As we approach Remembrance Sunday, may of us will have bought the obligatory paper poppy to wear on our lapel and show our support. It's only right we should show our gratitude to our fallen heroes, those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Many of us quite justifiably stand opposed to war and cannot relate to many of the modern justifications for sending in the troops but it should not affect our support of those who unquestioningly go into battle to defend our country. And surely no-one can argue that the war against the Nazis wasn't a good idea? Fascism is a disgusting and hateful force and it has no place in a civilised world.
So it is for this reason that the rise of Britain First is so hard to fathom. But then is it really so hard?
Britain First is the modern version of fascism for the 21st century, it takes advantage of social media and manipulates some of the more unfortunate habits that social media users have. For example, there is a large section of social media users who will like, share or comment on any post without checking the source, without even asking themselves if it is accurate or true and without thinking about the wider impact, ie if you comment on a post, even to say that you disagree with it, it will then appear on the news feed of everyone you know. Ditto if you click "like". This is how hate is spread.
That is why there are pages and pages devoted to jokes about cancer, animal cruelty, terrorism and racism. The more vile and hate filled the bigger the reaction and the more traffic that page will generate. If you post "How dare you, this is sick" every one of your friends will now see the thing that upset you and every one of them will be upset too. If every one of them posts the same, every one of their friends will see it and this is how a post becomes "viral". This is also why you have trolls on the internet because they know that the more obscene and the more inflammatory they are, the further their reach will be. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: Britain First!
Now everyone is on board with the poppy, I think we have established that already and as well as wearing our little paper badge many will also look to update their profile picture with an image of a poppy, or share some touching images or quotes on their page to show their support; and this is where Britain First come in. They are well known for hijacking any cause that has the public's support as they know that the more shares, the more likes, the more comments, the bigger their reach and the more powerful they appear. They can say that they are the most popular political movement on social media and they are speaking for the silent majority who are too scared to speak up and they will point you towards their "likes" to prove it. So if it is the anniversary of Princess Diana's death they will have a "People's Princess" picture with a "like if you agree" caption on the bottom and you will share it. If a famous celebrity dies they will have an RIP picture and a "like to show your support to his family" on it and you will like and share. When Drummer Lee Rigby was murdered they showed pictures of him and asked for likes and even though his family contacted them to ask for the images to be removed, stating that the group stood for everything that Drummer Rigby stood against, they persisted. And the same goes for the poppy and remembrance. If you look on their page at their more populist posts you will see them filled with military personnel asking for them to remove the images and condemning them, but still they persist. And hidden in amongst their populist, like-baiting pictures of Princess Diana, veterans and Rick Mayall you will find their true message, hate, religious intolerance and bigotry. And spelling and grammar errors.
There is a quote that I read on the internet (so it must be true) but I unfortunately do not know where it originated: "You can be taught to hate, or you can be taught to spell. But apparently it's one or the other."
I'm not sure if you can make it out but in the picture above there is an example of a template letter that our racist brothers are recommending all civilised parents should send to their children's school. It asks, no it DEMANDS (CAPS LOCK IS A BIG PART OF BEING A RACIST) that their child be excused from religious education and "Islamic indoctrination via the school as ordered by the British State". Education is something to be feared if you are a bigot and a xenophobe (for all my British First readers it means someone who is afraid of anyone who is not exactly like you). I have generally found that those who go in for the more basic, tribal approaches to life fear knowledge and education as it might challenge their firmly held beliefs and the last thing they want is to find out they are wrong. Better to be hatefully ignorant than informed. Hate is like a sport, it's a hobby. It's like football hooligans pretending that football is their main motivation when really it's just a wrap-around to give their violent thuggery a slightly more socially acceptable face.
So if you truly are a racist, a bigot and an uneducated knuckle-dragger then please do join Britain First. But if you are a real patriot, someone who believes in democracy and freedom of choice and you are just looking to show support for our troops or express your love for Princess Diana/Puppies/Christmas trees then do not share, like or comment on anything that bears the words "Britain First". By all means take a look at their page, scroll through the posts and have a right good laugh at the level of debate but do not under any circumstances be drawn in to comment. It's what they want.
Read Further: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/britain-first-hijacking-the-poppy-is-a-vile-insult-to-veterans-like-myself-9841791.html
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