Hello everyone I know and don’t know,
You who are aware of my views or are due to learn them, and would call yourself opposed. There is no category for you, not strictly left or right – not even enemy, as so many of you I call friends.
I will start with a demand. We will not be put at rift by this, neither is any statement of mine intent on finding one where no such rift exists. If I called you friend yesterday, I will call you friend tomorrow. If what I say offends you, I am truly sorry and beg forgiveness. But I must speak.
My position, loud and clear, is this :
I condemn the right-wing riots.
Many of you will know that my opinions are and have always been unashamedly right-wing. I tend to support right-wing political candidates. I openly advocate right-wing policies. I call myself a Capitalist, a Conservative, a Libertarian, a Traditionalist and a Nationalist. I love Britain and her people. I like the monarchy. I value democracy, free-speech, Christianity. I despise taxation, authoritarianism, and strict rationalism.
So then, why do I condemn the rioters? Shouldn’t I come out in full support of the nationalist, anti-immigration, right-wing message wherever it manifests in the public eye?
Because, ultimately, I oppose protest. No matter what opinion I hold, I don’t have the right to inconvenience, vandalise or harm. No matter what change I wish to see; no matter what problem I want to have addressed; no matter how right I think I am. The message should stay a message, because the sharpest words are softer than the dullest blade. Whatever the utility of protest, it will always be weakened by the escalation it provides, as it becomes harder to return to civility. Therefore, I condemn the rioters.
If you are thinking about going to any riots, or protests however peaceful, don’t.
Stay at home. Speak, with your voice, or a pen, or keyboard. Do not riot.
However, I didn’t write all this to say only that.
Now you know my position, I have to turn my attention to you. You who oppose my views. You who perhaps are left-wing, communist, socialist, authoritarian, globalist, “anti-fascist”. Or maybe you don’t know what kind of alignment you are, but you’ve heard being right-wing is pretty bad these days… wasn’t Hitler right wing after all?
You oppose my views, and you have the right to and I freely welcome it. I have time and again welcomed your debate, and given you my answers. However, now I need answers from you.
I have yet to hear YOU condemn the protests.
No… not these right-wing riots… I heard you all vehemently condemn those ones. I mean the left-wing riots. I have above condemned the actions of those who I should for all intents and purposes call bedfellows, those on my side of the aisle. I have perhaps made an enemy of my fellow Britons, by not defending these protests, instead speaking against those vile among them who have done great wrong. I have condemned my own. But YOU have not condemned your own.
The silence has been long. You did not condemn Black Lives Matter, as they burned cities to the ground on an unprecedented scale for months on end. You did not condemn the violence of masked Antifa thugs against anyone wearing a red cap. Violence dispensed against political opponents.
You did not condemn the lunatics gluing themselves to roads, blockading motorways and defacing precious works of art, all in the name of the doomsday cult of climate agenda – Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain, Just Stop Oil, etc. You did not condemn the protesters regarding the war in Palestine, who posed so much of a threat that the Speaker of the House of Commons expressed his fears for the safety of his fellow MPs.
No, you’ve been pretty silent regarding those protests.
Maybe it’s because, as you said over and over, that you stand with the rioters. That the protests are an “essential component of evolution”, and that “the people’s voices must be heard”. Maybe you took a knee for those protesters. Maybe you cheered when they “punched a Nazi”, or threw the milkshake, or bricks, or bike-locks.
When I said that I didn’t agree that everyone has a right to protest, I was met with some opposition to this idea. I argued that a protester is entitled and believes above all things that they are right. I argued that elevating your grievance beyond the workings of democracy or legal action is unhelpful and unbecoming of a civil society. Elevating your right to chant your opinion above the right of everyone else to go about their normal, safe, unhindered, unharmed life, is selfish.
I was supposedly wrong. You said they have a right to protest, because something has to be done about whatever problem it was. You said this was the only way that their voices would be heard, that these issues could be resolved.
What you meant was, if you agree with them, they are allowed to do whatever they like. Protest away!
And what you mean now is, because you disagree with them, they are evil and must be condemned.
Why have you not condemned your own?
Even now, the right-wing riots have already been dwarfed with counter-protesters. The Muslim Defence League out in full force with machetes, terrorising journalists, beating people in the streets, smashing the windows of any car that arrives at their blockades that they see has a white driver.
And the riots we all are so vocal about so suddenly, came after numerous attacks. The stabbing of a soldier in Kent by a Nigerian immigrant. The stabbings of young girls at a dance class by a home-grown murderer, a second-generation immigrant. The riots that took place in Leeds, in yet another unintegrated community, this time of Gypsy, Romanian and Pakistanis. These events, all shocking and ugly, all within the past month, you were silent about.
Keir Starmer and many more of the Establishment Left have had forceful words for, and have taken forceful actions against the right-wing riots. However, their words and actions have been patently less severe towards the other violent protests. This is how Starmer has earned the moniker of two-tier Keir.
“It doesn’t matter what the apparent motivation is”, “you will regret it” “the full force of the law”, and “we will have a standing army… to deal with this.”
Strong words! All in stark contrast to his knee-taking in solidarity with the “peaceful protests” of BLM. A contrast as well to his failure to condemn the chants of “from the river to the sea”, from protests which were directed his way, when he refused to call for a ceasefire in Palestine.
It isn’t just Keir that is two-tier. It isn’t just two-tier policing, in a two-tier state. You have not condemned your own. It is two-tier right down to YOU. You treat one group’s concerns as legitimate and excuse their actions because you agree with them, while being ever vocal and vigilant in calling out the other group. Anyone you disagree with gets the full “did you hear about those horrible right-wingers”. You are the one who is two-tier.
Why should I every time the powder keg sparks have to listen to how justified they were, with no hint of anger at what was being done by those wearing your colours?
Why when I believe there is justification, am I compelled to speak against the actions of those aligned with my views, and say how wrong they are?
Why must I preface every argument I get into with “well obviously I don’t agree with the actions” and “if you think everyone on the right is applauding this, you aren’t really listening”, before I can ever begin to talk about the beliefs, as if the right-wing views I hold are made wrong because of the actions of a few nutters?
Why do I let you preach so hatefully – everyone who voted Brexit is uneducated, everyone who wants immigration control is racist, every white male Christian is evil – why do I let you speak in such a vile way?
What claim do you have to moral superiority after all you have excused?
We have no common ground right now. We could. We should. We were family once. But while you say how awful the right-wing is for these heinous actions, having never condemned your own, then we have no common ground.
Hypocrite! First remove the rafter from your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to remove the straw that is in your brother’s eye.
Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.
You have no right to speak ill of my own, no matter how far gone they have become, until you can look to those who you agree with, and say openly and plainly “No, they have no right to protest either, and I condemn every single one of them wholeheartedly, and I should have condemned them long ago, and I’m sorry.”
I doubt I’ll be hearing many people saying that.