The Hateful Bait

I wasn’t going to post anything about the EU referendum. Seemingly in line with most people in Scotland I tend to be viewing it as an unwanted intrusion after the interminable Scottish Independence Referendum that ended less than two years ago. By comparison, that campaign seems to have been the height of well-mannered engagement but the EU referendum, whilst thankfully much shorter, has brought out the basest elements of society to engage in a campaign of bile and hatred.

I think part of the problem is that the referendum isn’t actually about the EU but is due to internal squabbling within the Conservative party. With the Scottish vote, the elected government made a detailed (and remarkably weighty) document detailing exactly how they wanted their independent Scotland to operate. How, exactly, they would actually achieve this was quite another matter but the full details of what they wanted was there with the alternative being to maintain the status quo. With this EU referendum, the government have called the vote to shut up noisy elements from their own party as well as any far right groups that may eat away at their support.  It is a completely absurd vote that should never have been called.

Compared to the Scottish Independence vote, the difference with the so-called “Brexit” campaign is that they have no positive message. There are some vague platitudes about sovereignty (which they don’t appear able to define), democracy (which they fail to understand) and saving money (which indicates that they clearly can’t add up) but by and large the only thing they are talking about is immigration combined with rabid xenophobia. Essentially, they have nothing positive to say about our country so have resorted to the tactics of fear and hate.

The response of the UK government has been completely useless. Rather than taking the opportunity to explain to the electorate what the EU is for, how it works and what the benefit is to the average person is, they have chosen the same fear and doom-saying tactics that backfired so spectacularly during the Scottish independence referendum. Back then, as they presented no positive case for the union and most of their claims sounded farfetched it caused support for Scottish Independence to grow from under 30% of the electorate up to 45% at the poll – and then only after they had dragged up Gordon Brown to save their sorry backsides. Now we have fear and doom on one side and rabid xenophobia on the other. The only person I have heard offering a positive view of Europe was Jeremy Corbyn but as the main media outlets don’t report a thing he says I happened to hear this on a topical satirical show on Channel 4.

The referendum result will be available at some point on Friday and I am still expecting the Remain side to win. I was actually very sure of this a few months ago and simply regarded the whole exercise as an annoyance but the vitriol aimed at immigrants and foreigners in the last few weeks will not dissipate so quickly. I’ve seen much of this on social media and have actually blocked a couple of people who repeatedly posted links to “Britain First”, a fascist splinter group that is very active on the likes of Facebook. However, they are not isolated and as well as Nigel Farage’s smug visage which appears constantly on my TV (despite the fact that he has tacitly given support to those who turn to violence) much of the mainstream mass media is doing its best to turn Britain into a nation of hate. This has been going on for quite a while with much of the vitriol aimed at Muslims. Now, I expect a many people are thinking “what about all those Islamic terrorists” but bear with me…

Just as a thought experiment, think of all the news stories that are put out by the likes of the Daily Mail and Daily Express regarding Muslims. Few, if any, are positive. Most of these stories equate Islam with terrorism, intolerance, rape or domestic violence. After a while, the less discerning would get the impression that all Muslims are like this but, for a moment, think of the Muslim people that one meets in normal life. This may be more than one would at first think and may include work colleagues, neighbours, fellow parents at the school, possibly a health professional or even just the bloke that runs the local convenience shop. Now think of how many of these come across as intolerant, violent fundamentalist bigots and my guess would be probably none of them. It may be that you like or dislike the individual people or are simply indifferent to them but by and large they are just ordinary, decent law-abiding people – not because of their religion but  because they are just ordinary, decent law-abiding people as much as anyone else. The reality experienced on a personal basis is far removed the impression that is created by the mass media but when these tropes are reinforced on a daily, constant basis it can create fear amongst even the most reasonable of people.

Social media just makes this all worse as Facebook “shares”, or the lack of reasoned nuance that Twitter is capable of, simply propagates the negativity with its hate-bait. The psychologist, William James, one said that “There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it.” This seems to be the tactic that is prevalent in modern life and, in fact, is much used in the world of advertising. Anyone trying to spread propaganda knows that few people will ever check on the veracity of statements. Also, simple messages are far easier to spread than complex ones. The concerns of many people currently bombarded by the hate-bait can be very real: housing is far too expensive, public services are underfunded and worries about job security are all too common. Why is it, then, that many politicians in positions of power to address these issues choose to do nothing and simply blame foreigners instead?

I was shocked at the murder of the MP Jo Cox by a Neo-Nazi last week but I was also annoyed by the right-wing press claiming that his actions were as a result of mental illness. Given that we will not hear the full details of this incident until the perpetrator’s trial it is difficult to say whether mental instability played any part but it does add to yet another popular trope by equating mental illness with violence. Most mentally ill people are only ever likely to harm themselves but from what we have heard from the police so far it does not sound like the actions of a disorganised mind and far more related to the actions of someone whose hate and bile have been reinforced through years of exposure to twisted irrationality. I think the right-wing press would be advised to ask where such ideas originate from.