outside’ *your* children won’t be able to get social housing – and you and your family have lived here for generations.
It’s, in part, because people like being around people who are like them and to have this ‘other’ coming and living around them, changing the culture, changing the language, changing everything is scary.
Almost all political parties say that this is good, that this is the best for society – yet the people who live there don’t see it, they just see change – and change is scary.
Which is a reason why people vote for the BNP, because they are scared, and the BNP sells itself based on this fear.
I’m not saying it’s right, and I’ve no answers as to how this way of thinking can be combated – but it is another, strong, reason why I think people vote for the BNP.
May 19th, 2009 - 09:19
Let’s not forget the self-flagellating Labour supporters so intent on hyping up the BNP and saying that the reason some vote for the BNP is because Labour has “abandoned the white working class”. Labour’s also abandoned the Asian working class, the black working class, the oriental working class – do they vote for the BNP? Do they fuck.
Here’s a prime example from Rowenna Davies on LibCon, but Peter Hain and Hodge before him made similar points. Let’s not call them racists, let’s pretend they’re just disaffected deprived people! If they are, they can stay at home or vote Tory. Anyone who votes for the BNP is knowingly voting for a racist party and has somehow reconciled themselves with that. Fair do’s. But they can fuck off.
May 19th, 2009 - 09:47
I’m not sure how effective your insult strategy is likely to be, frankly.
Thinking of voting BNP are you, you scum?!
I’m sure that will win people over.
If your thesis is right, you also need to explain why the number of racist scum in the country has suddenly risen…
May 19th, 2009 - 11:19
“The logic goes like this: we haven’t given the BNP what they want, therefore they are getting more support.”
But the BNP, or at least the sort of people who claim to be voting for them HAVE been given what they want, almost to the letter, it just so happens that by their own admission what they want hasn’t worked.
The points system that they claimed for years would ‘solve’ immigration, according to them, doesn’t seem to have done so because they’re still wittering on about it, why is nobody asking them why their ideas failed and why they should still be taken seriously ? Why do they just get to move on to the next thing like some spoilt dyspeptic child ?
In the space of ten years blair DOUBLED the number of laws in this country, we’ve got the harshest sentences and the highest (relative) prison population in Europe. We’ve got a human rights record that’s been independently described as ‘shameful’ and according to privacy international we’re an ‘endemic surveillance state’ yet according to this lot crime is apparently ‘rife’ (despite being at just about the lowest point in decades) so why does nobody say – well hold on, we’ve basically enacted an authoritarian regime on your say so, but now you’re claiming it doesn’t work, why should we listen to you ? Why should your opinion be given equal weight as everyone else’s ?
Herein, is why the oh so fucking precious ‘democracy’ is a fundamentally shit system, it enforces no sanctions for wilful ignorance or stupidity, you just get another equally weighted go next time, which has the inevitable consequence of candidates having to pander to stupidity in ever decreasing circles, you can shove it up your fucking arse.
May 19th, 2009 - 16:02
First, they blame the lefties. That’s the most important group to blame. People who believe in something other than what the BNP believe in are somehow to blame for the rise in the BNP, because they are not doing what the BNP wants. The logic goes like this: we haven’t given the BNP what they want, therefore they are getting more support. I’d say this: you shouldn’t give the BNP what they want, because on almost every subject ever, they’re as wrong as wrong can be. Whether you give them more or less support because you deny them what they want isn’t really relevant if what they want is completely and utterly discriminatory, unfair, unpleasant, nasty, racist and anti-freedom. Yes. This. Approximately a million times. Thank you.
May 21st, 2009 - 22:39
Brilliant post; I really have nothing useful to contribute, but, this is great.
October 26th, 2009 - 21:50
Great post, very succinct and powerfully argued!
I like that the goalkeeper in your posted article said I agree with some aspects of fascism like patriotism and the values of the Catholic religion. And yet it never occured to him to be a Catholic patriot, or a patriotic Catholic? Laughed? I did.
Which leads me on to this: I think ignorance is also a big trait amongst BNP voters – they are ignorant of what the other parties' are offering, failing to see how it could help them; they are ignorant of British society and how it works, seeing only what is happening now-this-minute in their road, estate, town, city…but most importantly they are ignorant also of the BNP and it's complete manifesto – they hear one soundbite from Gr*ff*n, and they vote based on that.
In short they are unable to see anything long-term, the kind of long-term view you need when choosing a government for five or more years. Therefore they can be called stupid, but then this could be "spun" as poor education, but then I can hear their answer now: "and we all know why that, don't we…"