Boris Johnson & many others dismissed taking the knee as "gesture politics", failed to condemn "fans" booing the #England team, & consistently downplay clear evidence of structural & institutional #racism, yet the Head of MI5 says racism in England is "toxic" & "widespread". 🤔
In 1998, Frances Heidensohn discussed how since the 1970s, law & order issues are subject to 'gesture politics' (political actions or statements that are chiefly symbolic & have little or no practical effect), rhetoric, & simplistic solutions - as practiced mainly by the Tories.
Ex-banker & failed Brexit Party candidate James Bartholomew regards the welfare state as "dysfunctional", & his his book 'The Welfare State We're In' received awards from the free-market IEA & Atlas Foundation.
He coined the term "virtue signalling" in a 2015 Spectator article.
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Twitter trolls know that racist/hateful content about a high profile event will be widely condemned online. But condemnation serves to further magnify the impact of these posts: positive message will be overshadowed by discussions of hateful/racist posts.
What is surprising is that @Twitter allows the process to continue. There is no ambiguity about these outcomes, only variability in the scale. Twitter has archives of online firestorms in many contexts & is aware of the conditions, characteristics & outcomes of these occurrences.
Based on this knowledge, the rapid immediate cascades that result in the predictable cycle of hateful content and condemnation could be minimised using tools Twitter have already developed, such as prompting users to rethink their tweets that may include harmful language.
BME children make up over half of the child population in prison (28% are black). This is an increase of 15% over the past decade.
But according to the culture war Government, structural & institutional racism doesn't exist.
By the end of secondary school, Gypsy, Roma & Traveller pupils are almost three years - & black Caribbean students 11 months - behind their white British counterparts.
But according to the culture war Government, structural & institutional racism doesn't exist.
I quite like Waterstones, but in May 2011 it was announced that A&NN Capital Fund Management, owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, had bought the chain for £53.5 MILLION, & in April 2018, hedge fund 'Elliott Management Corporation' bought a majority stake in the company.
Elliott Management Corporation is a US investment management firm - a vulture fund - founded by hard-right Republican donor Paul Singer, who supports pro-Israel causes, funding for the libertarian free-market Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, &, curiously, #LGBTQ rights.🤔
Jeff Rinse is accused of promoting antisemitism, & has given a platform to a number of racist extremists like David Duke. His website is teeming with conspiracy theories, & his show has hosted conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones & David Icke.
England player Tyrone Mings: “You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ & then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens.”
Sir Peter Fahy, the former chief constable of Greater Manchester and vice-chair of the body representing police chiefs: some politicians had “wilfully” misinterpreted why the England players were making the protest gesture.
👏👏👏👏👏👍
Sir Peter Fahy: “You need to take a very clear stance on anti-racism. I do think you cannot be passively anti-racist. You have to resist it [anti-racism] being a political issue and be clear it is a moral issue. You have to make your position crystal clear."