Tommy Robinson

[Jon the Hat]

2 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

Each to their own. I'd rather we didn't give someone like him any platform whatsoever. 

Platforms are great for pointing and laughing at people's stupidity, and they also help us to understand what is out there.  Too easy for things to be spread unnoticed with the internet.

[Alf Bentley]

10 minutes ago, Dr The Singh said:

I'm struggling with this white working class against the elite, is it only white working class that are being downtrodden, not any others?

 

Common sense would say, that the elite do not care about colour?

 

He's mainly into using issues like Islamist terrorism and the implication of some Pakistani Muslims in child abuse to encourage hatred of Muslims more widely.

Those are serious issues that need to be addressed, obviously, but not to be used to stoke resentment of a whole community.

He makes a point of being very positive about some other communities (e.g. Sikhs) so as to deny suggestions that he's a racist and to depict himself as an English working-class hero.

 

[CosbehFox]

18 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

Others have mostly summed up the bloke and the grounds for his arrest (Breach of Peace, not Contempt of Court this time, I think). There'll also be plenty about him online.

 

Quite apart from the risk of prejudicing the trial and causing its collapse and the release of people facing serious charges, there's the issue of anonymity.

Apparently there are designated areas in and around courts where you cannot take photos or film - to avoid identifying unnamed accused, witnesses or family members of victims arriving at court.....obviously very good reasons for that.

Robinson was arrested filming in one of the prohibited areas. Either he is massively stupid, as he could have legally filmed nearby, or he did it deliberately so as to be arrested and to portray himself as a victim.

 

I tend to think it was deliberate - him seeking victim status. He's always come across to me as cunning and calculating, not a moron at all. When he was arrested, he was quite calm, apparently half-expecting it - and had others on hand to film his arrest and get that online to promote his image as a victim and to thereby build popular support for himself as a leader of "working-class English people downtrodden by the elite" etc. Sounds as if he has been quite successful in achieving his aims.

 

A bit worrying that some people (though not those posting here) are seeing him as a victim or martyr (as he intended).

I've said for ages that a lot of the conditions are in place for an upsurge in the Far Right - and this bloke is a candidate to lead it.

He states at the start of his stream ‘I could be arrested today’ 

 

He’s a known fraudster (convicted on insurance fraud). It’s all a game 

[Dr The Singh]

4 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

He's mainly into using issues like Islamist terrorism and the implication of some Pakistani Muslims in child abuse to encourage hatred of Muslims more widely.

Those are serious issues that need to be addressed, obviously, but not to be used to stoke resentment of a whole community.

He makes a point of being very positive about some other communities (e.g. Sikhs) so as to deny suggestions that he's a racist and to depict himself as an English working-class hero.

 

Sounds like he is trying to polarise the Brits, playing on the negatives sides and playing a game of 'i have black friends, hence I cant be a racist's.'

 

I'm assuming his following is really small, and hence he can be just ignored?

[Sharpe's Fox]

Awful man who is unintentially removing the working class from the legitimate political process by playing to the divide and and rule tactics of the corporate elite.

[Dr The Singh]

I hear he has been asked to provide 'unconcious bias' training for Star Bucks.

[Babylon]

11 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

He states at the start of his stream ‘I could be arrested today’ 

 

He’s a known fraudster (convicted on insurance fraud). It’s all a game 

He's a brand, he makes his living by peddling shite to the masses of dimwitted and easily led like Hopkins

[Manwell Pablo]

23 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

He's mainly into using issues like Islamist terrorism and the implication of some Pakistani Muslims in child abuse to encourage hatred of Muslims more widely.

Those are serious issues that need to be addressed, obviously, but not to be used to stoke resentment of a whole community.

He makes a point of being very positive about some other communities (e.g. Sikhs) so as to deny suggestions that he's a racist and to depict himself as an English working-class hero.

 

 

I don't believe he is racist.

 

He's a total islamaphobe if that's still the buzz word being used, as much as he likes to deny it, race does not come into it. He hates Muslims of all colours and is very supportive of other Asian religions. He hates the religion not the skin colour.

 

He's tried several ways of proving that this isn't the case and he wants to change Islam for the better but he always reverts to his extremist actions at some point, he can't help himself.

 

As I've said before in a similar thread , he is a product of his surroundings and upbringing. And it is hard to argue Islamic extremism isn't a problem, some of the points he makes are totally valid even if I don't agree with his way of tackling the issue.

 

If we want to tackle right wing and Islamic extremism then some serious money has to be spent in places like Yorkshire and Luton getting into schools and communities and improving diversity and education on both sides.

Edited 29 May 2018 by Manwell Pablo

[ealingfox]

Pretty damning indictment on the deterioration of our country that this guy is now seen as an accepted political activist and has so many people agreeing with him.

 

Even in this thread you've got right wingers rationalizing him and making excuses for him. Oh he's just stupid, he's daft etc. Have a day off. The guy is a bad person and an out-and-out criminal. How many times has he been sent down now? Violent crimes, mortgage fraud, contempt of court, you name it. If you're taken in by the fact that he can string a full sentence together like the knuckle-draggers that stand behind him then you're just as thick as they are.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Get new friends.

[Kopfkino]

46 minutes ago, Dr The Singh said:

Just out of interest, what freedoms are the white working class fighting for?

 

Probably the most extreme person I've spoken to over this says that white people are being oppressed by Islam and the elites turn a blind eye to it as it is also their goal.

[urban.spaceman]

I don't like him much - sometimes he is on the cusp of good points but his terminology and rhetoric lets him down. It's fine to critique Islam but not OK to demonise Muslims, which he tends to generalise a lot. But personally I don't believe he's a racist.

 

For me he represents the failure of the authorities to deal with other problems. Better integration in Luton and around the UK, stamping out extremist activities and not protecting Islamists burning poppies at Wooten Basset as dead soldiers were returning, might not have resulted in him creating the EDL. Now he has 750,000 followers on Facebook and 450K signing a petition to have him released. 

 

Calling him and those people far right racists is not only too easy but it more importantly doesn't solve anything; it's a lazy attempt to avoid a conversation with your enemies in the hope that they'll go away. We know from Brexit and Trump that it can achieve the absolute opposite. I've always been a lefty but this is what truly infuriates me about the left.

 

I also find it unsettling that some people are gleefully hoping that he gets killed in prison. Then you really will have a martyr on your hands. 

[Dr The Singh]

15 minutes ago, Kopfkino said:

 

Probably the most extreme person I've spoken to over this says that white people are being oppressed by Islam and the elites turn a blind eye to it as it is also their goal.

Okay, interesting how people perceive the threat of Islam.

[Saxondale]

Contempt of Court is not some new law or obscure technicality. It's one of the oldest laws in the land and he's broken it. The word 'idiot' doesn't do him justice.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

56 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

Each to their own. I'd rather we didn't give someone like him any platform whatsoever. 

Although I don't disagree with you in this instance I think statements like that are very dangerous, who is to say who get a platform and who doesn't? 

[RonnieTodger]

1 hour ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

I don't think there's a lot of difference. Griffin whips up those who are openly racist.

 

Yaxley-Lennon (I'll call him by his actual, Irish heritage name) whips up the dangerous, 'quiet' side of racism and does more conversion of brains than a laughable Griffin does. In same way Hopkins isn't far behind (her media compliant against the Mirror where she'd rather see a story correctly labelling her charged with racist hatred rather than possession of drugs says all you need to know about her and 'the machine' she creates). 

 

There's two very sad facets to the events of this weekend which are missed by his support.

 

Firstly he's gave opportunity to a mistrial and the court case will have consecutive hearings due to the sheer number of accused (29). This likely to end in September and reporting restrictions are then released. 

 

There is part of his bandwagon which is downright fraud. There will be donations made for legal support which were in some deluded good faith but lining his pockets. 

 

 

 

I would say Hopkins is worse and I don't think she actually believes what she says. They're all morons and I've no complaints about him getting arrested, but I don't think he's this 21st century Hitler that he's made out to be.

 

[Manwell Pablo]

23 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

I don't like him much - sometimes he is on the cusp of good points but his terminology and rhetoric lets him down. It's fine to critique Islam but not OK to demonise Muslims, which he tends to generalise a lot. But personally I don't believe he's a racist.

 

For me he represents the failure of the authorities to deal with other problems. Better integration in Luton and around the UK, stamping out extremist activities and not protecting Islamists burning poppies at Wooten Basset as dead soldiers were returning, might not have resulted in him creating the EDL. Now he has 750,000 followers on Facebook and 450K signing a petition to have him released. 

 

Calling him and those people far right racists is not only too easy but it more importantly doesn't solve anything; it's a lazy attempt to avoid a conversation with your enemies in the hope that they'll go away. We know from Brexit and Trump that it can achieve the absolute opposite. I've always been a lefty but this is what truly infuriates me about the left.

 

I also find it unsettling that some people are gleefully hoping that he gets killed in prison. Then you really will have a martyr on your hands. 

 

Never a truer word said.

 

The left's intolerance to alternate opinions has a lot to answer for in terms of the world we find ourselves living in. 

 

 

[CosbehFox]

31 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

Calling him and those people far right racists is not only too easy but it more importantly doesn't solve anything; it's a lazy attempt to avoid a conversation with your enemies in the hope that they'll go away. We know from Brexit and Trump that it can achieve the absolute opposite. I've always been a lefty but this is what truly infuriates me about the left.

 

I also find it unsettling that some people are gleefully hoping that he gets killed in prison. Then you really will have a martyr on your hands. 

Very well said - also like or not, it seems very 'stereotype' but there is a working class, white population in this country what feel left behind. Is that the failure of the country or those people to 'evolve' ? Let's have a proper debate with intelligence than batting it down. 

[leicsmac]

Can't really say much more than what has already been said, other than adding that perhaps the greatest dividing line in this country (unlike in say, the US) isn't race or religion but social class wrt income or name - and yet there doesn't seem to be that much said about that particular area of inequality.

[leicsmac]

20 minutes ago, Manwell Pablo said:

 

Never a truer word said.

 

The left's intolerance to alternate opinions has a lot to answer for in terms of the world we find ourselves living in. 

 

 

It's a tricky one - yeah, there may be legitimate concerns about the various inequalities in the world today, but Trump, Robinson, Spencer et al really aren't the answer, not when the intent of they and those behind them is pretty clearly to re-establish a white Christian priority ethnostate ala the last few centuries in various places. I find it difficult to blame folks who have spent a long time being demonised simply because of who they are, not what they've done, continuing to make a noise about it to ensure that inequality doesn't raise its head again.

 

So yes, enough folks are talking about this that it needs to be discussed, but hopefully there's some middle ground to be found somewhere.

 

13 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Very well said - also like or not, it seems very 'stereotype' but there is a working class, white population in this country what feel left behind. Is that the failure of the country or those people to 'evolve' ? Let's have a proper debate with intelligence than batting it down. 

Sort of ties in with what I said above, but IMO those people haven't been left behind by the Muslims/black people/insert boogeyman here, but by other white people of greater social class than they. They're targetting the wrong people, and being stirred up by people like Robinson for his own benefit.

[Babylon]

52 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

Calling him and those people far right racists is not only too easy but it more importantly doesn't solve anything; it's a lazy attempt to avoid a conversation with your enemies in the hope that they'll go away. We know from Brexit and Trump that it can achieve the absolute opposite. I've always been a lefty but this is what truly infuriates me about the left.

I've seen a video of his EDL days, where someone came on stage with him at a rally and said "send the black ***** home" to a massive cheer from seemingly everyone there. I've been unwittingly caught up in a march and from first hand experience it's not lazy to say his movement was filled with racists... they were and little was done to discourage them.

 

He's a fairly smart bloke and he's smart enough to position himself in a way as to not be seen as racist. But you only have to stray into facebook conversations, comments sections or actual events to see that much of the crowd he's playing to absolutely are.

 

Sure, there is a discussion that can be had about about a lot of what he says, there is a grain of truth in there which might have been a worth while discussion, before he used it to fan the flames of the baying mob that often follow him. A group that don't stop at just questioning Islam, they take it a step further, for which people need to accept he has to share some culpability.

[Finnegan]

50 minutes ago, Manwell Pablo said:

 

Never a truer word said.

 

The left's intolerance to alternate opinions has a lot to answer for in terms of the world we find ourselves living in. 

 

 

 

Please don't do that, it's infuriating. 

 

Spoiled middle class Neo Liberal white people* on twitter aren't "the left" any more than Tommy Robinson is the right. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(*edit: or Diane Abbott.)

Edited 29 May 2018 by Finnegan

[Manwell Pablo]

2 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Please don't do that, it's infuriating. 

 

Spoiled middle class Neo Liberal white people on twitter aren't "the left" any more than Tommy Robinson is the right. 

 

You only have to look at the first page of this page of this thread to see it extends beyond Spoiled Liberal White  people on twitter. 

 

 

 

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

I have watched him before and felt sorry for him, seems a bit of a Don Quixote who really believes what he is saying and believes there is a nobility in his cause.  Really believes he's fighting the good fight

 

But maybe thats going a bit easy on the guy

[m4DD0gg]

The guy broke the law after repeatedely being warned so got what he deserved. 

 

At the same time he was drawing attention to one of the most horrendous crimes this country has seen in recent years which mainstream media won't report on fear of upsetting certain ethnic minorities.