This was originally written just before Christmas 2016.
Christmas.
Not a massive fan of it myself. Overpriced bollocks disguised as a half forgotten religious occasion.
However…
Even I, the man with no Christmas tree in his house, who plans to open no presents on the day, feels that it’s a touch extreme to mow down people shopping at a Christmas market. I wrote this blog in the summer shortly after the Nice attacks and what I said then about not letting terror win is a relevant today after watching what has happened in Berlin, as it was then.
However, in the summer, the world genuinely was a slightly different place. The Brexit vote hadn’t occurred and Trump hadn’t been elected as the next President of the United States. It is only when you stop and look back 6 months that you realise how quickly the tone of debate has changed. And not for the better.
Responding to news of the Berlin mowing down of innocent shoppers, Trump had this to say;
"Our hearts and prayers are with the loved ones of the victims of today's horrifying terror attack in Berlin. Innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they prepared to celebrate the Christmas holiday.
ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad. These terrorists and their regional and worldwide networks must be eradicated from the face of the earth, a mission we will carry out with all freedom-loving partners.”
Then for good measure he added:
“Today there were terror attacks in Turkey, Switzerland and Germany - and it is only getting worse. The civilized world must change thinking”
Where do you start with that bundle of narrow minded bigotry eh?
The civilized world? Damn you uncivilised Muslims attacking all those Christians! And I’ve got say I’m not big on The Donald and his ‘freedom loving partners’ rocking round the globe eradicating bad guys either, as much as the reflex urge to ‘bomb the shit’ out of people who do this kind of thing is almost understandable.
If you’re 12 years old and have no understanding of geopolitics.
Even Putin has managed to sound vaguely statesman like this morning:
"This crime against peaceful civilians is shocking in its savage cynicism,"
Although, to be honest, that’s a description I’d happily apply to Russian backed slaughter in Aleppo too.
But to go back to Trump and his Christian slaughtering rant. Let us just, for a moment, remember that over a third of the people killed in Nice in the summer, were Muslim, as this New York Times article makes clear. We should also bear in mind that when Trump was busy expressing his outrage, the confirmation of the perpetrator of the attack in Berlin had not been confirmed, let alone his religion or any links to networks global or otherwise.
Maybe, Donald, you should shut the fuck up until some semblance of reality has had a chance to penetrate your stupid hair and reach your teeny weeny brain.
But even more good news came quickly. Because in late 2016, where Trump goes, Nigel Farage is soon to follow. Which surely can only make the situation better can’t it? Let us quote Farage this morning. He starts of by blaming Angela Merkel for the killings in Berlin;
“Terrible news from Berlin but no surprise. Events like these will be the Merkel legacy.”
Damn you too, Christian slaughtering Angela!
But Farage didn’t stop there. No, he found new depths to plumb. Following that initial comment regarding Merkel’s culpability for the truck attack, the widow of Jo Cox, Brendan, tweeted Farage and pointed out that “blaming politicians for the actions of extremists? That’s a slippery slope Nigel”
When questioned on this, Nigel hit back. Hard.
“Yes, well he of course he would know more about extremists than me, Mr Cox. He backs organisations like Hope Not Hate who masquerade as being lovely and peaceful but actually pursue violent and very undemocratic means.”
When the interviewer pointed out the Brendan Cox had suffered more than most at the hands of extremism, Farage didn’t feel the need to row back;
“Yes, it’s a terrible thing what happened to his family, with the murder of his wife, but he continues to be active in the political arena. And given some of the organisations he supports, I can’t just stand here and say I’m not going to respond.”
No Nige, ‘cos that would involve having even a smidgen of class or common decency. Feel free to have a look at the Hope Not Hate website here and see how hate filled you find them yourselves.
It would appear we live in world where the President-elect of the US and a mainstream British politician, amongst many others no doubt (I can’t wait to hear what Marine Le Pen has to say today), are now feel free to indulge publicly in this sort of half witted, narrow minded, nonsense.
So how about this for an idea. How about this Christmas, we stop spending money on shit we don’t need, lift our eyes from the Dr Who special and actually realise what matters, which surely was the bloody point in the first place. How about we all remember that everyone who died in Berlin yesterday was human, like you and me. And everyone who died in Nice was human. And the French Father murdered in his own church, he was human too. How about we start remembering that compassion and love and understanding and tolerance are not values restricted to one religion or belief. They are the universal values that makes us human.
How about this Christmas, we stand up to the hate and the bollocks and remember what it is to love our fellow man.
Even I might find a reason to enjoy Christmas then.
Not a massive fan of it myself. Overpriced bollocks disguised as a half forgotten religious occasion.
However…
Even I, the man with no Christmas tree in his house, who plans to open no presents on the day, feels that it’s a touch extreme to mow down people shopping at a Christmas market. I wrote this blog in the summer shortly after the Nice attacks and what I said then about not letting terror win is a relevant today after watching what has happened in Berlin, as it was then.
However, in the summer, the world genuinely was a slightly different place. The Brexit vote hadn’t occurred and Trump hadn’t been elected as the next President of the United States. It is only when you stop and look back 6 months that you realise how quickly the tone of debate has changed. And not for the better.
Responding to news of the Berlin mowing down of innocent shoppers, Trump had this to say;
"Our hearts and prayers are with the loved ones of the victims of today's horrifying terror attack in Berlin. Innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they prepared to celebrate the Christmas holiday.
ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad. These terrorists and their regional and worldwide networks must be eradicated from the face of the earth, a mission we will carry out with all freedom-loving partners.”
Then for good measure he added:
“Today there were terror attacks in Turkey, Switzerland and Germany - and it is only getting worse. The civilized world must change thinking”
Where do you start with that bundle of narrow minded bigotry eh?
The civilized world? Damn you uncivilised Muslims attacking all those Christians! And I’ve got say I’m not big on The Donald and his ‘freedom loving partners’ rocking round the globe eradicating bad guys either, as much as the reflex urge to ‘bomb the shit’ out of people who do this kind of thing is almost understandable.
If you’re 12 years old and have no understanding of geopolitics.
Even Putin has managed to sound vaguely statesman like this morning:
"This crime against peaceful civilians is shocking in its savage cynicism,"
Although, to be honest, that’s a description I’d happily apply to Russian backed slaughter in Aleppo too.
But to go back to Trump and his Christian slaughtering rant. Let us just, for a moment, remember that over a third of the people killed in Nice in the summer, were Muslim, as this New York Times article makes clear. We should also bear in mind that when Trump was busy expressing his outrage, the confirmation of the perpetrator of the attack in Berlin had not been confirmed, let alone his religion or any links to networks global or otherwise.
Maybe, Donald, you should shut the fuck up until some semblance of reality has had a chance to penetrate your stupid hair and reach your teeny weeny brain.
But even more good news came quickly. Because in late 2016, where Trump goes, Nigel Farage is soon to follow. Which surely can only make the situation better can’t it? Let us quote Farage this morning. He starts of by blaming Angela Merkel for the killings in Berlin;
“Terrible news from Berlin but no surprise. Events like these will be the Merkel legacy.”
Damn you too, Christian slaughtering Angela!
But Farage didn’t stop there. No, he found new depths to plumb. Following that initial comment regarding Merkel’s culpability for the truck attack, the widow of Jo Cox, Brendan, tweeted Farage and pointed out that “blaming politicians for the actions of extremists? That’s a slippery slope Nigel”
When questioned on this, Nigel hit back. Hard.
“Yes, well he of course he would know more about extremists than me, Mr Cox. He backs organisations like Hope Not Hate who masquerade as being lovely and peaceful but actually pursue violent and very undemocratic means.”
When the interviewer pointed out the Brendan Cox had suffered more than most at the hands of extremism, Farage didn’t feel the need to row back;
“Yes, it’s a terrible thing what happened to his family, with the murder of his wife, but he continues to be active in the political arena. And given some of the organisations he supports, I can’t just stand here and say I’m not going to respond.”
No Nige, ‘cos that would involve having even a smidgen of class or common decency. Feel free to have a look at the Hope Not Hate website here and see how hate filled you find them yourselves.
It would appear we live in world where the President-elect of the US and a mainstream British politician, amongst many others no doubt (I can’t wait to hear what Marine Le Pen has to say today), are now feel free to indulge publicly in this sort of half witted, narrow minded, nonsense.
So how about this for an idea. How about this Christmas, we stop spending money on shit we don’t need, lift our eyes from the Dr Who special and actually realise what matters, which surely was the bloody point in the first place. How about we all remember that everyone who died in Berlin yesterday was human, like you and me. And everyone who died in Nice was human. And the French Father murdered in his own church, he was human too. How about we start remembering that compassion and love and understanding and tolerance are not values restricted to one religion or belief. They are the universal values that makes us human.
How about this Christmas, we stand up to the hate and the bollocks and remember what it is to love our fellow man.
Even I might find a reason to enjoy Christmas then.
P.s. Sorry for the rude language mum, but these ignorant fuckers really piss me off some days.
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