October 27, 2010

Who Reads The Truth About The BNP?


An Internet, earlier today.

At the moment, I'm having a bit of a Dark Night Of The Soul about the point of all this internet malarky. Well, maybe not a “Dark Night”; more of an “Overcast Brunch”, but I was pondering a simple question: With all the evidence that's out there already of Griffin and Dowson's cheap, barely-disguised criminality, and with all of the new revelations that surface on an almost daily basis, Why Does Anyone Still Support Them?

Socially insulated by having little contact with people who, if they aren't already active Anti-Fascists, would certainly help out if we're ever short-handed, it's easy to fall into the trap of assuming that there must be Amazonian Tribes, as yet untroubled by Missionaries, who've heard of the endless Griffin begging letters and who fall around laughing at the mere mention of “Truth Truck”.

Some of the continued Supporters can easily be put in the “wilfully delusional” camp. The likes of Paul “Green Arrow” Morris and his shrinking band of “Kinsmen” have, by now, invested so much self respect (a curious concept where he's concerned, I know – but hear me out) and fervour in their shrill support of the BNP and its Leadership that they might suffer total mental collapse, and the noose beckon were they to ever finally accept the evidence of their own eyes (indeed, he was suspiciously quiet on the matter of the Dowson Creditor's Letter...).

Then there are the “Rank & File” of the BNP's support. Those people (often elderly, it must be said), who, incensed by a shocking expose they've read in the Daily Mail, outraged by something they heard at Lunch Club That-Happened-To-My-Friend-Enid's-Daughter-Or-Was-It-Her-Milkman-Well-Never-Mind-It-Happened-To-Someone-And-It's-All-True-And-It's-A-Bloody-Liberty-It-Really-Is, or impressed by seeing That Nice Young Man With The Wonky Eye on an Election Broadcast, fire off their fifteen quid to Belfast, (or Nuneaton, or Welshpool, or wherever else it is this week) and (having calmed down, had a nice cup of tea and had some sense talked into them by the Grandkids) let their membership lapse after a year.

As do almost 60% of Memberships.

According to a 2008 survey conducted by Researchers at Edinburgh University, BNP Voters have the lowest I.Q of all political parties, at an average of 98.4. This, in itself, may account for something.

But then it dawned on me (my own I.Q reaches 98.6 on a good day) just where the evidence of the corruption within the BNP appears. Blogs like this one. Any number of Right-Wing talkboards and chat rooms. Everywhere, in fact, except where Griffin's mercilessly fleeced Supporters are likely to actually look.

A few years ago, I set out on an ill-judged crusade to turn my late mother into a Silver Surfer. Safe in the knowledge that my 86-year-old Uncle was merrily tapping away and chatting with old Wartime Buddies the World over, I thought it couldn't be too difficult, could it?

Picture, if you will, the Taliban trying to launch a Space Shuttle.

After several hours, many exasperated coffee breaks, enough cigarettes to resurface the M1 and giving careful consideration to taking up Crack-smoking as a way of calming down, I had shown her the basics and she had constructed a basic list of Bookmarks.

The Guardian Online. BBC Food & Drink. Wikipedia. Derby Evening Telegraph. Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Royal Horticultural Society.

All was right with the world.

A few months later, I checked her list of Bookmarks. The Guardian Online. BBC Food & Drink. Wikipedia. Derby Evening Telegraph. Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Royal Horticultural Society. Nothing else.

At this point I gave up. I now have a nervous tic and a £200 a day Crack habit.

The thing is that, had she been a typical online BNP Supporter, her sole knowledge of the Party would extend only to their Official Website, where all is Sunny, Griffin is working tirelessly to save the Nation with His Team of Experts by his side, and Exciting New Initiatives and Political Breakthroughs are always just around the corner.

At this year's LMHR Festival in Barnsley, a handful of bedraggled BNP braved the Yorkshire weather and gleeful derision of just about everyone to set up their paste table in a shopping precinct under the watchful eye of the local Constabulary.

An enjoyable hour spent politely chatting with the (largely elderly) shoppers approaching the Stall was all it took to turn many potential supporters away, simply by telling them the truth and where they could find out more.

What my Colleagues here at LU (I'm tempted to call them “My Kinsmen” just for the wind-up value) do is invaluable: An authoritative, exhaustive, searchable online record of the goings-on of the Far Right going back more than five years. It's hardly any wonder that a substantial proportion of our Readership consists of the Enemy wanting to get the lowdown on what's going on with their own Party.

It's also true that the tiniest sidebar in a National Newspaper is going to be read and talked about by more people than the likes of us can even dream of.

Today's snippet in the Guardian (which has, predictably, sent Morris and his Idiot Disciples into a frothing tumult of astonishing (and entirely libellous) naked racism), a forthcoming piece to look out for in the next edition of a Popular Satirical Magazine and other mainstream reports currently on the horizon, will reach a huge number of people who've never given the BNP a second glance; probably even falling into the trap of thinking of them as "Just Another Political Party", if "a bit of a cranky one" (the sort of people who might think of Ebola as "Just Another Virus",if "a bit worse than a dicky tummy").

Given that the Facts are only just beginning to receive wider, mainstream coverage now that things are in the final death-spiral it can't hurt to start getting the truth out to more mainstream media outlets - they're generally always on the lookout for a good story.

And with a saga like The Last Days Of The BNP, with its embarrassment of twists, turns, outrageous revelations and mad characters that make Dickens at his most hyperactive read like Proust on Mogadon, this is certainly a cracker.

Can't hurt, can it?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

What happened to the Tom Gower post?

Anonymous said...

According to a 2008 survey conducted by Researchers at Edinburgh University, BNP Voters have the lowest I.Q of all political parties, at an average of 98.4.

That high?!

Anonymous said...

Try this weeks Private Eye - Very enjoyable it is.

Old Sailor

Anonymous said...

The Guardian piece mentioned in Andy's post is here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/27/hugh-muir-diary-bnp-dowson

First time, I believe, it's been noted in a National Newspaper.

AndyMinion said...

@Old Sailor

Had a look yesterday, but it hasn't hit Derbyshire yet.

Or else everyone else gets the News ahead of us.

Have you heard about that nice Mr Kennedy?

Been shot, apparently.

Kev Scott loves The Jam said...

Nice one Andy!

I was going to post the grauniad link, but 'anon' did... i will just mention that the green marrow and all his little courgettes will be seething that the chappie who wrote the piece is, well, how can I put it? A gentleman of 'colour'!

Private eye bit: http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=hp_sauce&issue=1274

AndyMinion said...

Thanks for that, Kev.

Good, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

The Daily Star today wrote a piece praising the EDL, featuring a poll hijacked by EDLers and BNPers that tried to say that 99% of Britains opposed Muslims.

Hopefully Searchlight can have a wee word with Richard Desmond warning him of the dangers of associating with the EDL.

The Gremlin said...

Part 1.

Don’t let the maggot off the hook

People are now asking - What will happen to what’s left of the BNP once Griffin has finally been excreted from it? After all, something that falls has to land somewhere, doesn’t it?

Another question of course should be - Who deserves the medal for helping to rid us of this saggy-arsed crook?

The last question is of course far easier to tackle. Practically 99.9% of people that have ever had the unfortunate experience of getting to know him personally, including his wife (I also speak personally), hate his guts; so you simply couldn’t make that many medals.

The percentage is probably not much lower for people that are simply aware of what he represents. I’m not talking about racism here, and all the other ‘ism’s and ‘ist’s that are part and parcel of the ammunition thrown at the Far Right; I’m going way beyond that and talking about the person he is.

He is without a doubt a sociopath, we know this; I’ve seen him in action and there is no uncertainty with this. In all his blame-casting, crowing, finger pointing and two-dimensional speeches, he has proven incapable of exhibiting or formulating even the slightest modicum of empathy. As for the rest of the good stuff – justice (moral or otherwise), sacrifice and hard-graft? These attributes to Griffin are like a good sprinkling of salt on the preverbal slug’s tail. Once again, as I heard his wife say, he has never done a single day's work in his entire life; I believe her.

With Griffin it is about control, cash and a total belief that he is simply better and more intelligent than anyone else and therefore deserves the things he wants. He simply can’t see any wrong in what he does or how he operates. He truly thinks he has a higher calling, a quasi-Napoleonic destiny to do great things and save all us poor plebs from ourselves, however perverted the path to greatness may be.

How ever much opposition groups and party’s despise Griffin, that loathing is still at a minuscule level compared with the vast majority of the active Far-Right. Much has been written about Griffin’s ‘alleged’ stealing, lying and general gangsterism within nationalist politics over the years, and now it seems it is all about to finally catch up with him culminating with the ignominious coat-turning of the almost equally vile Jim Dowson – a special second rate Arthur Daily meets Del Boy meets ‘Penfold’ kind of swindler.

Seriously, did Griffin actually scour these Isles to find someone as bent and unscrupulous as himself? If so, was it so that no questions were likely to be asked by a fellow conman, ‘Thick as thieves’ etc? Or was it so that Griffin could pass the buck quickly onto Dowson should things really get out of hand and the membership start asking serious questions threatening police involvement? The bottom line is, that sooner or just a little later Griffin is going to become completely unstuck, an overweight Hitler in his Welshpool bunker with his unemployed daughter and gob-shite wife.

He is certainly squirreling away as much cash as possible now, in preparation for his re-election campaign into Europe; with or without the BNP. It is here that we (we as in everyone that would like to see him finished) need to concentrate our efforts. I speak for many people when I say that it is not enough that he is simply deposed of his chairmanship of what is left of the ruined BNP, he must be well and truly removed from 'potentially' viable politics for good; cut away like a carbuncle that has sucked people dry for so long.

Anonymous said...

charlotte lewis has been expelled from the bnp i hear

Anonymous said...

Why stop at the newspapers - I can see a novel 'the last days of the BNP' and interest from Hollywood looking to turn it into a blockbuster. Mel Gibson to play the role of Griffin. Anyone know who played Gollum in LOTR? Give him a call and find out if he is free to take the part of green arrow.

EX-BNP said...

Griffin must be paid by the state, either that or completely incompetent. He has taken the BNP from the high of June 2009 to the point where the party will fold within weeks.

If he was an employee in private business he would have been 'performance managed' out a long time ago.

I actually read LU more than the BNP site these days. Funnier and more informative!

Anonymous said...

I'm enjoying this - onlooking with fascination as the nazi BNP disappears up its own arsehole.

But what of the voters. Where will the core BNP faithful turn once the BNP is history and Griffin is safely tucked away in his Croatian hideyhole with all his embezzled from the membership luchre?

My guess is that there will be a 50-50 split. UKIP (still a very dangerous force of the far Right) and possibly the EngDems will hoover up the votes of the Daily Mail reading lower middle class traditional old fashioned values 'there'll always be an England' petit bourgeoise with libertarian tendencies (the John Lewis brigade as I like to refer to them at large as). The poorly educated council estate yobbos with the St George flag that's nearly the size of the house in the back garden and the Staffordshire Bull that keeps the neighbours awake at night will ditch what the BNP call democracy (voting for them) and switch to the direct action chav army the English Defence League as politics will be too difficult for the average dimwitted redneck to understand (preferring drinking eight pints and starting fights with strangers)

Will be interesting to see where all this will go over the next 12 months, but whatever happens, Lancaster Unity will be there to expose the bastards!

Anonymous said...

Tyndallites are ready to give Griffin the final push. They will never forgive him.

A Right mess!