03/03/2021
Last week, the repugnant, odious xenophobe that claimed Brexit as a victory, continued his campaign of hate by Tweeting yet another lie.
The garbage spewing Farage has never allowed facts to get in the way of spreading his hateful messages. His lies and deliberately misleading diatribes can never be trusted.
However, the fact that his Tweet had, at the time of the screen shot, attracted 20,000 likes, 6,524 retweets and 823 quote Tweets, shows just how quickly his hate can reach a large audience. I decided to have a look at the actual Tweet myself this morning, Wednesday 3rd March, and see how many of the responses were supportive of his lies, and how many were calling him out for his rampant xenophobia. I was unsuccessful, as it appears that Twitter has removed the Tweet, determining that it had breached Twitter's rules.
Farage's Tweet was however shared by various people, pointing out the fact that the Home Office responded to Farage's lies, making it clear that none of the 12 people on the boat tested positive for COVID.
Nonetheless, many people sought to show support for Farage and his lies. Some questioned whether the Home Office could be trusted; that surely their response was the lie.
This is simply the act of xenophobes wishing to cast doubt on anything that highlights the dishonesty of their hero. These people seem unable to admit when Farage has been shown to have lied; they either argue that he hadn't lied or ignore the lie and try and support the message regardless.
As well as the many famous people who re-Tweeted Farage's lie, along with the response from the Home Office, a friend of mine posted about it on Facebook. I have sought to hide the names of the individual posters, aside from myself. My intent in this opinion piece is not to attack the individuals who embrace Farage's hateful ideology; but simply to address the ideology itself.
It didn't take long for the bigots to start supporting Farage.
I addressed the first response, basically asking to think about the plight of those who have experienced a hazardous and arduous journey and, perhaps, just think about the odious lies that people like Farage push. It's worth noting that the final comment in the screenshot above was made by the same individual who made the first comment.
His response to my question left me, almost, speechless.
I sent him an initial response and, later, when I was able to sit down and consider it, wrote something more detailed.
The more detailed response was shared by way of a link to a pdf document, which I have copied below. I was going to provide the link to the actual document, but that would reveal the name of the individual that I had the 'debate' with and, as I have already said, I did not wish to do this on this occasion.
My Response:
So, [Name Removed], let’s start with the initial point; about these people entering the country illegally.
You are of course right, the dozen that came in the boat that led to Nigel Farage’s latest xenophobic lies did come here illegally. I cannot dispute that, as it is of course a fact.
However, having made the decision to come to the UK, they are really left with little choice. It is not exactly easy for people to successfully apply for asylum when running from war-torn lands, or fleeing oppression in states where their fear for their lives due to their religion or sexuality. They can’t, sensibly or easily, fill in a few forms and book an appointment at their nearest British Consulate.
There is a significant difference between the ability of a UK citizen to sit in the comfort of their living room and apply for an the right go come and live and work in another country, such as Canada, Australia or New Zealand, and the ability of someone petrified about being bombed out of their home, being imprisoned of tortured without having committed a crime, fearful of being killed by their home state, applying for the chance of a new and safe life.
You then reference them wishing to integrate with our countries (sic) laws and traditions. In your comment, you are implying that they do not wish to integrate with us, or comply with our laws. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I don’t know what you base your comments upon, but I base my views on actual evidence - and not just recent evidence.
We used to show compassion.
I recall when the Vietnamese ‘boat people’ came to the UK. When their children joined us in the classrooms of UK schools. They embraced the opportunity for friendships with fellow students and enthusiastically welcomed the opportunity to learn in schools.
The people coming here now are hardly able to integrate, when herded together and placed in internment camps, away from our citizens. Their integration is also made difficult, when racists and xenophobes, encouraged by the absolute scourge of our society; people like Farage, Yaxley-Lennon and Golding, spew hate towards them, rather than compassion.
You refer to boatloads of young men, ignoring the plight of the women and children that also come here seeking refuge.
You reassert your mistaken view that these people don’t want to integrate; something touted by bigots like Farage in his (sadly too successful) attempt to encourage others to share the hate. Then you you say that they are after ‘freebies’ and ‘eventual conquest’.
They don’t come here for freebies, but rather for the chance to work hard and create new lives for themselves. The lies about them wanted to sponge off our society are quite ridiculous and the people that trot such nonsense out are frequently duped by claims that they get to jump the housing queue, or receive massively more than UK citizens. These lies are created with the sole intent of spreading hared.
As for suggesting they come here for conquest, I am actually shocked that you could make that allegation. It really does bear belief.
The UK have been a key contributor to the disruption that exists in so many parts of the world, enabling dictators when it suits us and pushing for their displacement without thinking about the consequences. We’re a nation that did seek to conquest; who tore through other nations, murdering millions and forcing people to adopt the Christian faith.
And yet you assert that these poor souls fleeing danger are actually coming to try and take over? That really is staggeringly ignorant.
Next, you make reference to overseas aid. I’m still trying to work out why you made that point. Are you suggesting that these people should feel so grateful that out government sent money, that may or may not have got anywhere near them as individuals, that they should never think of coming and burdening the UK with their presence? Are you saying that these frightened individuals headed here because of finding out that we sent aid to their countries? It doesn’t matter which of these is the case, if indeed it is either of them, there is no logic behind it.
The overseas aid that we, and many other countries, hand out each year, does not remove our wider obligations to provide safe harbour to those who need it.
You then spout even more nonsense; alleging that these people hate the British. Perhaps you’d care to enlighten us with details of how you developed this belief. It is a notion that literally makes no sense. Do you really believe that someone who has experienced true horror and constant fear of death, who has undertaken an incredibly dangerous journey and probably seen friends and family die along the way, does that whilst intentionally seeking out a country where they hate the people who inhabit their final destination?
They head here because they hear good things about the people. They hear about the opportunity to work hard and build a future, free from the constant fear that existed in their homeland.
And again, you refer to benefits. And again, you’re wrong. Unless they are successful in being granted asylum, they get very little in the way of support. If they do become successful, they certainly don’t get additional benefits. And, without doubt, they would far prefer to be permitted to work and support themselves; but we make that impossible to do legally.
That’s the UK’s fault. We should enable them to work and assimilate; it would be to everyone’s advantage if we did.
When you mention the fact that they have, by the time they take on that last perilous journey across the North Sea, travelled through many safe countries, it makes it sound as if you don’t realise the vast majority do actually end their journeys elsewhere. A few facts for you to consider:
6.7 million people have fled conflict in Syria, and many more are displaced inside the country. Turkey is the biggest refugee hosting country in the world. At the end of 2019 Turkey was providing safety to 3.6 million Syrian refugees.
In proportion to its population, the UK ranks 16th in Europe for asylum applications
85% of the world’s refugees are living in countries neighbouring their country of origin, often in developing countries.
In 2018, the UK received just 6% of all asylum applications in the EU – Germany and France both received at least double the amount of applications. Furthermore, asylum seekers are a tiny fraction of new arrivals to the UK: the government’s statistics show that 625,000 people arrived in the UK for the year ending June 2018, but just 37,453 were seeking sanctuary here.
There’s a whole wealth of data that shows the UK is not the top destination for asylum seekers, but Farage and his cronies try and paint a fictitious picture of everyone heading here.
I never mentioned a utopia, and I certainly never suggested we are all the same. I’m also not advocating a socialist state, although every one of our leading political parties embodies varying degrees of socialism, in that we look after the most vulnerable in our societies.
Moving onto crime statistics and immigration, this has been the sort of thing trotted out by xenophobes seeking to justify their bile for years. It has been debunked by numerous studies. Typically, across the world and not just in the UK, immigration (including refugees) brings the overall crime rate down.
Immigrants, including refugees, are far more likely to be the victim of crime rather than the perpetrator. Sadly, they are also far less likely to report the crimes against them.
Your final words really are a disgusting twist on reality.
As an aside…
The UN Refugee Convention does not mandate that refugees seek asylum in the first safe country they reach.
There was an EU directive about countries having the right to seek to return asylum seekers to the first EU country they arrived in, which is frankly ridiculous given that this would put virtually the whole burden on Greece.
However, given the nonsense views you’ve shared, I’m guessing you voted to leave the EU and are happy to be free of their regulations.
End of response.
It took a little while for the individual to further respond and, sadly, it seemed he had still not adopted the
When xenophobes try and argue their position, it is clear that facts don't matter. A case in point, is saying that the murder of Lee Rigby as an example of crime undertaken by immigrants!
At the time of penning this piece, those were the final exchanges on the subject between the two of us.
I continue to be ashamed of the increase in racism and xenophobia we have seen since the 2016 EU referendum, and indeed in the period running up to that vote. It's not so much that a large percentage of the population has embraced racism and xenophobia, but rather that those who held those views feel more emboldened to publicly share them.
I desperately hope that we can find a way to address this hate. I'd love for us to be able to educate these people, to help them see that the beliefs they have are built upon lies and deliberately twisted information.
People like Farage will take individual facts and do all they can to manipulate them to suit their agenda.
If we are going to bring an end to the hatred and discrimination, it is up to ordinary people to stand up and challenge the hatred wherever and whenever it is shared.
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