Nazis win British by-election!

[SirNitram]

Eh.. I see no reason to panic. While these people are grade A retards and assholes, as NecronLord pointed out, Monster Raving Looneys have gotten into these spots before. You'll notice British calenders still have Wedesndays, trains don't have pillows tied to them to increase safety, and professional politicians don't wear cowbells.

[Xenophobe3691]

Eh.. I see no reason to panic. While these people are grade A retards and assholes, as NecronLord pointed out, Monster Raving Looneys have gotten into these spots before. You'll notice British calenders still have Wedesndays, trains don't have pillows tied to them to increase safety, and professional politicians don't wear cowbells.

Wedesndays?!? Wow, those British sure are weird, they're called "Wednesdays" here...

But hey, just look at Hitler's rise to power. He didn't hide his intentions, he didn't hide his agenda, and they still elected him up...

[SirNitram]

Eh.. I see no reason to panic. While these people are grade A retards and assholes, as NecronLord pointed out, Monster Raving Looneys have gotten into these spots before. You'll notice British calenders still have Wedesndays, trains don't have pillows tied to them to increase safety, and professional politicians don't wear cowbells.

Wedesndays?!? Wow, those British sure are weird, they're called "Wednesdays" here...

But hey, just look at Hitler's rise to power. He didn't hide his intentions, he didn't hide his agenda, and they still elected him up...

Oooo, skerry!

Seriously. We're talking about a level of government which has, repeatedly, featured men wearing lobster suits.

[Crazy_Vasey]

Here in Hartlepool we elected a man in a monkey suit as our mayor. Beat that!

[Nathan F]

Hehe. And Hitler thought his best allies in Britiain were the upper class.

Rednecks the world over, how predictable.

Rednecks = Nazis...right...

[Darth Wong]

Hehe. And Hitler thought his best allies in Britiain were the upper class.

Rednecks the world over, how predictable.

Rednecks = Nazis...right...

Actually, there is a fairly strong correlation between racism and low education levels, which is the form of "redneck" that I believe he's referring to.

[Frank Hipper]

Hehe. And Hitler thought his best allies in Britiain were the upper class.

Rednecks the world over, how predictable.

Rednecks = Nazis...right...

Actually, there is a fairly strong correlation between racism and low education levels, which is the form of "redneck" that I believe he's referring to.

It was. Education and insular outlook.
A generalisation, to be sure, but one that has come to be accepted thru repeated reinforcement of it.

[Patrick Degan]

So... Mr. "Hilter's" candidacy succeeds.

[LordShaithis]

Seriously. We're talking about a level of government which has, repeatedly, featured men wearing lobster suits.

Here in Hartlepool we elected a man in a monkey suit as our mayor. Beat that!

And I thought American politics was stupid...

[Stuart Mackey]

Hmm, one cannot imagine that Mr Churchill would be impressed.

[Stuart Mackey]

And I thought American politics was stupid...

American politics are stupid. The Brits, however, have a long proud history of excentrics in politics ..When it comes to stupidity in Britian..look no further than officiers in the millitary and the RAF.

[Crown]

Banning them would accomplish nothing. It's the general climate of blame the immigrants for everything that's the problem. How to fix that? Er... I have no idea.

I know! Lets get rid of them all and ship em back to where they came from! That I'll shut those Nazi's up good. Hey wait a minute...

We do send some back, but the various human rights treaties we are signed up to don't really allow us to mass deport them. I think it might be the EU human rights act, but whatever it is it prevents us from sending asylum seekers back to a nation where their lives are in danger.

And ...

t must be the EU one, cos australia got away with letting them sit in cramped conditions on a boat, not letting them into port and forcing the boat to turn around...

I take it that you two haven't heard about Fortress Europe right?

[Crazy_Vasey]

The only time I've heard the phrase Fortress Europe it was in the context of World War Two and Hitler's defence against allied invasion.

[Crown]

The only time I've heard the phrase Fortress Europe it was in the context of World War Two and Hitler's defence against allied invasion.

Fair enough, basically the EU has no expanded it's fortress to stop illegal immigration to poorer countries. The front line now isn't England's shores, but the consular agencies in Africa, and Eastern Europe.

Trust me, of those that get through and caught, only a handful are actually allowed to stay. Most are given over to a private company who determines where was their country of origin and then fly them back.

Spain for example actually owns a strip on the North Most point of Morroco, to actually patrol and stop imigrants from trying to get across. Greece and Germany have extensive high-tech surviallance equiptment to catch border-hopers, and to deter them.

All funded by the EU.


And I am not entirely sure if that is a good thing.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Related topic (opposite Bias) I saw "Queen and Country" a month ago, where Denzil Washington, playied a Jamacian Paratrooper who was living in London's east end, after serving the Crown in engagements in Falklands and The Gulf War...

and then getting ponced around and mistreated by the government he had served for 15 years.

[Companion Cube]

Ah, the joys of a backlash against globalization...

But at least their Nazi groups don't openly proclaim their Nazi-ness with swastikas and Sig Heils...

I actually wish they would. That would kill their popularity fairly quickly.

[SirNitram]

Seriously. We're talking about a level of government which has, repeatedly, featured men wearing lobster suits.

Here in Hartlepool we elected a man in a monkey suit as our mayor. Beat that!

And I thought American politics was stupid...

American politics is stupid. From what I've heard, your populace is so stupid their brains will implode if they have more than two major political candidates(Or so say the Americans here who think having more than Reps and Dems as big timers will cause horrific things of every description). This is merely insanity.

[Embracer Of Darkness]

From what I've heard, your populace is so stupid their brains will implode if they have more than two major political candidates.

No, it's just that as with most politics, it boils down to a popularity contest.

[EmperorSolo51]

American politics is stupid. From what I've heard, your populace is so stupid their brains will implode if they have more than two major political candidates(Or so say the Americans here who think having more than Reps and Dems as big timers will cause horrific things of every description). This is merely insanity.

Well it is true that our Political system is only two parties, Think of it that each party is nothing more than almalgamation of smaller parties. The Democrats have Social liberals, fiscal conservatives, supporters of Labor unions, greens, etc.

The Republican Party has an almalgamation of different parties as well. Conservatives, Liberals, Christian fundies, Fiscal conservatives, Goldwaterites, etc

Also some third parties also run seats that the major Parties endorse. Take for instance, the Conservative Party of NY which runs canadidates the Republicans endorse. The Democratic Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota runs candidates that the Dems endorse.

However, most third parties don't do well in elections becuase they don't usually take the time to build up local constituencies. Without local support, third parties usually always fail in State and Federal elections all the time.

[The Third Man]

I'm worried about this. I live very close to some of the places the BNP is strongest (East Lancs). I witnessed the riots here the last couple of summers, and I see racial violence of varying levels all the time.

First observation I'd make is that these are NOT rural areas. The support is strongest in former industrial towns. I'm thinking places like Burnley and Blackburn. These places have a very high Asian population (relative to other places), most of which is strongly Islamic, and that is where the hatred is targetted.

Secondly the BNP supporters are no longer lunatic fringe. I meet what you might describe as "normal", respectable, educated, reasonable, law-abiding people who voted BNP. I meet members of the middle classes as well as the working and unemployed classes who voted for or sympathize with the BNP. Their reasons for supporting the BNP appear to be that they perceive the Asian community as a threat, and that they are impatient with the politicians of traditional parties.

Third point. The hatred in the areas where the BNP is strong is not exclusively towards illegal immigrants or asylum seekers. It is equally directed towards legal immigrants, and second and third generation descendants. It is, however, always directed against the Asian minority, and is usually strongest when that minority is highly visible; ie when the minority maintains its own culture, religion and so on, and is confined to "enclaves". BTW I'm talking here about the prejudice on the streets, not necessarily that which the BNP preach.

Another factor in BNP electoral success is that these are local elections, which have always suffered from apathy on the part of the electorate; the unapathetic who actually vote are the ones who feel strongly about an issue, and this favours the extremists against the moderates. If a BNP candidate is ever elected in a national election, that will be an indicator that we have an extremely serious situation.

I have never had a conversation with one of the BNP candidates or higher-ups, and I'm not sure that I want to. So I can't say whether or not the actual candidates are any different to the old stereotypical image of violent single-figure-IQ skinheads with a Swastika tattooed on their foreheads. I suspect they may not be, and that really worries me.

[Rye]

Seriously. We're talking about a level of government which has, repeatedly, featured men wearing lobster suits.

Here in Hartlepool we elected a man in a monkey suit as our mayor. Beat that!

And I thought American politics was stupid...

American politics is stupid. From what I've heard, your populace is so stupid their brains will implode if they have more than two major political candidates(Or so say the Americans here who think having more than Reps and Dems as big timers will cause horrific things of every description). This is merely insanity.

You left out that the candidate with the most money spent on their campaign usually wins.

The main places i heard the bnp getting in were blackburn and burnley (where we had a little race war the other year) where there seems to be a general perception that the asians(in our terminology) were getting special treatment from the council while the large white populace was getting neglected.

The BNP saw their opportunity and changed their image from far right nazis to champions of the downtrodden whites. Asian insularity didn't help the situation either. They erected "non white areas" all on their own and beat up a war veteran who was walking through the area. The BNP famously aquired a photo of the vet and used that as a device to manipulate more whites.

The whites were fed various political propagandas about how the asians were getting special treatment (conveniently glossing over how the asian areas were in more need of repair than white areas) and the public, shook up by race riots voted bnp.

The largely white population, coupled with voter apathy allowed some bnp members to gain council seats, but as far as i know they're banned from speaking in parliament or something. (i forget the specifics, but i remember the bnp leader wearing a gag and having a tshirt on saying "BANNED FOR SAYING THE TRUTH" or somesuch..maybe someone could state the specifics.

[Bob McDob]

Seriously. We're talking about a level of government which has, repeatedly, featured men wearing lobster suits.

Here in Hartlepool we elected a man in a monkey suit as our mayor. Beat that!

And I thought American politics was stupid...

American politics is stupid. From what I've heard, your populace is so stupid their brains will implode if they have more than two major political candidates(Or so say the Americans here who think having more than Reps and Dems as big timers will cause horrific things of every description). This is merely insanity.

It's just that in a democratic country with widespread citizenship, the majority of people will treat politics like a football game.

[TheDarkling]

(i forget the specifics, but i remember the bnp leader wearing a gag and having a tshirt on saying "BANNED FOR SAYING THE TRUTH" or somesuch..maybe someone could state the specifics.

Isn't that because Griffin can't proclaim his views on the Holocaust (or lack thereof in his opinion) under EU law?

I seem to remember him being asked about this on Sky news during the last by-elections and he kept saying he couldn't deny the Holocaust happened because EU law said it was illegal to do so, I'm not sure if that is true or not but given the European mainland’s very sensitive opinion on Nazis and Holocaust deniers it wouldn't surprise me.

[The Third Man]

The BNP saw their opportunity and changed their image from far right nazis to champions of the downtrodden whites. Asian insularity didn't help the situation either. They erected "non white areas" all on their own and beat up a war veteran who was walking through the area.

Yes, that's how I see it. The war veteran was in Oldham BTW - which, for those who don't know is a town very similar to the ones mentioned above, Burnley, Blackburn and now Batley which is where this latest councillor has been elected.

The whites were fed various political propagandas about how the asians were getting special treatment (conveniently glossing over how the asian areas were in more need of repair than white areas) and the public, shook up by race riots voted bnp.

The worrying thing is, the big Burnley riots were two years ago. The BNP won their big victory in Burnley (3 councillors) one year ago, and now they get a councillor into Batley. They aren't going away with time.

as far as i know they're banned from speaking in parliament or something. (i forget the specifics, but i remember the bnp leader wearing a gag and having a tshirt on saying "BANNED FOR SAYING THE TRUTH" or somesuch..maybe someone could state the specifics.

No, they would be allowed to speak in parliament AFAIK. I remember the bit with the gag & T-Shirt, IIRC this occurred when said leader (fuhrer?) stood for election as MP for Oldham. The authorities, fearing trouble, banned traditional post-election speeches by the unsuccessful candidates in the vote-counting place, but that was the extent of the ban.

Good point about the UK terminolgy and the word "Asian". To clarify for non-UK people: In the UK, when we talk about Asians, we are usually referring to Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

[Ubiquitous]

I used to live in Oldham, and believe me there is a problem. I was the subject of a racist attack in 2001 by a group of Islamic thugs who ganged up on me because I walked through a "No white zone".

Whether the BNP are the solution or not, I don't think so. What needs to be done at once is the assimiliation of immigrants into the British way of life and stop all this "multiculturalism" bullshit. When multiculturism means that I can't walk through my hometown without fearing I'll walk into a "No white" zone, I think it is a very bad thing.

I now live in a much nicer area, but I am moving in Sheffield as a student in two weeks and I am worried that there may be a repeat performance as I heard there is a large Islamic section to the city near my campus. I really don't want to have to resort to carrying an illegal weapon that could potentially ruin my life just to feel safe.