Friday 31 May 2013

Addman Gets Political

Last week a terrible incident occurred on the streets of Woolwich in the UK.  Two extremists brutally murdered a British soldier on the streets, in broad daylight and in front of bystanders, in the name of Islam.  But I’m not here to talk about.  Everything that has to be said about the incident has already been said.  I will, however, mention that the victim who is constantly referred to on the news as “drummer Lee Rigby” always reminds me of Eleanor Rigby.

“Drummer Lee Rigby, picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been…”

As stated, I’m not here to speak of the incident itself.  I am here to speak of the response to it.
Since this awful event occurred, the country seems to have been gripped by an unprecedented wave of Islamophobia.  Attacks on people based solely on religion have increased considerably in the last week, not to mention that several mosques have been attacked across the nation.  The main driving force behind this is the English Defence League, a group of meandering skinheads looking to fight anyone who doesn’t share their pigment or penchant for shirtless violence.  For those of you in America, imagine if the Tea Party had a couple of thousand undisciplined foot soldiers and you’ll be halfway there.

The EDL showed up at Westminster over the bank holiday to protest “against Islam”, which is something of a wide scope.  Rather than focus on extremist groups, the EDL have targeted the whole religion with one broadly racist stroke with their xenophobic paintbrush. Considering that there are 1 billion muslims on Earth, the EDL would have more success with a smaller focus group such as bald people, or people over the age of 80, but hey, if you’re going to fight extremists, you’d better be prepared to go to the extremes.  Right?

Despite calling themselves the English Defence League in order to draw comparisons to the Justice League (although I would be inclined to at least listen to them if they had Batman amongst their numbers), I’m unsure as to what the EDL are defending us against.  If this video is anything to go by, I think the English Defence League is just as confused about their defensive responsibilities:



Their general message seems to be that they “preserve the British way of life”.  In their minds, that translates to swilling enough lager to chew through a rhinoceros liver and telling 3rd generation Asians who are British nationals and lived in London all their lives to “go back home”.
If that’s British life, I don’t want it to be preserved.  I want British morals to erode if those morals amount to getting so pissed every weekend that you wind up putting your penis in a bottle bank.  For a country that has thousands of years’ worth of history, our culture doesn’t exactly amount to much.  Coronation Street and liver failure isn’t the foundation for a proud institution.
I would argue that immigration brings a lot to the country.  Immigrants bring new skills, new cultures, and newness all round.  When your average Brit is content to move to Southern France or Spain as soon as they earn enough money, not to mention the average white British layabout who considers a job in McDonalds to be “beneath” him, someone needs to fill in the skills gap.  Our service and medicine industries are propped up by immigration policies.  It’s certainly nothing that we need to be defended against.

This seems to be the main stumbling point for the English Defence League.  For a defensive protest group, I don’t feel very well defended by them.  I want to be defended from the type of logic loops that lead to blind hate.  I want to be defended from football hooligans who join their protests in the hopes of a good, old fashioned ruck.  I want to be defended against getting glassed through blind hatred.  Frankly, I don’t feel that the EDL will provide the kind of support I need.  I’m sure my lack of support for them would lead to a prompt Newky Brown bottle to the face and a blood transfusion.  At least Batman defended Gotham even when the city despised him.  Yes, I like Batman, so what?

I was hoping that this was a short lived fad, but it appears that the campaign of hate is gathering steam.  Over 50 demonstrations across England are set to take place tomorrow.  Who will defend us against the defenders?  Perhaps a strategic retreat would be the best plan.

16 comments:

  1. Whenever people tell me how Islam is a religion steeped in extremism that demands violence of its practitioners, I remind them that Kareem Abdul Jabar (the basketball player and dare I say star of the movie Airplane) doesn't seem to want to hurt anyone. Maybe it's because Christians haven't had a good holy war in a few hundred years so it's either Muslims or gay people. Also, "swilling enough lager to chew through a rhinoceros liver" is what I use for a breathalyzer on Saturday nights.

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    1. I doubt the EDL could really be classed as Christians either, in the sense of practising church-going Christians anyway. I doubt their hatred is more complicated than "foreigners filling up my country!"

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  2. There are a few political blog posts today. I hereby declare May 31st as Political Friday... Day.

    Anyway, the solution is simple. Establish the EDLATEDL (English Defense League Against The English Defense League). In all seriousness though, we experience the occasional influx of anti-Islam in the states whenever we need someone to place the blame on. It can never be the act of a lone wolf because when that person is apprehended, we'd have no one left to hate. Therefore, we turn to whatever religion/creed they've adopted.

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    1. I'd like to see extremists operating for silly, made up organisations.

      "I'm setting off this bomb to promote the cause of Poopy Pants. This one's for all you Poopers out there!"

      It'd be funny to see these groups starting a campaign against Poopy Pants.

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  3. I have no idea what they're really defending is from but they are pretty moronic. I wanted to laugh earlier in the week because the EDL condemned a member who did a Nazi salute, and said he didn't represent the group as a whole. The irony and stupidity of the EDL doing something like that is so off the charts it actually can't be laughed at. I really wish it was a fad too, but I think it probably started with UKIP really. I'm incredibly surprised it hasn't resorted to riots yet. Pleased too of course, but mostly surprised.

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    1. I'm half expecting riots this weekend. The EDL is marching in 50 different towns and cities, and most of these have a counter-protest planned so there are bound to be clashes. Plus, the BNP is resurfacing as Nick Griffin is marching through London.

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  4. A point well made Mr Addman, although I can see why they don't want to work in McDonald's, they are sticking out for the front of house post at Lyons Tea Rooms.

    A few years ago several staff got the sack from the local McDonald's when it was discovered that they were testing that the griddle was hot enough to cook on by spitting on it. . . . . enough said me thinks

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    1. Oooo yes the staff in question were good local Welsh born and bred by the way and McDonald's was like WOW posh.

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    2. That is disgusting. Everyone knows you should test the heat of your griddle by sneezing on it. Amateurs...

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  5. A couple of notes on the recent actions of the EDL (Why do I think they provide electricity??) While they were protesting outside of a pub in Woolwich (which turned out to be a gay bar - something else I don't think they like) They were seen on live TV shouting "No surrender! NO SURRENDER!! NOoooo surrender to the ..." at which point they seemed to forget who it is they are supposed to be angry at and it all fell to shit.

    Although my favourite part of their so called actions was when they turned out in full force (okay 12 of them) outside a Mosque to protest about what ever it was they were angry about and the local Muslim leaders retaliated in the best way possible ..... by making cups of tea and sharing a plate of biscuits.

    How brilliant is that?

    Fighting Racist morons with a nice cuppa and some custard creams.

    The other thing about these so called English Defence League types is the fact that nobody seems to have told them that the St. George of the the St Georges flag they wave around, is in fact a Turkish man and was probably made in china and the Beer they gulp down by the gallon in order to brave up and confront a non existent enemy who isn't there is probably French or at best German.

    HAHAHAHA fuck you racists. You are less than nothing.


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    1. Oooooooo you're lovely when your angry Mr H, fancy a custard cream.

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    2. I can always be turned by a custard cream. People buy them for birthdays. It doesn't take much to please me.... although it doesn't last. The grump within me always wins.
      I'm more like the incredible SULK than HULK hahahaha.

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    3. Hahaha, that is probably the best way to tackle extremists. By offering them tea and biscuits, that just makes the EDL appear more blindly intolerant than they already are.

      I would be disappointed with custard creams as a birthday present. Don't settle for anything less than Jammie Dodgers

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  6. I could have said it better myself Addman...sorry, I meant I COULDN'T have said it better myself.
    My opinions on this, would take up too much room, so I'll just echo what Rob Z said, which is a point well made. Well done. :)

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    1. Ta Lily! Don't worry about filling up my comments section with your opinions, it gives me something to read on my way to work.

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  7. These far-right groups frighten me, because people start buying into what they say when there is an economic crisis.

    God, the EDL is so stupid. They have absolutely no critical political goal, like protests movements should. They simply want loud racism and hooliganism.

    Now they will pick on Muslims. Tomorrow it will be Polish people. Then Asian, etc, etc, etc...

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