This post is going to be short and sweet, for a change. Today came yet another glaring indication of where loyalties lie of Theresa May and I would say a big chunk of her team. When Trump made these silly retweets viewed as offensive to Muslims – related article below – it was an opportunity for No. 10 to take a stand. Here’s my tweet at the time;
This in my mind is the defining moment 4 the UK gov which many including my good old self have suspected of being driven by alt-right ideology/support from BREXIT campaign coordination, 2 funding 2 flawed process. So now they’ll be caught between rock & hard place-so let’s watch
— Fidelito (@F_Galal) November 29, 2017
In reality the PM had 3 clear response choices;
a) Ignore the retweets and make no comment (difficult to see how this would have been possible)
b) Release a statement criticising the retweets but NOT actually taking any action (most likely)
c) Taking action or at least be hyper critical of Trump (most unlikely based on my views about this government)
We now see she took the most obvious choice (b). OK, big deal what does all this mumbo jumbo mean? Well it is important in so far as the message it sends – and the message I am hearing is this;
“Well we know this latest Trump action may be quite offensive to a big chunk of our population and so has been the US Muslim travel bans among others. But really Protocol in allowing the US President’s invitation to go ahead takes precedence here over our duty to protect/defend – in action not just rhetoric – all our citizens irrespective of colour, religion or status. Some may suggest that this is the strongest indication of Trump’s (and his alt-right clan) intent to seed divisions in our society across racial & religious lines but then again let’s add post BREXIT Trade to the mix and you have a compelling argument to ignore the attack on a minority faction of our society and treat them as 2nd class citizens, just this once.” Talk about normalising bigotry and racism, well you’re on solid ground here friends with this government whether deliberate in motive or through sheer ignorance.
Now my views about this government are crystal clear both through social media as well as through my blog posts on this site, but let me suggest that irrespective of whether you agree on my take about this government ideological prejudices let’s at least agree that the PM’s response today can only have 1 of 3 meanings;
- Idealogical prejudices taking hold at the highest post in government
- A weak leadership that is unable/unwilling to unite the country and aggressively defend it’s citizens as a matter of principle/priority
- All of the above (I would rest here)
How we choose to deal with this issue is a matter of the choices we take in shaping our future because believe you me the way we deal with/react to racism/bigotry and xenophobia will have effects beyond the politics of the day we tend to apply when glossing over issues deemed untimely or too complex to address. Also important to note that the terminology/language we use when referring to unacceptable behaviour is also an important factor as I made clear in this tweet because it demonstrates the level of tolerance/normalisation of this behaviour;
“Deeply wrong” is more of a compliment than criticism. We should begin to call out alt-right racist/xenophobes in strongest possible terms irrespective of position otherwise we normalise this behaviour. “Disgusting” would be term that would set you in the right direction.
— Fidelito (@F_Galal) November 29, 2017
I am sorry, did I mention something about a short/sweet up top, if so kindly ignore that part if you still remember it 🙂