Earlier today, British politicianĀ Jo Cox — a Labour party member of ParliamentĀ — was brutally murdered during a meeting with constituents.
While many have been quick to dismiss the horrific attack as the work of a deranged loner, it’s hard not to suspect a political motive: Cox foughtĀ against bigotry and was a staunch opponent of Britain leaving the European Union; the manĀ arrested for the crime had connections to a far-right group that defended South Africa’s apartheid government and that has campaigned hard in favor of what’s known as Brexit.
While we still don’t know for sure what the killer’s motives are, that hasn’t stopped some of the most fervent supporters of Brexit are celebrating Cox’s death.
While many of the internet’s most terrible peopleĀ have been leaning hard on the utterly unsubstantiated notionĀ thatĀ the murder was a “false flag” by leftists opposed to #Brexit, others haven’tĀ even bother to pretend that they felt bad about Jo Cox’s violent death.
Naturally, this response hs beenĀ most pronounced amongst those on the far right. In the US, that means some ofĀ the same people who have been trying their best to whip up anti-Muslim anger in the wake of the Orlando massacre.
It will be no shock to readers of this blog to discover that some of these repugnant alleged humans are also bigĀ fans of one Donald J. Trump. Tommy Grooves, a self-described “constitutionalist, Patriot, Libertarian, AltRight, Defender of LIBERTY” actuallyĀ appended a #Trump2016 hashtag to this horrendous tweet:
https://t.co/YE5R8c2TbX The fate of all the political Traitor all over the world in every country.There day of reckoning ! #Trump2016
— Tommy Grooves (@Tommygrooves) June 16, 2016
In theĀ tweet immediately preceding that one, for what it’s worth, he suggested that a writer for Vox needed to be taken on a “TRUMP HELICOPTER RIDE,” presumably aĀ reference to Chilean dictator’sĀ Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochetās practice of murdering people by throwing them from helicoptersĀ into the ocean. (See CORRECTION note below.)
#WhiteResistance, a frequent sharerĀ of Trump’s tweets, as well as those of right-wing internet celebrities like Lauren Southern and Vox Day, had a similar reaction:
(These tweets were removed while I was writing this post, hence the screenshots.)
And there were many others — not all of them Trump fans, but most of them from the far right.
https://twitter.com/NANorthEast_/status/743473897828409344
https://twitter.com/NANorthEast_/status/743497714353246209
https://twitter.com/Fckislam10/status/743528636771270657
https://twitter.com/Fckislam10/status/743531853265543168
https://twitter.com/Steve_Crawford1/status/743543766020042753
https://twitter.com/KerrierKernow/status/743457087917854720
https://twitter.com/BodoKnerz/status/743515167732940800
https://twitter.com/Brassidi/status/743505912401432576
https://twitter.com/franz_soapbar/status/743497007881400320
Over on the rabidly pro-Trump internet Nazi tabloid The Daily Stormer, editor Andrew Anglin and most of his followers seemĀ to be leaning towards the “false flag” theory. Other commentersĀ had a rather differentĀ take:
While some celebrated today’s murder, one fellowĀ predictedĀ future murders — some of them possibly carried out by him.
Yet more reminders of how ugly politics have gotten in this misbegotten Year of Trump.
EDIT: Added link to Daily Stormer discussion (archived) and additional comment from there.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post suggested that the reference to “Trump helicopter rides” was an allusion to aĀ famousĀ scene in Scarface in which a man is murdered by throwing him from a helicopter; it’s far more likely thatĀ it was a reference to Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochetās practice of murdering people by throwing them from helicoptersĀ into the ocean.
@ IP
You’re probably right on that. I had this once:
I think that’s why a lot of vegan promotional material emphasises vegan MMA fighters, football players, bodybuilders etc. It’s an attempt to redress that.
On a related note, here’s a ‘B Sanders’ I think we both can like š
http://www.blackvegansrock.com/blog/2016/3/17/feature-bren
@EmpressRat
These are complaints that can be made of every group of people ever.
And yes, it’s irrational to hate a group of people because you’ve met annoying members of that group before. Does this really need to be explained?
@ImaginaryPetal
Way to blatantly ignore the problems that the poor, the disabled, and POC have with vegans. Nice job. I see you’re not going to collect your trash either.
@EmpressRat
I didn’t ignore a fucking thing. Being vegan doesn’t hurt anyone else. I don’t like judgy vegans either. I also don’t like racist women. The fact that racist women exist doesn’t mean I hate all women. See how that works?
I’m also not a vegan, so I don’t see why it’s specifically my job to condemn bad vegans. Wtf are you talking about?
The Southern Poverty Law Center in the USA says this about Thomas Mair:
Alleged killer of British MP was a longtime supporter of the neo-Nazi National Alliance
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/06/16/alleged-killer-british-mp-was-longtime-supporter-neo-nazi-national-alliance
@EmpressRat
Hmmm. All the vegetarians and vegans I know are really nice. They don’t yell at anyone; they just quietly go about their business and eat the way they think is best.
Their politics tend to be quite progressive. They also tend to be tolerant people. They know what it’s like to be laughed at or scorned for what they eat and don’t eat.
@Ohlmann
In my experience veggie/vegan hate tends to source from any combination of 4 things:
1)Vegs are pretentions, holier than thou assholes. Gwyneth Paltrow, PETA, and so forth
2)Vegs are an inconvenience. A vegan at Thanksgiving is like a fart at church. You give hella advanced notice or you eat thrown together salad and ice cubes. And don’t bring your own shit without asking first
3)Omnis don’t like being reminded of their own lack of willpower/flippant disregard for animal welfare. #GG level aversion to uncomfortable conversation
4)Omnis think it’s edgy to hate people for their own personal choices. If you reply to a vegetarian argument with ‘but like, bacon is tasty’, you can fuck yourself
I can’t say which you fall into. I’m a bit of 1, 2 and 3. I used to have plenty of 4, but then I acquired a sense of perspective. I’m still working on the rest
But seriously, I wasn’t messing around about bringing your own shit. Have some decorum
As an American, I will admit that my opinions on Brexit aren’t exactly the most-informed. So please forgive me if I come off as ignorant on this, Alan.
However, from what I’ve seen of the Brexit debate, it seems so centered on immigration, and to be quite frank, I’m kind of tired of all the whining about immigrants. Oh no! People from other parts of the world are coming into your country?! Cry me a fuckin’ river. The Leave campaign thinks this is their best argument against EU membership. Like, America took in millions of Irish people around the turn of the century. We weren’t “destroyed” by it, even though we sure treated the Irish like shit. That’s just one example from American history – there are many, many others. If people want to migrate to your nation, you’re doing something right.
(For the record, I’m not trying to imply that we in the US of America don’t have whiny, immigrant-bashing assholes – as everyone knows, we have quite a few; one of them is running for President.)
@Buttercup Q. Skullpants
I actually wasn’t aware of most of those stories, except for the 1973 case and Trump’s black employees being moved off the floor whenever he visited. These are pretty damn striking. Thanks for sharing!
@Axecalibur
Are you fucking serious? People with restricted diets* are treated like we’re a huge fucking pain in the ass to anyone hosting us for dinner ever, and on top of that people who aren’t used to making food for people with restricted diets get it wrong because they have no clue what’s in anything. But we can’t bring our own food that we know is safe for us to eat because it hurts your damn feelings? That’s bullshit. Do you know whether your cheese is made with animal rennet? Do you put marshmallows in the yams? FFS.
Not to mention your “points” are a bunch of BS. I know a lot of vegetarians and vegans and they’re not pretentious about it.
*I’m not vegetarian or vegan, but I have dietary restrictions because of health issues. If you get my food wrong I’ll get very sick, but so will some vegetarians if they eat animal proteins because their bodies aren’t used to digesting them, so I don’t see much of a difference.
@Alan Robertshaw
Just for the record, in my last post, I’m not trying to hate on you or ALL people in favor of Brexit – you don’t seem to have any animosity with migrants, as far as I can see. I’m sure there are good arguments for Brexit, although personally I think EU membership is a net positive for the UK. But it’s not my country, and I’m not voting on it, so it’s not like I have a say anyway. I honestly just hope that everything turns out OK for all y’all. I was really worried when the Scotland independence vote came around, and I was glad they stayed (although I was sympathetic to the Scots with some of their arguments, especially when you consider the history involved). If Scotland decided to leave the UK to stay in the EU, that would be devastating. There are other reasons why I hope the UK stays in, but that one is on the forefront of my mind. (The second biggest argument for EU membership is the fact that UK residents can go live and work anywhere in the Union without having to worry about much governmental red tape. If I were a UK citizen, I would not want to lose that.)
One last thing: it would be kind of shitty if Boris Johnson became the prime minister of the UK. I mean, I’m not a big fan of Cameron, but at least he isn’t a TOTAL shitshow. He at least gets along with Obama, so there’s that š
@ nintenethan
No, you’re quite correct.
The weird thing about the immigration issue is that both the Tories and Labour agreed not to make a big thing about it (I admire their stance there). The Tories come from the position that immigration is good for the economy, Labour from the position that Corbyn has expressed commitment to the principle of free movement. Now though Labour activists are reporting that, on the doorstep, a lot of their traditional supporters are saying they’ll vote leave because the party refuses to address the issue. So we’ve got the bizarre situation of a Labour asking the Tories to make some comments. That’s lead to a ‘no you say it first’ situation. Tom Watson, the Labour deputy, has now said that restrictions will need to be considered (even if we stay in) but there’s confusion as to what the official party line is.
Personally I’m all for free movement of both capital and labour ( and not just within the EU) but I can understand that people can have concerns from an economic standpoint. Immigrants tend to be higher skilled/educated (maybe it’s a self selection thing). Although after a year or so, once they’ve established themselves and mastered the language and the culture, they tend to move into jobs more commensurate with their abilities, but initially they just take entry level jobs. They’re young, fit, clever and highly motivated so they’re just out competing people for those jobs. Ultimately that benefits the economy but perhaps at the expense of those at the bottom. The Tories may be more blatant in their ‘Tough shit, that’s capitalism’ philosophy but the Labour stance of ‘No one stole ‘your’ job , it was never yours to begin with’ isn’t going down any easier.
But immigrants are disproportionately more successful economically in this country so even if we Brexit, market forces will mean we keep free movement, at least of workers.
ETA: ah, we ninja’d each other!
On the topic of garbage people celebrating the murder, the Guardian has reported:
“Depraved moral signalling”. Sounds like the alt-right’s recent obsession with “virtue signalling” is mutating.
Alan, it sounds like you’re advocating for a vote that isn’t on the table: there isn’t an option to leave the EU but stay in all the EU treaties.
Quebec separatists have the same thing — they argue that Quebec can leave Canada but stay in all the trade and currency agreements.
Not gonna happen. As an independent country you can go about negotiating all that back up, but that takes years, and there’s no guarantee you get the same deal you used to have.
… ???
Okay, two options here: Either EmpressRat is responding to a different post that got deleted, or they’re trying to troll by non sequitur.
@SFHC
Thanks. It confused me too. :/
@kupo
Kinda. This ain’t even a specifically veg thing. Bring food. Please do. I would strongly advise, however, you let others know beforehand that you’re bringing something, and what it is. Some people don’t do so, and then the host gets offended, and then there’s a whole argument, and it’s annoying as fuck. Then someone with an allergy you don’t have gets into your stuff and that’s a nightmare. The host/main cook should also (read: ESPECIALLY) be letting people know what’s in their stuff, BTW. My brother, uncle, and quite a few others in my family have nut allergies and I don’t handle shrimp and some other, minor stuff well. It needn’t be an ordeal trying to figure out what’s safe and what isn’t
As far as my points, I did say I’m trying to get past these things. Most vegans aren’t pretentious, but it seems that way sometimes. I shouldn’t get defensive around ethical vegans, but I do. I also understand that it’s my fault for feeling this way
I think we can all agree that shrimp are gross, even when compared to other insects.
On the topic of the referendum: while I’m a supporter of remaining in Europe, I believe there is a respectable lefty case to be made for leaving. However, now is not the time. The UK left is in a poor state, and a vote to leave would likely result in a shake-up of this already unpleasant tory government, pushing it to the right, with all that that implies. Plus, a vote to leave would be seen as a vindication of xenophobia. We’re not in a good place right now, and I don’t want to see the worst elements of our society triumph.
@Axecalibur
I mean, I always inform the host of what I plan on bringing, but if I happen to forget or if I don’t know yet what I’ll have time for because my autoimmune disorder (the very same that necessitates my restricted diet) doesn’t always give me enough energy to put into food preparation, and often the host will tell me not to bring anything, which gives me panic attacks because now I have to not eat anything because I don’t know if that communal butter they’re putting into the mashed potatoes has any cross-contamination (hint: it pretty much always does). The host without the dietary restrictions can fuck off with their need for validation. I need to stay healthy and that takes priority. And as someone who takes pride in her cooking skills and loves to make delicious food for everyone when I host, I find it absolutely ridiculous to get offended if someone brings a dish without telling me, especially if the person has a restricted diet, whether it’s by choice or because of allergies of diseases. The person bringing the food is not the one who created conflict; the host is at fault for reacting by starting an argument over it.
So Twitter doesn’t moderate tweets and expel racists and delete threats of violence? Interesting how social media has been used by Rightists to promote fascism and to encourage and celebrate violence. Exactly why I don’t tweet or Facebook.
As for hate against vegans and vegetarians, it’s real, as EmpressRat and Axecalibur make clear. Some vegetarian and vegan friends rather dread big dinner holidays (thanksgiving etc) because their families or friends are assholes about the needs of their guests.
True story: I stole a lady’s heart when she came to our thanksgiving dinner and my roommate and I made an extra batch of mashed potatoes when we discovered she was vegan (unfortunately our careers took us apart a few months later). That rather demonstrates the low bar of decency set by some hosts. Another friend was with us rather than family because the previous year she’d been presented a pound of cold tofu on a plate as her dinner.
The reverse I’ve never seen to the extent that the “hilarious” YouTube videos lampoon. Mostly the vegetarians and vegans I know try to hide it in mixed company, because we’ll be presumed to be judgemental assholes if anyone finds out.
Of course judgemental assholes exist who are vegetarian or vegan. I see that EmpressRat blames me for them. I assume they also blame all Muslims for Islamic terrorism. And they must blame all whites for Cox’s murder.
IP,
Glad I’m not the only one who thinks shrimp are nasty. Sometimes I wonder what it is I’m missing. Everyone else seems to love it!
@ numberbois
There is the obvious uncertainty of post Brexit solutions of course; but that’s what the two year negotiation clause is for.
Ultimately though the EU philosophy is neo liberal capitalism and that’s pretty much the majority view in the UK; in England at least and that may become more relevant if Scotland wants to go solo.
I think it’s 99% certain we’ll want into TAFTA. We can do that as easily through EFTA as we can through TTIP, and that will subsume all the current EU trade agreements. We’ll also want free movement for our citizens, and the EU states will want it for their citizens, so I think a reciprocal arrangement will fall into place. There may be some provisions about deporting criminals but that can be reciprocal too.
Germany is the major player in the EU and they want us on board. They can probably live with us out in name so long as were in in practice. They may even prefer that ultimately rather than our current half and half shilly shallying.
We’ve already got an opt out on the ‘ever closer union’ clause so in realty even if we Brexit it’s likely that it will just be a change of form rather than substance. Don’t forget that even post Brexit the new treaties will be negotiated by people who are pretty committed to the economic aspects of the EU anyway. I suspect any changes in the post Brexit landscape will be cosmetic rather than fundamental.
Tangential question: why are the constituent meetings called surgeries? It just seems like an odd term to me.
I have learned to not discuss vegetarianism, veganism, or anything of the sort; I have had a reasonable discussion on the topic exactly once. We didn’t agree but he didn’t get offended. Every single other time I’ve been mocked, sneered at and/or shouted at for voicing my personal opinions and the rationale behind them.
As for the pancake troll, well. I’ve long had it as a rule of thumb that I can safely ignore aggressive comments that don’t use paragraphs. It’s a great way to identify when someone is performing an emotional dump instead of actually thinking about what they’re writing.