Blog On The Motorway

On days like this, I don’t really know what to say. Last night my region went and elected a former National Front leader and hatemonger to be our representative in the European parliament.

Great.

This is the sour part of free speech. It’s a principle I would defend at all costs, but this is that cost.  120,000 people voted BNP in Yorkshire alone. That’s a lot of people to discount as protest votes. We can only hope that these people are lacking a basic understanding of the effects of the BNP’s policies, and have been led down these paths by certain elements of the right wing press (I’m looking at you Littlejohn and Dale) who have pushed so many lies about immigration that they start to sound like truth.  The other side of the coin is that there really that many people who would like to see Britain as an institutionally racist and fascistic state.

The other fact to consider is that it is the erosion of mainstream politicians ability to appeal to people that is responsible. The BNP were elected in Manchester with less votes than they got at the last European elections, due to not losing as much ground as the main parties.

The great thing about freedom of speech is that it allows us to confront the worst of society in open and honest debate, in the hope that reason will prevail in the end, and that the hatred which appeals to the basest nature of man cannot stand against logic and reason. But clearly the argument is not holding up as it should, and every one of us needs to do what we can to inform as many people as we can, and more importantly have our voices heard each and every time in every election by going out and voting.

Until then, we can only hope that the presence of two BNP MEPs will not damage our country too badly over the next four years.