So far as I am aware, none of my best friends are fascists. There’s no way they could be. Much as you might like someone, it would be difficult to maintain a friendship who shares the values of Adolf Hitler. You don’t go round saying, “Some of my best friends are neo Nazis” unless you are one. So why does so much stuff that originates from the far right end up on my social network timelines?
Much of it is what they call “click bait” where a group asks you to retweet or repost an apparently harmless comment, such as, “Share if you believe Remembrance Day is a good thing.” The problem begins when you look at who is trying to get you to publicise a subject and then why.
The ultra right fascist group Britain First employs exactly this tactic and has attracted many hundreds of thousands of followers. What could be more reasonable, you might think, than to put Britain first, especially if you live there, but hang on a moment. We are talking about a group that has descended from the National Front in the 1970s, through to the now discredited BNP, but right back to pre World War Two’s British Union of Fascists, led by the infamous Oswald Mosley. Far right groups always proclaim their patriotism but back then their patriotism was unbalanced to say the least. The Daily Mail, before the outbreak of war, courted both the BUF and Hitler and for good reason: they had so much in common.
Did your fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers fight in the second world war to keep Britain (and everywhere else) free from tyranny? I make no special claims here, but mine did and I am pretty sure that if they were all here today they would not be impressed with the steady rise of fascism in our own country.
Even a seemingly harmless post today about Simon Weston, the scarred victim of the Falklands War, is pure click bait. “Why, if musicians and sports people get knighthoods, does Weston only get a CBE? Share if you agree!” And it gets shared and suddenly staring at you is the Facebook page or website of a shady far right group. I checked one of them today and going through their previous posts, they are right up there (or is it down there?) with the likes of Britain First. Racism, anti-semitism, vicious anti-muslim rhetoric, extreme fundamental religious comments – these all featured in other posts. It may have well have said, “If you think Hitler was a decent enough chap – share. I’ll bet 99% of my so called friends won’t.”
It’s a free country so I guess people are free to share what they want. We are allowed to hold stupid opinions and being offensive is not against the law, but if the sort of people like Britain First ever got near a place of power we would live in a far less free and open society.
And if you think Simon Weston should get a knighthood, then say so, but please don’t advertise fascism on my timeline. Everyone who has fought for our country in every conflict, including Weston, deserves more respect than that.
