It is with persuasive use of icons and touchstones of our culture such as this that the BNP is gaining a dangerous currency in the political sphere:
http://tv.bnp.org.uk/2009/03/why-si...jected-by-todays-politically-correct-parties/
If you have a look through some of the available videos et al on the BNP site you will see that they hit all the right notes to harmonise with the fears and common opinions of ordinary people (I don't exclude myself from this). Clips like this one are a million miles away from the Great Game and bring politics into the tangible realm for most people:
http://tv.bnp.org.uk/2009/04/bnp-making-a-difference-in-stoke/ (by the way, I worked on the archaeological dig from this place and lived just down the road from the estate which was locally termed "Scabby Abbey")
http://tv.bnp.org.uk/2009/04/the-betrayal-of-our-soldiers/
Misuse and mistreatment of our troops, overly open borders, too many 'foreigners' already here, too much taxation, overtly corrupt politicians, the EU's drain on our coffers whilst giving nothing back, lack of good jobs (subtext: "for British people"), the corrosion of our culture and so on.
An impressive list and the scary thing is that I can agree with almost everything they say ... on the surface.
Altho' they disarmingly use ordinary people rather than skilled orators to put the message across, there is much mileage made in the 'political' trick of the presentation of half the truth or just using the parts of same that support their message.
So you find yourself in agreement with what they say, especially if you don't know enough about politics and history to realise what they are not saying. For you see, this party is the British embodiment of the movement that occurred in a certain other European country in the 1930's - that didn't turn out so well, as I recall.
That is why they are 'dangerous'. Not for what they claim to represent but for the beginning of a road they could lead us down. A frightening thing to feel in myself is that, even knowing where such a path could lead, I still find myself wondering if that would be such a bad thing? After all, I'm English, from a family incredibly well rooted in English soil and patriotic as they come - surely they'd never turn their sights on such as me ... would they?
As most of the people who post here are American, I wonder what your opinions are of what the BNP 'platform' purports to be?
http://tv.bnp.org.uk/2009/03/why-si...jected-by-todays-politically-correct-parties/
If you have a look through some of the available videos et al on the BNP site you will see that they hit all the right notes to harmonise with the fears and common opinions of ordinary people (I don't exclude myself from this). Clips like this one are a million miles away from the Great Game and bring politics into the tangible realm for most people:
http://tv.bnp.org.uk/2009/04/bnp-making-a-difference-in-stoke/ (by the way, I worked on the archaeological dig from this place and lived just down the road from the estate which was locally termed "Scabby Abbey")
http://tv.bnp.org.uk/2009/04/the-betrayal-of-our-soldiers/
Misuse and mistreatment of our troops, overly open borders, too many 'foreigners' already here, too much taxation, overtly corrupt politicians, the EU's drain on our coffers whilst giving nothing back, lack of good jobs (subtext: "for British people"), the corrosion of our culture and so on.
An impressive list and the scary thing is that I can agree with almost everything they say ... on the surface.
Altho' they disarmingly use ordinary people rather than skilled orators to put the message across, there is much mileage made in the 'political' trick of the presentation of half the truth or just using the parts of same that support their message.
So you find yourself in agreement with what they say, especially if you don't know enough about politics and history to realise what they are not saying. For you see, this party is the British embodiment of the movement that occurred in a certain other European country in the 1930's - that didn't turn out so well, as I recall.
That is why they are 'dangerous'. Not for what they claim to represent but for the beginning of a road they could lead us down. A frightening thing to feel in myself is that, even knowing where such a path could lead, I still find myself wondering if that would be such a bad thing? After all, I'm English, from a family incredibly well rooted in English soil and patriotic as they come - surely they'd never turn their sights on such as me ... would they?
As most of the people who post here are American, I wonder what your opinions are of what the BNP 'platform' purports to be?
And you are exactly right. The BNP here also have a niche advantage - a kind of parasitic feeding off the idea that all the country's ills are simple solvable factors of race (non-white) and immigration. I hate seeing these school-grade notions being crusaded by some of the tabloids here (Mail especially, pffft). Unfortunately I do not think it is mere rhetoric and politicking because these ideas encourage racism and xenophobia themselves and which only polarises the communities and prejudices and paranoias further. For me, the BNP do not offer any solutions besides insular, backward-looking anachronisms. Mussolini is never lauded anywhere by the BNP that I can see, though their "fixes" for the UK would seem impossible without judicious use of his methodologies. I never understand how they miss that 
