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Morons throwing the eggs would have most of you lot up against the wall come the revolution. Chucking eggs about will do nothing to address the the feelings of disenfranchisement and/or ignorance of the voters that put the BNP into Europe.
+1
So long as the BNP toe the right side of the law they can remain voicing the wrong side of ethics. Attacking or censoring them not only does little to prevent them but may akso inflame their beliefs further, especially if they are forced underground. The only way to prove anything effectively in these concerns is through debate, we must give them the freedom in order to prove them wrong and question the situation at the base. -
Both seem reasonable points to me...
http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/the-bnp-and-the-egging-laffer-curve/
And still they come … in response to the latest pieing episode (actually an egging of Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party), the usual crowd of wowsers and pursed-lip good-government types come out of the woodwork, sorrowfully wagging their fingers and telling us “this is just what the BNP want”, and “this sort of thing makes people sympathetic to the BNP”. And once more I say “where’s the evidence?” Nick Griffin certainly doesn’t look like he’s executing the culmination of a cunning master plan to gain favourable publicity – he looks like he’s being egged and not enjoying it. And I really don’t understand the sort of mind that would look at the chubby fascist with yolk running down his coupon and say to themselves “gosh they must have a really important point to make if the so-called anti-fascists have to stoop to these depths to silence them”. Rather than, say, my own reaction, which was roughly “Cracking shot, sir!”. As I’ve noted before, there’s a Laffer Curve implicit here. If nobody ever egged Nick Griffin, then he’d never get egged, which I presume nobody wants. On the other hand, if he was egged every single time he went out, then he’d never leave his house – result, no eggings. But I really don’t believe that we’re on the right hand side of that Laffer Curve, not yet.
And in this particular case, the egging itself is actually a very important speech act and a significant contribution to our national debate. Based on the fact that they got two MEPs elected, non-white British citizens might justifiably be looking with suspicion at their white neighbours today, thinking that a significant proportion of us were secretly harbouring fascist sympathies. In fact this isn’t true; the absolute number of BNP votes was slightly down on 2004, and their electoral success was purely an artefact of overall low turnout. It’s therefore an important point to be made, to our own population and to the world’s watching media, that Nick Griffin isn’t in fact a newly popular and influential political figure; he’s a widely reviled creep who not only doesn’t lead a phalanx of jackbooted supporters, but actually can’t even set up for a TV interview without being pelted with eggs. The voice of the British populace does not shout “Hail Griffin!”, it shouts, “Oi Fatty, cop this! [splat]”. And the only efficient and credible way to demonstrate to the world that Griffin is regarded as an eggworthy disgrace, is to actually and repeatedly pelt him with eggs.
One does worry about the “heckler’s veto”, however. Repulsive as the BNP’s message is, they do have a sacred democratic right to make themselves heard, and it would be a shame if the praiseworthy efforts of the egg-throwers were to stray into the excessive and unacceptable territory of silencing them from the debate. I therefore suggest the following compromise – Unite Against Fascism ought to agree to allow Nick Griffin to give his press conferences in peace and without interruption, and in return the BNP ought to schedule an opportunity at the end of each press conference for their leader to stand around being pelted with eggs.
I hope it’s not too extreme to point out that our granddads’ response to their generation’s Nazis was to bomb them and strafe them from the air; to shoot them with machine guns and rifles; torch them with flamethrowers, incendiaries and white phosphorus; to crush them with tanks, blow them up with grenades and high explosives and so on, and then march their supporters off to prison. I don’t know how people could’ve missed this, since we have well-publicised memorials at which we salute their courage for kicking Nazi arse so righteously, every single year.
Not that I think this would be a reasonable response to the BNP, of course, but it sure puts all this Oooo, we must understand the motivations of poor, misguided racists who consciously vote for Nazi organisations in perspective.
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I'd like to know what 'negatives' egging Griffin achieved? I can't think of one.
If your view of the group that did the throwing changed, I'd begin to think you're far too easily led.
People ask 'what it did achieve?', but I don't think it was a particularly backward step.
He has the right to voice his views, and we should have the right to throw harmless missiles at him. I would extend that to all bullshitting political aspirants from all parties. -
Both seem reasonable points to me...
that second point is so, so, so fucking stupid.
I thought it was quite funny.
No, you thought it was reasonable. :)
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No, you thought it was reasonable. :)
Not necessarily mutually exclusive... :)
I think it speaks for itself. The first paragraph is the "funny" one, and obviously not a very deep piece of analysis. The second paragraph is the "reasonable" one, particularly in its original context (a comment thread arising from an article about whether or not the left panders enough to people concerned about multiculturalism, ie racists).
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Nick Griffin egged in Parliament Square
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@dicki
it's great that he has one of those faces you'd love to punch, even before you know his so-called politics.