Thinking about this further.
Strip out all the textbook North idiocy (which is why they've lost the right to be heard), and it leaves a polite observation: that there could be a reaction if democracy is perceived as being subverted.
Strip out all the textbook North idiocy (which is why they've lost the right to be heard), and it leaves a polite observation: that there could be a reaction if democracy is perceived as being subverted.
This polite and unloaded observation has been made by others. Tony Benn used to say that if people feel they can't effect change through the ballot box then they tend to resort to riot. link.medium.com/LUauwbAPhS
I'm pretty sure I've made the same observation at some point in recent years. I know @JamieJBartlett of Demos made a similar point in the context of Tech influence over the national conversation.
Others have said it in more shrill but still non-inciteful ways
And the point is there's probably truth in the observation. We're not talking about 'normal' people rioting, nor 70 year olds doing it. But one can easily imagine those in the shadow - the umbra - of normal society doing something. Question is how the 'penumbra' responds.
All of that will include people who float around EDL, FLA, the BNP and some individuals in/around Ukip. Plus (or including) lone weirdos and some mentally ill edge cases who just need a trigger.
I vaguely remember in younger days, someone saying how the IRA was only a very small 'boat' but one kept afloat by a much larger tide of general nationalist sentiment.
This is a difficult subject and a hard one to discuss without onself sounding completely wacko.
It needs to be approached with sensitivity - not with the Norths' trademark psychopathology.
It needs to be approached with sensitivity - not with the Norths' trademark psychopathology.
