Intentionally Balancing...

If a friend jovially called me a daft c**t, I'd take it in good humour. Strap in, gang, we're hitting the ground running today.

Conversely if a stranger looked me dead in the eye, and with all the vitriol they could muster, called me a silly billy, I'd feel quite threatened. It's about intention, you see. Intending to threaten, hurt, or belittle can be done with the most benign of phrases. SILLY BILLY, BUM FACE or any other childish taunt you remember - when uttered with hatred - can be as chilling as the strongest swear.

It's the same with the English flag. When waved in celebration of a national achievement - the Lionesses winning the Euros, for example - it's a positive symbol of sporting excellence. Benign and upbeat. Lovely. When waved outside a hotel, crammed with human beings at a desperate time, it's an oppressive disgrace. At the time of writing, in the village I live near, there are St George crosses all over the place. Never having been previously displayed for a sporting event, it's fair to conclude they've been hoisted in solidarity with far-right politics. 

The immediate consequence of this is, I won't be going near them. I'll be avoiding local business and staying out of the way. To me now, the sight of a red cross on a white background, looks threatening. It's become the symbol of cruel and dangerous politics. I want no part of that, so the flag of the country in which I was born and live, excludes me.* It's been co-opted by racists and bullies and that's all I can think when I drive through the village. My stomach sinks when I see them.

But maybe I'm being too harsh. Perhaps I should view the flags from a different perspective; attempt to understand why some people felt moved to hoist them. When far right politicians are given disproportionate news coverage, perhaps it's easy to get swept up. Nigel F*rage leads a party with four MPs. Ed Davey's party has seventy-two. Imagine if every time you read a front page, watched the news, or saw a political Facebook post, Ed Davey's words, and Liberal Democrat policies, were broadcast with the same lack of criticism Reform have enjoyed. It might not make you a Lib Dem voter, but I bet there'd be no anti-refugee protests come summer. 

Perhaps it's clearer when you live outside the country. Last week, Jamie Raskin, a congressman in the US, spoke at the House Judiciary Committee regarding free speech, with reference to the Online Safety Bill in the UK. That's a bit wordy, isn't it. What transpired was simpler. Raskin took issue with F*rage being called to the hearing to speak. He was there to talk about threats to freedom of speech abroad. That's mad. F*rage isn't silenced in the UK. He enjoys establishment support through regular media coverage and the freedom to broadcast via GB News. He is an elected member of parliament. Yet there he was, speaking about his fight for free speech in the UK. As Raskin points out in the video, he's supposed to be representing his constituents in Parliament - a parliament that is sitting right now. Instead he's overseas, building his profile in the US. Let's hope no one in Clacton needed their MP last week. FYI, the clip I shared a couple of sentences ago, does not show him in the shot. I'm not sure I'd share it, if it did.

Like I said, it's all about intention. So what's my intention with this post? Well, I'm not trying to whip up trouble. I'm just counterbalancing some of the stuff that's started popping up on my Facebook. There's been a lot of blocking recently. I guess I'm surprised how many people have been sucked in by Reform's misleading rhetoric. Put simply, I look forward to the day when it's widely accepted that racism is bad again, when people stop searching for a vulnerable minority upon which to heap all their frustrations, and when far-right politics shifts a few steps back to the left. Call me a daft c*nt, all you like. As long as you're friendly and jovial, that is.

Have a lovely week, folks.

*I'm acutely aware that as a white person, I'm much safer in this current climate than others. The first letter featured here shows the real-life effects for people of colour.