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@docrussjackson

May 14

🧵In January, Farage said Musk was justified in calling Starmer complicit in failures to prosecute grooming gangs: “In 2008 Keir Starmer had just been appointed as DPP & there was a case brought before them of alleged mass rape of young girls that did not lead to a prosecution.”

The allegation that Starmer was complicit in failures to prosecute grooming gangs is often repeated. But how true is it?

Two Facebook posts, originally appearing in April/May 2020, claimed Starmer told police when he was working for the CPS not to pursue cases against Muslim men accused of rape due to fears it would stir up anti-Islamic sentiment.

In 2022 the posts and allegations saw a resurgence online with hundreds of new shares. They said: “From 2004 onwards the director of public prosecutions told the police not to prosecute Muslim rape gangs to prevent ‘Islamophobia’.

Then, in January, Elon Musk joined in.

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@docrussjackson

May 13

https://x.com/YorksBylines/status/1858062018080542954

🧵

Decades of research shows that parroting or appeasing the far-right simply legitimises their framing, and further normalises illiberal exclusionary discourse and politics.

Starmer's speech is more evidence that the far-right has been mainstreamed.

https://x.com/YorksBylines/status/1858062018080542954

The mainstream right-wing consider social inequalities natural or beneficial, but support liberal democracy’s core institutions & values.

The far-right rejects liberal democracy & is rooted in nativism (xenophobic nationalism) & authoritarianism (emphasizing order & discipline).

Liberal democracy upholds minority rights via rule of law & independent institutions, ensuring equal treatment & freedoms for all.

The far-right opposes it, & instead prefer illiberal democracy, which favours majority rule, curbs minority rights, & erodes checks on power.

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@docrussjackson

May 10

🧵

Cas Mudde, a Dutch political scientist who focuses on political extremism and populism in Europe and the US, is, imho, one of the most important voices on the Left today.

Allow me to briefly summarise some of his work.

In a 2023 lecture, Mudde emphasizes the importance of precise terminology in discussing the far-right, distinguishing between extreme right (anti-democracy) and radical right (accepts elections but rejects liberal democratic principles like minority rights and rule of law).

https://x.com/YorksBylines/status/1858062018080542954

He argues we're in a "fourth wave" of postwar far-right politics, characterized by the mainstreaming & normalization of the far-right - what Linguist Prof Ruth Wodak in a related concept refers to as the 'shameless normalization of far-right discourse'.

https://x.com/YorksBylines/status/1858062018080542954

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@docrussjackson

May 6

🧵

After eight years as US President, on Janury 17, 1961, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, former supreme commander of the Allied forces in western Europe during WWII, warned us about the the growing "military-industrial complex" (and Trump2.0) in his prescient farewell address.

Before looking at that speech, some context for those unfamiliar with Eisenhower, the 34th US president, serving from 1953 to 1961.

During WWII, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe and achieved the five-star rank as General of the Army.

Eisenhower planned & supervised two consequential WWII military campaigns: Operation Torch in the North Africa campaign in 1942–43 & the 1944 Normandy invasion.

The right-wing of the Republican Party clashed with him more often than the Democrats did during his first term.

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@docrussjackson

May 3

🧵

In England, 18% of adults aged 16-65 - 6.6 million people - can be described as having "very poor literacy skills" AKA 'functionally illiterate'.

This leaves people vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation, and poses significant challenges for society and democracy.

Being 'functionally illiterate' means that a person can understand short straightforward texts on familiar topics accurately & independently, & obtain information from everyday sources, but reading information from unfamiliar sources or on unfamiliar topics can cause problems.

Adult functional illiteracy—lacking the reading, writing, and comprehension skills needed for everyday tasks—poses significant challenges for a country, society, and democracy.

Allow me to spell these challenges out...

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@docrussjackson

Apr 22

🧵

Two Priests, who both smoke, go the Pope.

The first asks "Is it OK to smoke while I'm praying?"

The Pope replies "No! You should be focused on God!"

The second Priest asks "Is it OK to pray while I'm smoking?"

The Pope replies "Of course, there's never a bad time to pray"

Nigel Farage’s rhetorical technique of framing controversial or inflammatory statements as questions, often defended as “just asking questions,” is a well-documented strategy - sometimes called “JAQing off” in online discourse - that has drawn significant criticism.

This approach involves posing questions to imply a controversial viewpoint without explicitly endorsing it, thereby maintaining plausible deniability. Farage often uses this strategy to raise issues around immigration, national identity, and 'wokeness' or 'political correctness'.

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