24/03/2021
I am always shocked and saddened at the weight with which xenophobia weighs heavily on our society. The discrimination that some proudly display is a vulgar stain on our country; something that I am terribly ashamed to witness.
I do not understand how so many people seem to believe that they are better than others, purely by the accident of where they were born. I say 'accident', as it is clearly not something that they themselves have influenced.
We are born to parents who, more often than not, were also born into the same community as us.
None of this makes us any better, nor any worse, than anyone else.
For many, it seems, there is importance to be applied to where we are born, the colour of our skin, our sex at birth, the gender we identify as, our sexual preferences and / or the religion (or lack of) we follow.
This concept is, I believe, abhorrent.
Every one of us was, in terms of real worth, born equal. Whether we were born in England or Scotland, Myanmar or Canada, Ethiopia or Syria, the USA or anywhere else; we are the same.
We may not have the same privileges; the access to education, healthcare and financial security. But, as human beings, we are all born equal.
Sadly, not everyone agrees.
Every day, I see posts on social media that show utter contempt for people based upon their ethnicity, their religion or other aspects that do not decide our worth.
Very often, these people will cite reasons to justify their xenophobia. Their arguments are, more often than not, driven by the hatred propagated by ugly people who seek to use people's fears and encourage generations of indoctrinated discrimination.
We have to bring an end to the bequeathing of xenophobia from one generation to another.
We have to unite in objecting to social media posts that encourage hatred.
The posts like the one above get shared on Facebook, and elsewhere, with the aim of stoking hatred.and firing up a sense of outrage.
In this particular example:
The first point refers to the date on which Stephen Yaxley-Lennon was convicted of contempt of court for illegally streaming a live video from outside a court, risking the case being brought against some sexual predators. He was doing this, not to protect innocent victims, but to encourage race hate. Had it been to protect the innocent, he would have been campaigning about the groups of white men who groomed guardians of babies and toddlers, leading to their sexual abuse and rape. If he was truly siding with the victims, he'd have acted on the members of his own group who have been identified as active paedophiles. No, Yaxley-Lennon cares not for the innocent victim. He just cares about spreading his hate and his lies.
The second point referred to the advert placed by a Brexiteer in a national newspaper, bemoaning that the UK did not leave the EU at 11:00 p..m. that night. What it fails to recognise, is that the true betrayal of democracy in the UK was allowing Vote Leave and Leave.EU to use lies, deliberate misinformation, and xenophobic messaging to attract the votes needed to con the British public into abandoning the most successful trading partnership in the world. History will document the shame of the UK on this point.
I honestly don't know what the third point refers to. Those who commit sexual offences against children are, understandably, abhorred by virtually everyone in society. No one, not the law nor the citizens of the UK, wishes to protect the perpetrator rather than the victim. Are punishments for those who sexually assault children as harsh as we would like? Almost definitely not. Do we wish we could protect all children from abuse? Most definitely yes. So, as far as I can see, the point was just to create a sense of outrage that can be used to create more hate.
The final point pushes the frequent lie about immigrants getting benefits that aren't available to UK citizens; deliberately stoking anger at the thought of our veterans being left homeless. Aside from there being no connection between what happens to immigrants and the plight of ex-service personnel, it promotes lies about is actually given to immigrants. Any migrants that get 'luxury' accommodation, get it by way of them purchasing it with the money they arrived with. The migrants that arrive and are provided with accommodation by the UK, most certainly do not get luxury. This is just the lies spread by the odious Nigel Farage and his cronies.
The sooner we stop allowing the xenophobes that create and push these messages to share their hatred, the better.
We must not blame every individual that shares their posts. Most of them do so because they have been suckered by the fear and mistrust, and not because they truly have hate in their heart.
But, whilst we should not blame them, we should most definitely challenge their posts and apparent support for ugly ideas. By doing this, in a positive manner, we might just manage to stop the spread of these hateful messages.
Commentaires