rest in power
June 16, 2016 9:51 AM Subscribe
British Labour MP Jo Cox, 41, was shot and murdered this afternoon during a constituency meeting in Leeds.
Cox was a committed humanitarian and campaigner for Syrian refugees and previously worked on the 2008 Obama campaign. She is the first MP to be killed in 26 years.
.
An attack on democracy and a great loss.
posted by lalochezia at 9:52 AM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
An attack on democracy and a great loss.
posted by lalochezia at 9:52 AM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
I had hoped we wouldn't need a martyr to fix this.
We shouldn't have to meet over a casket just to force us to be civil.
But please don't let this have been in vain.
.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 9:53 AM on June 16, 2016 [14 favorites]
We shouldn't have to meet over a casket just to force us to be civil.
But please don't let this have been in vain.
.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 9:53 AM on June 16, 2016 [14 favorites]
I feel like the whole fucking world is going to hell. I'm really sorry, UK mefites. I'm really sorry, everyone.
.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 9:53 AM on June 16, 2016 [45 favorites]
.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 9:53 AM on June 16, 2016 [45 favorites]
Statement from Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leader:
The whole of the Labour Party and Labour family - and indeed the whole country - will be in shock at the horrific murder of Jo Cox today.
Jo Cox had a lifelong record of public service and a deep commitment to humanity. She worked both for Oxfam and the anti-slavery charity, the Freedom Fund, before she was elected last year as MP for Batley and Spen – where she was born and grew up.
Jo was dedicated to getting us to live up to our promises to support the developing world and strengthen human rights – and she brought those values and principles with her when she became an MP.
Jo Cox died doing her public duty at the heart of our democracy, listening to and representing the people she was elected to serve. It is a profoundly important cause for us all.
Jo was universally liked at Westminster, not just by her Labour colleagues, but across parliament.
In the coming days, there will be questions to answer about how and why she died. But for now all our thoughts are with Jo’s husband Brendan and their two young children. They will grow up without their Mum, but can be immensely proud of what she did, what she achieved and what she stood for.
We send them our deepest condolences. We have lost a much loved colleague, a real talent and a dedicated campaigner for social justice and peace. But they have lost a wife and a mother, and our hearts go out to them.
From the above linked article, Jo's speech to the Commons in April regarding the amendment to accept 3,000 lone child refugees from Europe:
We all know that the vast majority of the terrified, friendless and profoundly vulnerable child refugees scattered across Europe tonight came from Syria. We also know that, as that conflict enters its sixth barbaric year, desperate Syrian families are being forced to make an impossible decision: stay and face starvation, rape, persecution, and death, or make a perilous journey to find sanctuary elsewhere. Who can blame desperate parents for wanting to escape the horror that their families are experiencing? Children are being killed on their way to school, children as young as 7 are being forcefully recruited to the front line, and 1 in 3 children have grown up knowing nothing but fear and war. Those children have been exposed to things no child should ever witness, and I know I would risk life and limb to get my two precious babies out of that hellhole.
posted by fight or flight at 9:54 AM on June 16, 2016 [77 favorites]
The whole of the Labour Party and Labour family - and indeed the whole country - will be in shock at the horrific murder of Jo Cox today.
Jo Cox had a lifelong record of public service and a deep commitment to humanity. She worked both for Oxfam and the anti-slavery charity, the Freedom Fund, before she was elected last year as MP for Batley and Spen – where she was born and grew up.
Jo was dedicated to getting us to live up to our promises to support the developing world and strengthen human rights – and she brought those values and principles with her when she became an MP.
Jo Cox died doing her public duty at the heart of our democracy, listening to and representing the people she was elected to serve. It is a profoundly important cause for us all.
Jo was universally liked at Westminster, not just by her Labour colleagues, but across parliament.
In the coming days, there will be questions to answer about how and why she died. But for now all our thoughts are with Jo’s husband Brendan and their two young children. They will grow up without their Mum, but can be immensely proud of what she did, what she achieved and what she stood for.
We send them our deepest condolences. We have lost a much loved colleague, a real talent and a dedicated campaigner for social justice and peace. But they have lost a wife and a mother, and our hearts go out to them.
From the above linked article, Jo's speech to the Commons in April regarding the amendment to accept 3,000 lone child refugees from Europe:
We all know that the vast majority of the terrified, friendless and profoundly vulnerable child refugees scattered across Europe tonight came from Syria. We also know that, as that conflict enters its sixth barbaric year, desperate Syrian families are being forced to make an impossible decision: stay and face starvation, rape, persecution, and death, or make a perilous journey to find sanctuary elsewhere. Who can blame desperate parents for wanting to escape the horror that their families are experiencing? Children are being killed on their way to school, children as young as 7 are being forcefully recruited to the front line, and 1 in 3 children have grown up knowing nothing but fear and war. Those children have been exposed to things no child should ever witness, and I know I would risk life and limb to get my two precious babies out of that hellhole.
posted by fight or flight at 9:54 AM on June 16, 2016 [77 favorites]
no, i reject this future, i want to go back to the comic naval battles on the thames of yesterday.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:56 AM on June 16, 2016 [46 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 9:56 AM on June 16, 2016 [46 favorites]
.
I am so, so sorry.
From twitter, June 15: My hubby @MrBrendanCox & children taking part in the battle of the #Thames - because we're #StrongerIn #Remain
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:58 AM on June 16, 2016 [9 favorites]
I am so, so sorry.
From twitter, June 15: My hubby @MrBrendanCox & children taking part in the battle of the #Thames - because we're #StrongerIn #Remain
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:58 AM on June 16, 2016 [9 favorites]
.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 9:59 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by bitter-girl.com at 9:59 AM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:00 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:00 AM on June 16, 2016
I am awed by her husband's statement. So powerful.
Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.
Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.
She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.
Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.
posted by doornoise at 10:00 AM on June 16, 2016 [120 favorites]
Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.
Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.
She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.
Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.
posted by doornoise at 10:00 AM on June 16, 2016 [120 favorites]
.
posted by A Robot Ninja at 10:01 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by A Robot Ninja at 10:01 AM on June 16, 2016
You just know that if the perpetrator can tick anything other than 'White British' on their census form, the media will seize on that and not on the real story: that this was a horrible senseless attack on someone whose job was to make life in her community better.
posted by mippy at 10:01 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by mippy at 10:01 AM on June 16, 2016
There are (unconfirmed) reports that the murderer shouted "Britain First".
Britain First is the name of a fascist splinter movement spalled off the remains of the British National Party. They are, as you might imagine, violently opposed to "immigrants" (which is the British euphemism for "those people"; a racist dog-whistle pitched low enough that almost everybody gets it).
This group has also been holding workshops on knife fighting and advocating "direct action" against Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, and MPs who supported his election.
As you might imagine, they are enthusiastic supporters of Brexit and want to use it as a lever to ban immigration and deport all currently resident migrants.
Note that Jo Cox campaigned for the Remain ticket in the referendum.
I was saying earlier today that the tone of British politics has become unbelievably poisonous over the past month, with blatantly racist campaigning by the Leave side: I have a very unhappy feeling that this assassination is a side-effect of the febrile atmosphere.
posted by cstross at 10:02 AM on June 16, 2016 [80 favorites]
Britain First is the name of a fascist splinter movement spalled off the remains of the British National Party. They are, as you might imagine, violently opposed to "immigrants" (which is the British euphemism for "those people"; a racist dog-whistle pitched low enough that almost everybody gets it).
This group has also been holding workshops on knife fighting and advocating "direct action" against Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, and MPs who supported his election.
As you might imagine, they are enthusiastic supporters of Brexit and want to use it as a lever to ban immigration and deport all currently resident migrants.
Note that Jo Cox campaigned for the Remain ticket in the referendum.
I was saying earlier today that the tone of British politics has become unbelievably poisonous over the past month, with blatantly racist campaigning by the Leave side: I have a very unhappy feeling that this assassination is a side-effect of the febrile atmosphere.
posted by cstross at 10:02 AM on June 16, 2016 [80 favorites]
What world is this? A great loss...a beautiful, bright life full of love for others that will never be lived...two motherless children...for what????????
.
posted by sallybrown at 10:02 AM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
.
posted by sallybrown at 10:02 AM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
Oh fucking hell. From the Guardian:
"Police also confirmed a man in his late 40s to early 50s nearby suffered slight injuries in the incident. They are also investigating reports that the suspect shouted “Britain first”, a possible reference to the far-right political party of that name, as he launched the attack."
I am so, so ashamed to be a white Briton right now.
posted by mippy at 10:03 AM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
"Police also confirmed a man in his late 40s to early 50s nearby suffered slight injuries in the incident. They are also investigating reports that the suspect shouted “Britain first”, a possible reference to the far-right political party of that name, as he launched the attack."
I am so, so ashamed to be a white Briton right now.
posted by mippy at 10:03 AM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
.
posted by ChuraChura at 10:03 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by ChuraChura at 10:03 AM on June 16, 2016
Devastating and shocking. Not only because of this tragic, unnecessary murder but that a safe, public space should be attacked in such a way - she had been meeting constituents at the public library immediately prior.
.
posted by wingless_angel at 10:04 AM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
.
posted by wingless_angel at 10:04 AM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:04 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:04 AM on June 16, 2016
You just know that if the perpetrator can tick anything other than 'White British' on their census form, the media will seize on that and not on the real story: that this was a horrible senseless attack on someone whose job was to make life in her community better.It doesn't sound like that's going to be a problem this time, though. I hate that every time one of these things happens, I find myself praying for the perpetrator to be a white guy, but there you go.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:04 AM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
Just absolutely tragic. My heart goes out to those poor kids and their dad.
.
posted by edd at 10:04 AM on June 16, 2016 [7 favorites]
.
posted by edd at 10:04 AM on June 16, 2016 [7 favorites]
There are at least two named witnesses who heard the assassin yell “Britain First!”
posted by nicepersonality at 10:04 AM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by nicepersonality at 10:04 AM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
Dammit dammit dammit.
The EU referendum campaign has got progressively more toxic, and this is the result. Whenever you invoke the language of violence & exclusion you inspire nutcases to act. We’ve seen it in the abortion protests in the US & now of all campaigns apparently in the f*king EU referendum campaign.
Argh. Just aaargh.
posted by pharm at 10:05 AM on June 16, 2016 [12 favorites]
The EU referendum campaign has got progressively more toxic, and this is the result. Whenever you invoke the language of violence & exclusion you inspire nutcases to act. We’ve seen it in the abortion protests in the US & now of all campaigns apparently in the f*king EU referendum campaign.
Argh. Just aaargh.
posted by pharm at 10:05 AM on June 16, 2016 [12 favorites]
.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 10:05 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by fingers_of_fire at 10:05 AM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 10:06 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 10:06 AM on June 16, 2016
Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.
.
posted by kalimac at 10:07 AM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
.
posted by kalimac at 10:07 AM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
The Guardian has the name of a suspect, although it's worth being a little careful about it, because journalists have misidentified suspects in the past.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:09 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:09 AM on June 16, 2016
I'm never going to be a person who talks about being "proud of my country", but one thing I have usually thought is ok about Britain is that it got through the 20th century without giving too much comfort to fascism and other forms of extremism. It is something we have usually been not too bad at, as a country.
It appears that this is likely to have been an act of terror in the service of fascism. I hope, very much, that Britain will do well in rejecting the comfort that has been given to this particular form of extremism in recent years. Very few of us, no matter what our political leanings, are sympathetic to the ideologies that seem to have been in play here. I hope and believe we will work together to make the situation better.
But Jesus I'm sad now. What a miserable waste.
.
posted by howfar at 10:09 AM on June 16, 2016 [22 favorites]
It appears that this is likely to have been an act of terror in the service of fascism. I hope, very much, that Britain will do well in rejecting the comfort that has been given to this particular form of extremism in recent years. Very few of us, no matter what our political leanings, are sympathetic to the ideologies that seem to have been in play here. I hope and believe we will work together to make the situation better.
But Jesus I'm sad now. What a miserable waste.
.
posted by howfar at 10:09 AM on June 16, 2016 [22 favorites]
I am so utterly heartsick. This referendum is absolute poison. Those poor poor children.
.
posted by threetwentytwo at 10:10 AM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
.
posted by threetwentytwo at 10:10 AM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
Mr. Rogers - On Violence & Children 1968
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:10 AM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:10 AM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
.
posted by supermedusa at 10:10 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by supermedusa at 10:10 AM on June 16, 2016
Awful truly awful.
And I'm not sure what it was attempted to accomplish because it seems like assassination of Jo Cox and that's what this is an assassination is likely to result in the opposite of what this deranged attacker wanted which is likely to attack someone who he saw as trying to prevent Brexit.
Ghastly and horrible and oddly not that surprising given the extremism that seems to be ramping up among the far right in many European nations.
posted by vuron at 10:11 AM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
And I'm not sure what it was attempted to accomplish because it seems like assassination of Jo Cox and that's what this is an assassination is likely to result in the opposite of what this deranged attacker wanted which is likely to attack someone who he saw as trying to prevent Brexit.
Ghastly and horrible and oddly not that surprising given the extremism that seems to be ramping up among the far right in many European nations.
posted by vuron at 10:11 AM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
From Jo Cox's maiden speech when being elected MP.
"Batley and Spen is a gathering of typically independent, no-nonsense and proud Yorkshire towns and villages. Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration, be it of Irish Catholics across the constituency or of Muslims from Gujarat in India or from Pakistan, principally from Kashmir. While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us..."
Whole speech here
posted by lalochezia at 10:13 AM on June 16, 2016 [39 favorites]
"Batley and Spen is a gathering of typically independent, no-nonsense and proud Yorkshire towns and villages. Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration, be it of Irish Catholics across the constituency or of Muslims from Gujarat in India or from Pakistan, principally from Kashmir. While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us..."
Whole speech here
posted by lalochezia at 10:13 AM on June 16, 2016 [39 favorites]
If you would like to donate to help the Syrian refugees whose cause she championed here is a link: https://t.co/txQ8Vy0Djd
A colossal personal tragedy for her husband and children, and a truly dark day in British public life.
posted by sobarel at 10:15 AM on June 16, 2016 [13 favorites]
A colossal personal tragedy for her husband and children, and a truly dark day in British public life.
posted by sobarel at 10:15 AM on June 16, 2016 [13 favorites]
.
posted by SillyShepherd at 10:18 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by SillyShepherd at 10:18 AM on June 16, 2016
Unutterably tragic.
This needs to be the point that makes us stop being a country where a rabid right-wing press lies to us daily, one where politicians openly whip up racist hate for causes they literally and openly do not believe in, one that only looks to take what it can from the world instead of giving back.
God, it really needs to be. The alternative seems to be descent into fascism, and I can't bear this.
posted by bonaldi at 10:22 AM on June 16, 2016 [15 favorites]
This needs to be the point that makes us stop being a country where a rabid right-wing press lies to us daily, one where politicians openly whip up racist hate for causes they literally and openly do not believe in, one that only looks to take what it can from the world instead of giving back.
God, it really needs to be. The alternative seems to be descent into fascism, and I can't bear this.
posted by bonaldi at 10:22 AM on June 16, 2016 [15 favorites]
.
posted by Coda Tronca at 10:26 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by Coda Tronca at 10:26 AM on June 16, 2016
And I'm not sure what it was attempted to accomplish
The aim of political violence is always to inspire more political violence until intimidation becomes the language of politics itself.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:26 AM on June 16, 2016 [45 favorites]
The aim of political violence is always to inspire more political violence until intimidation becomes the language of politics itself.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:26 AM on June 16, 2016 [45 favorites]
I think that Cox is the first sitting MP to be assassinated since Spencer Perceval whose killer has no connection to Irish nationalism. It's incredible and unprecedented.
posted by Emma May Smith at 10:26 AM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Emma May Smith at 10:26 AM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 10:30 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 10:30 AM on June 16, 2016
Emma May Smith: Unprecedent, but only just. Andrew Pennington died defending an MP from a sword attack, and I don't think that was related to Ireland.
posted by edd at 10:31 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by edd at 10:31 AM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by Law of Demeter at 10:37 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by Law of Demeter at 10:37 AM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by AugustWest at 10:39 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by AugustWest at 10:39 AM on June 16, 2016
Are the Tories not watching the US elections? Playing with the politics of fear and hate might get you short term returns but the end result will be orange fascists taking over your party. Do the Tories want to merge with the UKIP assholes or something?
posted by vuron at 10:41 AM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by vuron at 10:41 AM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
.
posted by one weird trick at 10:41 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by one weird trick at 10:41 AM on June 16, 2016
Unprecedent, but only just. Andrew Pennington died defending an MP from a sword attack, and I don't think that was related to Ireland.
That's true. In that case the murderer was found to be mentally ill (in fact, so was Bellingham). We'll have to wait to see if the same is the case with Mair.
posted by Emma May Smith at 10:42 AM on June 16, 2016
That's true. In that case the murderer was found to be mentally ill (in fact, so was Bellingham). We'll have to wait to see if the same is the case with Mair.
posted by Emma May Smith at 10:42 AM on June 16, 2016
This is devastating. Friends of mine worked with Jo Cox and her husband on NGO projects. Her life encompassed everything that I associate with Britain at its best: outward-looking, self-sacrificing, tolerant, the opposite of the toxic cloud that has descended over the nation in recent weeks.
I am going to curl up in a ball in a dark room.
posted by holgate at 10:42 AM on June 16, 2016 [30 favorites]
I am going to curl up in a ball in a dark room.
posted by holgate at 10:42 AM on June 16, 2016 [30 favorites]
Violence against another woman who was outspoken. I try so hard to see the overall good in humanity, but this feels like violence specifically against a woman who was both seen and heard and trying to make a difference.
I'm so sorry, UK.
posted by jillithd at 10:43 AM on June 16, 2016 [24 favorites]
I'm so sorry, UK.
posted by jillithd at 10:43 AM on June 16, 2016 [24 favorites]
This is brutal. I was really hoping that Cox would make it against the odds, just as Giffords did. I feel so sorry for her family, friends, constituents and country.
And as cstross pointed out, Britain First groups have been practicing knife defence and even posted pics on their Facebook page (link goes to discussion and cached image on Twitter).
posted by maudlin at 10:45 AM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
And as cstross pointed out, Britain First groups have been practicing knife defence and even posted pics on their Facebook page (link goes to discussion and cached image on Twitter).
posted by maudlin at 10:45 AM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
This is awful. I can't remember anything in British public life that's made me feel this raw and heartsick in a long time. At least Al-Qaeda style terrorism and (I'm hesitant to mention this in the same breath) Irish nationalist or unionist terrorism are responses to government policies, not idiots responding to our politicians' vile plausibly deniable xenophobic rhetoric. (And also doubtless responding to how much attention gun murderers get in America)
.
posted by ambrosen at 10:48 AM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
.
posted by ambrosen at 10:48 AM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
.
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:50 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:50 AM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by stolyarova at 10:51 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by stolyarova at 10:51 AM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 10:57 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by Dressed to Kill at 10:57 AM on June 16, 2016
.
For context, the Brexit thread is here. There's also a football tournament underway and nationalist/xenophobic people are on full display right now. I'll echo cstross and post what I just posted on facebook:
I predict that over the coming days this person will be called a "lone wolf", a "bad apple", "mentally unstable". But make no mistake, the people truly responsible for this are still at large. Some of them hold elected office, others write hateful op-eds for the Daily Mail. The constant barrage of hate-filled xenophobia and fear we have been subjected to over recent months and years is to blame. Time will tell but all signs suggest this was a political murder intended to terrorise those of us that do not share their worldview. Fuck those people.
posted by Acey at 10:57 AM on June 16, 2016 [32 favorites]
For context, the Brexit thread is here. There's also a football tournament underway and nationalist/xenophobic people are on full display right now. I'll echo cstross and post what I just posted on facebook:
I predict that over the coming days this person will be called a "lone wolf", a "bad apple", "mentally unstable". But make no mistake, the people truly responsible for this are still at large. Some of them hold elected office, others write hateful op-eds for the Daily Mail. The constant barrage of hate-filled xenophobia and fear we have been subjected to over recent months and years is to blame. Time will tell but all signs suggest this was a political murder intended to terrorise those of us that do not share their worldview. Fuck those people.
posted by Acey at 10:57 AM on June 16, 2016 [32 favorites]
In that case the murderer was found to be mentally ill (in fact, so was Bellingham). We'll have to wait to see if the same is the case with Mair.We already know he was (look at the part about the 2010 article that quoted him).
posted by kickingtheground at 10:57 AM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by soren_lorensen at 11:03 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by soren_lorensen at 11:03 AM on June 16, 2016
We already know he was (look at the part about the 2010 article that quoted him).
In 2010, the Huddersfield Daily Examiner wrote that Mr Mair had started volunteering at a local park after learning about the opportunity through the Mirfield-based Pathways Day Centre for adults with mental health problems.posted by Emma May Smith at 11:05 AM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
He told the newspaper at the time: "I can honestly say it has done me more good than all the psychotherapy and medication in the world. "Many people who suffer from mental illness are socially isolated and disconnected from society, feelings of worthlessness are also common mainly caused by long-term unemployment.
I predict that over the coming days this person will be called a "lone wolf", a "bad apple", "mentally unstable".
If he had mental health problems, it is relevant.
posted by Coda Tronca at 11:05 AM on June 16, 2016
If he had mental health problems, it is relevant.
posted by Coda Tronca at 11:05 AM on June 16, 2016
Here's an interesting form of murder we've come up with: assassination. You know what's interesting about assassination? Well, not only does it change those popularity polls in a big fucking hurry but it's also interesting to notice who it is we assassinate. D'you ever notice who it is... stop to think who it is we kill? It's always people who've told us to to live together in harmony and try to love one another. Jesus, Gandhi, Lincoln, John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, John Lennon. They all said "Try to live together peacefully." BAM! Right in the fuckin' head. Apparently, we're not ready for that.If Carlin were still alive he can now add Jo Cox to the list.
posted by Talez at 11:06 AM on June 16, 2016 [49 favorites]
If this person turns out to be a member of Britain First as suspected then it should be outlawed as a terrorist organisation.
posted by Acey at 11:08 AM on June 16, 2016 [13 favorites]
posted by Acey at 11:08 AM on June 16, 2016 [13 favorites]
An example of stochastic terrorism with the Britain First folks ramping up talk of "direct action" over the last few months and the whole referendum being a shitshow from top to bottom? I'm almost certain that Mair's mental illness plays a part but we cannot deny that those who influenced him bear some responsibility for failing to achieve an appropriate level of political discourse.
posted by longbaugh at 11:09 AM on June 16, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by longbaugh at 11:09 AM on June 16, 2016 [7 favorites]
'A joy to represent such a diverse community’ What Jo Cox said in her maiden speech to the Commons in June 2015
posted by taff at 11:19 AM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by taff at 11:19 AM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
.
She sounds amazing. Heartbreaking that I'm only hearing about her because this happened.
Right now I'm suffering from something like accute homesickness combined with loss, because it seems like the Britain I left is just fucking gone, irridemably gone, dead at the hands of assholes like this.
Fuck the world.
posted by Artw at 11:21 AM on June 16, 2016 [23 favorites]
She sounds amazing. Heartbreaking that I'm only hearing about her because this happened.
Right now I'm suffering from something like accute homesickness combined with loss, because it seems like the Britain I left is just fucking gone, irridemably gone, dead at the hands of assholes like this.
Fuck the world.
posted by Artw at 11:21 AM on June 16, 2016 [23 favorites]
Utterly awful. Really tragic. Such a powerful comment from her husband.
posted by knapah at 11:23 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by knapah at 11:23 AM on June 16, 2016
Mental health problems are relevant, but I think that there's a repeating pattern whereby violent rhetoric spurs the most unstable people to act out violently, which normalizes the violence, which then spreads to so-called "normal" people.
It might be a bit of a slippery-slope argument, but when people are advocating, even implicitly, for murder, someone will eventually follow through, establishing the social license to do it again.
.
posted by klanawa at 11:24 AM on June 16, 2016 [15 favorites]
It might be a bit of a slippery-slope argument, but when people are advocating, even implicitly, for murder, someone will eventually follow through, establishing the social license to do it again.
.
posted by klanawa at 11:24 AM on June 16, 2016 [15 favorites]
.
I have no words. All my family is British. I want so desperately that the UK be a peaceful and tolerant society inside and out. Watching the referendum from afar without a vote has been hard enough. This, though... just, fuck.
posted by BungaDunga at 11:24 AM on June 16, 2016
I have no words. All my family is British. I want so desperately that the UK be a peaceful and tolerant society inside and out. Watching the referendum from afar without a vote has been hard enough. This, though... just, fuck.
posted by BungaDunga at 11:24 AM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:36 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:36 AM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by hydropsyche at 11:37 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by hydropsyche at 11:37 AM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by biggreenplant at 11:37 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by biggreenplant at 11:37 AM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by languagehat at 11:38 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by languagehat at 11:38 AM on June 16, 2016
I only hope that something good can come from this.
That we can detoxify this horrible mess that is all politics is right now.
Maybe someone from whatever side of whatever debate will change a hateful thought for a better one.
There has to be something...
otherwise it's all too bleak.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 11:42 AM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
That we can detoxify this horrible mess that is all politics is right now.
Maybe someone from whatever side of whatever debate will change a hateful thought for a better one.
There has to be something...
otherwise it's all too bleak.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 11:42 AM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
.
And on the same day the Brexit campaign hits a new low with this horrendous billboard, the rhetoric of the referendum seems to be doing horrible damage to the UK. Jo Cox was a tireless advocate of Syrian refugees.
posted by brilliantmistake at 11:45 AM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
And on the same day the Brexit campaign hits a new low with this horrendous billboard, the rhetoric of the referendum seems to be doing horrible damage to the UK. Jo Cox was a tireless advocate of Syrian refugees.
posted by brilliantmistake at 11:45 AM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
.
posted by Cookiebastard at 11:48 AM on June 16, 2016
posted by Cookiebastard at 11:48 AM on June 16, 2016
Unbelievable. Awful. UK mefites, I'm sorry for your loss.
Just imagining my own (Canadian, female, awesome) MP being gunned down for her support of refugees and immigration, my head hurts badly enough. I can't imagine how it would feel to live it.
My thoughts are with her constituents, and with her incredibly brave and strong family, holy crap I can't believe her husband managed to deliver that beautiful statement today.
.
posted by saturday_morning at 11:50 AM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
Just imagining my own (Canadian, female, awesome) MP being gunned down for her support of refugees and immigration, my head hurts badly enough. I can't imagine how it would feel to live it.
My thoughts are with her constituents, and with her incredibly brave and strong family, holy crap I can't believe her husband managed to deliver that beautiful statement today.
.
posted by saturday_morning at 11:50 AM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have a bit more to say about this appalling event and its context over on my blog.
posted by cstross at 11:53 AM on June 16, 2016 [43 favorites]
posted by cstross at 11:53 AM on June 16, 2016 [43 favorites]
.
I can't express how sad and angry this makes me.
Every politician, every paper, every opinion writer, every columnist, every headline writer, every media owner who has turned this referendum into the hate-filled war it seems to have become, you are guilty here, you revolting fucks.
I have no idea what has happened to the Britain I thought I lived in.
posted by dowcrag at 11:56 AM on June 16, 2016 [17 favorites]
I can't express how sad and angry this makes me.
Every politician, every paper, every opinion writer, every columnist, every headline writer, every media owner who has turned this referendum into the hate-filled war it seems to have become, you are guilty here, you revolting fucks.
I have no idea what has happened to the Britain I thought I lived in.
posted by dowcrag at 11:56 AM on June 16, 2016 [17 favorites]
The more I read about Jo Cox the more heartache I feel. What an amazing, genuinely good, kind, and hard working person she was. The world seems to have gone utterly mad. I immediately thought of Yeats when I read the headline.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
posted by pjsky at 11:57 AM on June 16, 2016 [13 favorites]
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
posted by pjsky at 11:57 AM on June 16, 2016 [13 favorites]
I'm so sad that I'm just now learning who Jo Cox was and the good work she did.
Terrible news.
.
posted by TwoStride at 11:57 AM on June 16, 2016 [8 favorites]
Terrible news.
.
posted by TwoStride at 11:57 AM on June 16, 2016 [8 favorites]
.
A very bright light was extinguished.
Whether her attacker has mental illness or not, the current atmosphere of hatred and intolerance, in the United States and overseas, is toxic enough to be a clear catalyst for assault and murder. Her husband has it right: we must all fight this.
posted by bearwife at 12:01 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
A very bright light was extinguished.
Whether her attacker has mental illness or not, the current atmosphere of hatred and intolerance, in the United States and overseas, is toxic enough to be a clear catalyst for assault and murder. Her husband has it right: we must all fight this.
posted by bearwife at 12:01 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think the Guardian is taking a sensible restrained approach in not capitalizing the first, in the alleged words the attacker shouted. While both phrases point in the same direction, saying he shouted 'Britain First' assumes a fact we don't yet have evidence for.
posted by IanMorr at 12:03 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by IanMorr at 12:03 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
So it turns out that Jo was in my year at University & good friend of mine was in the same (small) degree course & almost certainly knew her.
I'm feeling a little afraid for my country now. Like, I still believe it's not the British way, but it feels like this is where the slide into fascism might start. A bad Brexit, with an angry underclass casting about for someone to blame will be ripe pickings for some unprincipled demagogue who can given them some outgroup to blame.
Jo would have been part of the fight against that I'm sure.
posted by pharm at 12:07 PM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
I'm feeling a little afraid for my country now. Like, I still believe it's not the British way, but it feels like this is where the slide into fascism might start. A bad Brexit, with an angry underclass casting about for someone to blame will be ripe pickings for some unprincipled demagogue who can given them some outgroup to blame.
Jo would have been part of the fight against that I'm sure.
posted by pharm at 12:07 PM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
.
I have a bit more to say about this appalling event and its context over on my blog.
And it's very well said indeed. If anyone wants or needs context, go read it.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:12 PM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
I have a bit more to say about this appalling event and its context over on my blog.
And it's very well said indeed. If anyone wants or needs context, go read it.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:12 PM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
Archive, in case the Spectator goes down again.
posted by Artw at 12:13 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 12:13 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
It's incredible and unprecedented.
Leaving the UK but staying in northern Europe, it's very similar to the murder of Anna Lindh in 2003, also a young, female, and widely respected centre-left politician, who was stabbed to death a few days before an EU referendum.
(previously, from a *very* strange MetaFilter era...)
posted by effbot at 12:22 PM on June 16, 2016 [6 favorites]
Leaving the UK but staying in northern Europe, it's very similar to the murder of Anna Lindh in 2003, also a young, female, and widely respected centre-left politician, who was stabbed to death a few days before an EU referendum.
(previously, from a *very* strange MetaFilter era...)
posted by effbot at 12:22 PM on June 16, 2016 [6 favorites]
.
posted by NailsTheCat at 12:30 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by NailsTheCat at 12:30 PM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by werkzeuger at 12:30 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by werkzeuger at 12:30 PM on June 16, 2016
I first heard this news on the other Brexit thread this afternoon, and hoped against hope that she would pull through; it was awful to hear the police announcement of her death live on PM on Radio 4, and her colleagues being asked for their reactions moments after they heard the news themselves (not that it was PM's fault; they had them there already to talk about the stabbing, before we knew Cox had died, and presenter Caroline Quinn sounded just as upset).
posted by rory at 12:32 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rory at 12:32 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
Britain First is desperately trying to deny that this had anything to do with them. The replies to that tweet are extremely heartening. Knife-fight-"self-defence"-training, "direct-action"-posturing, Land-Rover-driving-up-and-down-Brick-Lane morons, I suspect your days are numbered.
posted by Sonny Jim at 12:41 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Sonny Jim at 12:41 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
A lot of people on Twitter are demanding their political opponents stop politicising this tragedy.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 12:42 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 12:42 PM on June 16, 2016
I heard a massive blast of horns just after 8pm, and went outside to look. It was coming from the boats at Hermitage Moorings, just across the river, where she lived while in London.
.
posted by doop at 12:45 PM on June 16, 2016 [14 favorites]
.
posted by doop at 12:45 PM on June 16, 2016 [14 favorites]
I literally just heard this. It's horrendous. I found out because my partner showed me a Facebook post about it, and the comments on it (I know) were galling. Apparently even if he did shout "Britain first" it's a conspiracy by the Pro-Remain side to discredit them. Fucking fucking hell. It's being used as a political football already, this person's death. This woman who was actually trying to do good with her position instead of tirelessly seeking glory and lining her pockets. This human being who did not deserve to die like this, like all the people who keep being killed for nothing but hate. What the fuck is happening?
That poor woman, her husband, those children...
.
posted by billiebee at 12:56 PM on June 16, 2016 [11 favorites]
That poor woman, her husband, those children...
.
posted by billiebee at 12:56 PM on June 16, 2016 [11 favorites]
Britain First is desperately trying to deny that this had anything to do with them.
Hah! Britain First is quoting Hicham Ben Abdallah in evidence that Mair didn't shout 'Britain First'. First and only fucking time they'd trust a Muslim.
posted by Emma May Smith at 12:59 PM on June 16, 2016 [9 favorites]
Hah! Britain First is quoting Hicham Ben Abdallah in evidence that Mair didn't shout 'Britain First'. First and only fucking time they'd trust a Muslim.
posted by Emma May Smith at 12:59 PM on June 16, 2016 [9 favorites]
Furious and sickened. And of course, it's already being pinned on generic "mental health", as if political murder is a symptom.
posted by ominous_paws at 12:59 PM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by ominous_paws at 12:59 PM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
The comments below Alex Massie's 'A Day of Infamy' (which was briefly pulled, revised, re-posted by the Spectator after the hordes descended on it) are sufficient proof that it needed to be written.
posted by holgate at 1:01 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by holgate at 1:01 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh, God. Oh no.
Jo Cox was a feminist and an absolute legend and outspoken and great, and universally liked in an increasingly muddled and divided Labour, and I'd always had the "oh, it's Jo Cox, this will be good" feeling whenever she said or did anything, even during the Corbyn leadership malarkey when everyone seemed to be foot-in-mouthing.
Fuck!! Nothing's worth this.
.
posted by monster truck weekend at 1:04 PM on June 16, 2016 [25 favorites]
Jo Cox was a feminist and an absolute legend and outspoken and great, and universally liked in an increasingly muddled and divided Labour, and I'd always had the "oh, it's Jo Cox, this will be good" feeling whenever she said or did anything, even during the Corbyn leadership malarkey when everyone seemed to be foot-in-mouthing.
Fuck!! Nothing's worth this.
.
posted by monster truck weekend at 1:04 PM on June 16, 2016 [25 favorites]
.
posted by runincircles at 1:06 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by runincircles at 1:06 PM on June 16, 2016
I was listening to the PM news programme this afternoon, after the news of the attack but before the news of her death. The presenter was interviewing friends and colleagues of Jo Cox when they broke away for the police statement which announced that, and then they went back to the interview. The interviewees and the anchor held it together, but only just - certainly more than this listener managed.
This is what happens when you play with hate and fear - most especially fear, because it is insidious. They are corrosive, they eat away at the strands that hold us together, and once you let them out you cannot easily rein them in.
This fucking referendum has done nothing but harm, and can do nothing but much more. I do not hate the people who made it happen, even though they made it happen from the basest and most crass of motives, but I do now and always will despise them with a whole heat.
posted by Devonian at 1:08 PM on June 16, 2016 [22 favorites]
This is what happens when you play with hate and fear - most especially fear, because it is insidious. They are corrosive, they eat away at the strands that hold us together, and once you let them out you cannot easily rein them in.
This fucking referendum has done nothing but harm, and can do nothing but much more. I do not hate the people who made it happen, even though they made it happen from the basest and most crass of motives, but I do now and always will despise them with a whole heat.
posted by Devonian at 1:08 PM on June 16, 2016 [22 favorites]
UKIP supporters often say "we want our country back" (from the immigrants).
I want MY country back, from these racist fucks.
Fucking hell.
.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:10 PM on June 16, 2016 [35 favorites]
I want MY country back, from these racist fucks.
Fucking hell.
.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:10 PM on June 16, 2016 [35 favorites]
The "comic naval battle" was just one more toxic stunt by Farage and his cronies in their shameless offensive to create fear, hate and division, drive down the level of civil and political discourse and normalise a climate in which this horrific anti-democratic violence can thrive in our country.
posted by runincircles at 1:11 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by runincircles at 1:11 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
On that "comic naval battle". Don't look for the picture of Jo with her family on the Thames then, all out together. It'll break your heart.
posted by edd at 1:22 PM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by edd at 1:22 PM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
.
posted by Rush-That-Speaks at 1:30 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by Rush-That-Speaks at 1:30 PM on June 16, 2016
The comments below Alex Massie's 'A Day of Infamy' (which was briefly pulled, revised, re-posted by the Spectator after the hordes descended on it) are sufficient proof that it needed to be written.
I mean, it's an online comment piece in the Spectator. I'm not sure "the comments are a sewer" is proof of much more than that.
Regardless, this is horrific. Doubly shocking for its rarity - one of the great things about the UK is that constituents can expect to sit opposite their Member of Pariiament at a surgery, or shake their hand on the street. Cox seemed a dedicated and conscientious constituency MP, as well as a hugely promising parliamentarian.
posted by running order squabble fest at 1:41 PM on June 16, 2016
I mean, it's an online comment piece in the Spectator. I'm not sure "the comments are a sewer" is proof of much more than that.
Regardless, this is horrific. Doubly shocking for its rarity - one of the great things about the UK is that constituents can expect to sit opposite their Member of Pariiament at a surgery, or shake their hand on the street. Cox seemed a dedicated and conscientious constituency MP, as well as a hugely promising parliamentarian.
posted by running order squabble fest at 1:41 PM on June 16, 2016
.
Nothing is enough. At this point, it is clear that we have passed all the lines. I still don't want to accept that we have lost to the evil forces - and I did a marathon-Hans Rosling to sooth myself. But there is no longer any doubt that we need to fight against the reactionaries with every breath.
posted by mumimor at 1:49 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
Nothing is enough. At this point, it is clear that we have passed all the lines. I still don't want to accept that we have lost to the evil forces - and I did a marathon-Hans Rosling to sooth myself. But there is no longer any doubt that we need to fight against the reactionaries with every breath.
posted by mumimor at 1:49 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
This attack on a public official cannot be viewed in isolation. It occurs against a backdrop of an ugly public mood in which we have been told to despise the political class, to distrust those who serve, to dehumanise those with whom we do not readily identify.Polly Toynbee, "The mood is ugly, and an MP is dead," Guardian (16 June 2016).
...
Something close to a chilling culture war is breaking out in Britain, a divide deeper than I have ever known, as I listen to the anger aroused by this referendum campaign. The air is corrosive, it has been rendered so. One can register shock at what has happened, but not complete surprise.
posted by Sonny Jim at 1:52 PM on June 16, 2016 [8 favorites]
we have been told to despise the political class
People have perfectly good reasons to despise the political class, and don't go around murdering anyone.
posted by Coda Tronca at 2:00 PM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
People have perfectly good reasons to despise the political class, and don't go around murdering anyone.
posted by Coda Tronca at 2:00 PM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
.
posted by lordelphin at 2:09 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by lordelphin at 2:09 PM on June 16, 2016
From a friend's Facebook post (which she made public, so I think it's OK to share):
"I have taken a few hours to think about what I was going to post.posted by Pallas Athena at 2:17 PM on June 16, 2016 [30 favorites]
Last year I met this lovely bubbly lady who was part of the talk about how medics should handle talking to parents who had just lost a baby or young infant.
We sat on the same table at the award dinner and started chatting about her lovely silver ring, barges and we found out that we had both been to Syria.
Swapping stories about how lovely Damascus is/was... whilst talking about refugees.
We were later to meet again through the net via the Syrian world kitchen blog and other places.
Today whilst watching the video on the news I found out that it was my Jo, yes that wonderful, bright lady. Stunned.
I will miss your posts, your sense of justice, your love.
Although you are not the first person I have lost to a nutter, hopefully you will be the last.
I nipped out to the co-op for a bottle of wine to raise a glass, only to come across a large man shouting at the female cashier, why does this place only employ wogs, soon you will all be going home."
I nipped out to the co-op for a bottle of wine to raise a glass, only to come across a large man shouting at the female cashier, why does this place only employ wogs, soon you will all be going home.Just one fucking day you vile fucking racists. Someone died. Someone who actually gave a shit died. The wrong fucking person died. Just one fucking day without you fuckwits shitting up society with your vileness and bile. Couldn't it just be today?
posted by Talez at 2:25 PM on June 16, 2016 [39 favorites]
.
posted by crocomancer at 2:47 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by crocomancer at 2:47 PM on June 16, 2016
I'm stunned and heartsick and utterly unsurprised that the toxicity and bitter vile that has been washing over Britain since before the election has finally turned hateful words into hateful action, and robbed us of this shining soul.
I thought it was bad last year, with the Tories and Labour both pandering to those who might jump ship for UKIP, but the Referendum (capital R, this one) has made it infinitely worse. Their words - the Daily Mail, Farage and his ilk, all of them - were the earthquake. This is the tsunami. Even if they paid lipservice to harmony and compassion (and they won't), they can't stop it anymore.
Nobody can. And I - EU citizen unable to vote; my life in the UK uncertain - am terrified for this country's future. But maybe if we find in ourselves that same passion and love that drove Jo Cox, we can rebuild. We can mitigate the damage that has been made and that is yet to come, and we can still let her kids have the future she would have wanted them to.
posted by harujion at 3:02 PM on June 16, 2016 [8 favorites]
I thought it was bad last year, with the Tories and Labour both pandering to those who might jump ship for UKIP, but the Referendum (capital R, this one) has made it infinitely worse. Their words - the Daily Mail, Farage and his ilk, all of them - were the earthquake. This is the tsunami. Even if they paid lipservice to harmony and compassion (and they won't), they can't stop it anymore.
Nobody can. And I - EU citizen unable to vote; my life in the UK uncertain - am terrified for this country's future. But maybe if we find in ourselves that same passion and love that drove Jo Cox, we can rebuild. We can mitigate the damage that has been made and that is yet to come, and we can still let her kids have the future she would have wanted them to.
posted by harujion at 3:02 PM on June 16, 2016 [8 favorites]
The comments below Alex Massie's 'A Day of Infamy' (which was briefly pulled, revised, re-posted by the Spectator after the hordes descended on it) are sufficient proof that it needed to be written.
Comparing the two versions, thanks to the Internet Archive, I see that the revised version includes three full paragraphs of borderline exculpation - obsequiously opening "It’s not Nigel Farage’s fault Jo Cox is dead. It’s not Boris Johnson’s fault either. Nor is it the fault of Michael Gove or Dan Hannan or anyone else campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union." - before Massie returns to the original points that this act did not happen in a vaccum and that the pro-Leave movement's increasingly agitated language was going to reach, well, a BREAKING POINT.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:07 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
Comparing the two versions, thanks to the Internet Archive, I see that the revised version includes three full paragraphs of borderline exculpation - obsequiously opening "It’s not Nigel Farage’s fault Jo Cox is dead. It’s not Boris Johnson’s fault either. Nor is it the fault of Michael Gove or Dan Hannan or anyone else campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union." - before Massie returns to the original points that this act did not happen in a vaccum and that the pro-Leave movement's increasingly agitated language was going to reach, well, a BREAKING POINT.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:07 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
.
posted by pemberkins at 3:18 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by pemberkins at 3:18 PM on June 16, 2016
This is awful. She seemed like a great politician. The outsized power of an angry, bitter man with a gun is really starting to wear thin.
posted by codacorolla at 3:20 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by codacorolla at 3:20 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
Read about this earlier in the morning. Such a sad situation. So young and full of energy and hope. My condolescenes for her family, local residents, and Great Britain.
.
posted by Fizz at 3:42 PM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by Fizz at 3:42 PM on June 16, 2016
There simply aren't tears enough or words enough. Utterly tragic, utterly pointless.
.
posted by Atom Collection at 3:54 PM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by Atom Collection at 3:54 PM on June 16, 2016
splcenter is reporting that cox's killer "was a longtime supporter of the neo-Nazi National Alliance"
posted by burgerrr at 3:55 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by burgerrr at 3:55 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
.
Maybe I'm looking at the past with rose-colored glasses, but how did we get from a "everybody get together and love one another, give peace a chance, and we can realize MLK's Dream" state of optimism to this absolute hatefulness and despair?
I have thought change for the better has been coming, albeit slowly, slowly, but every day seems to bring more hate.
posted by BlueHorse at 3:57 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
Maybe I'm looking at the past with rose-colored glasses, but how did we get from a "everybody get together and love one another, give peace a chance, and we can realize MLK's Dream" state of optimism to this absolute hatefulness and despair?
I have thought change for the better has been coming, albeit slowly, slowly, but every day seems to bring more hate.
posted by BlueHorse at 3:57 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
"Mentally ill loner" my ass.
posted by Artw at 3:57 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Artw at 3:57 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.
That is an excellent way to frame the world. The more I read about Jo, the more it feels like she lived and believed in a united world, and was constantly trying to get there. No nonsense, practical, inspirational.
Things to aspire to be. Hopefully that can be one of the many ways which she leaves her touch on the world.
posted by sarcas at 4:01 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
That is an excellent way to frame the world. The more I read about Jo, the more it feels like she lived and believed in a united world, and was constantly trying to get there. No nonsense, practical, inspirational.
Things to aspire to be. Hopefully that can be one of the many ways which she leaves her touch on the world.
posted by sarcas at 4:01 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
.
fuck. fuck it.
I don't like this Britain
posted by frogfather at 4:05 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
fuck. fuck it.
I don't like this Britain
posted by frogfather at 4:05 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
I work just around the corner from where Jo Cox was shot, we were on lock down after the news came in that there had been a shooting. I was hoping that this would turn out to be some Travis Bickle wannabe making a fuss, but not killing anyone. The more I heard about Jo Cox the more I felt sick, she was one of the good ones. When I drove home I could see that they had closed the road in the afternoon, which didn't bode well. There had already been rumours that she had died which I had brushed aside. Two minutes after my passing the spot her death was announced during the police press conference. I didn't expect to be as affected as I was due to the fact I had no prior knowledge of her work or character, but affected I was.
I suspected there would be a political reason for this murder. I didn't expect to get confirmation so swiftly.
Strangely absent from the news reports during the day was the word 'terrorist'. I checked the definition and it hasn't changed; the use of violence or the threat of violence, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political goals. This was plainly a terrorist attack. Institutionalised racism in full effect, had the killer been anything other than white you know it would have been 'suspected terrorism' from the get go. But he is white, so not described as a terrorist threat in our midst.
I hope the media change their tune tomorrow.
Respect to Jo Cox, her husband, who's statement is awe inspiring, and the rest of her family. Her work will be continued by those who remain committed to the same goals as she. Love will out.
.
posted by asok at 4:19 PM on June 16, 2016 [21 favorites]
I suspected there would be a political reason for this murder. I didn't expect to get confirmation so swiftly.
Strangely absent from the news reports during the day was the word 'terrorist'. I checked the definition and it hasn't changed; the use of violence or the threat of violence, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political goals. This was plainly a terrorist attack. Institutionalised racism in full effect, had the killer been anything other than white you know it would have been 'suspected terrorism' from the get go. But he is white, so not described as a terrorist threat in our midst.
I hope the media change their tune tomorrow.
Respect to Jo Cox, her husband, who's statement is awe inspiring, and the rest of her family. Her work will be continued by those who remain committed to the same goals as she. Love will out.
.
posted by asok at 4:19 PM on June 16, 2016 [21 favorites]
splcenter is reporting that cox's killer "was a longtime supporter of the neo-Nazi National Alliance"
That definitely puts motivations into focus. He clearly has a long history of political allegiance to the far right, regardless of what his mental health status may be. Given the seeming content of the things he ordered, it's clear that he's harboured ideas of becoming a terrorist for his cause over many years.
posted by Emma May Smith at 4:26 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
That definitely puts motivations into focus. He clearly has a long history of political allegiance to the far right, regardless of what his mental health status may be. Given the seeming content of the things he ordered, it's clear that he's harboured ideas of becoming a terrorist for his cause over many years.
posted by Emma May Smith at 4:26 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
.
posted by welovelife at 4:27 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by welovelife at 4:27 PM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by Faintdreams at 4:29 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by Faintdreams at 4:29 PM on June 16, 2016
I know this is not about me but boy do I feel like one giant raw nerve right now.
Constantly on the verge of tears.
posted by Faintdreams at 4:30 PM on June 16, 2016 [7 favorites]
Constantly on the verge of tears.
posted by Faintdreams at 4:30 PM on June 16, 2016 [7 favorites]
Same here faintdreams.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:35 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:35 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
An attack on humanity, idealism and democracy
posted by Artw at 4:41 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 4:41 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
Fuck this cancer.
Fuck Britain First. Fuck the BNP. And Fuck The National Front they came from. Fuck 'em all back to Mosely and beyond.
Fuck Rivers of Blood. Fuck Nigger For a Neighbour.
Fuck No Irish No Blacks No Dogs.
Fuck UKIP. And fuck Cameron and his politically expedience referendum. Fuck Brexit and Boris and Gove their hateful ambition. Fuck the fucking lies of Fucking Vote Leave.
Fuck this miserable country and its tinpot scared little hitlers who cannot stand the thought of people slightly different to themselves.
Fuck The Mail and The Express and The Sun and their relentless propaganda keeping them scared.
Fuck austerity and it's taking from the poor and giving to the rich and telling them it's the fault of immigrants.
Fuck all the people who have already died. Who have died quiet. The poor, physically sick and mentally ill who don't have the support they used to have.
Fuck this fucking cancer.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:52 PM on June 16, 2016 [42 favorites]
Fuck Britain First. Fuck the BNP. And Fuck The National Front they came from. Fuck 'em all back to Mosely and beyond.
Fuck Rivers of Blood. Fuck Nigger For a Neighbour.
Fuck No Irish No Blacks No Dogs.
Fuck UKIP. And fuck Cameron and his politically expedience referendum. Fuck Brexit and Boris and Gove their hateful ambition. Fuck the fucking lies of Fucking Vote Leave.
Fuck this miserable country and its tinpot scared little hitlers who cannot stand the thought of people slightly different to themselves.
Fuck The Mail and The Express and The Sun and their relentless propaganda keeping them scared.
Fuck austerity and it's taking from the poor and giving to the rich and telling them it's the fault of immigrants.
Fuck all the people who have already died. Who have died quiet. The poor, physically sick and mentally ill who don't have the support they used to have.
Fuck this fucking cancer.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:52 PM on June 16, 2016 [42 favorites]
If anyone deserves a state funeral, Jo Cox does.
.
posted by longdaysjourney at 5:15 PM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
.
posted by longdaysjourney at 5:15 PM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
.
posted by homunculus at 5:32 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by homunculus at 5:32 PM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:36 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:36 PM on June 16, 2016
.
Did you know, 2016 isn't even halfway over yet.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:04 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
Did you know, 2016 isn't even halfway over yet.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:04 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
Call off the referendum:
posted by Zonker at 6:04 PM on June 16, 2016
The claims on either side of the Brexit debate are hyperbolic, exaggerated, idiotic. And the mutual loathing spreads daily across social media, a shrieking absolutism divorced from reality on both sides of the argument..
Call the vote off, as a mark of respect. We are in no fit state to vote anyway, to judge by the level of debate. Call it off. Poor, poor, woman. Poor kids. And poor Britain.
posted by Zonker at 6:04 PM on June 16, 2016
For the loss of such a dear soul, for the stain on this shining stone, wherever you are, my heart goes out to you all from this once blessed plot...
posted by y2karl at 6:07 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by y2karl at 6:07 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
.
posted by postcommunism at 6:39 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by postcommunism at 6:39 PM on June 16, 2016
Call the vote off, as a mark of respect.
Call of the vote off because no matter how much the Sun says immigrants are taking their jobs, people are realizing the vile, hateful little racist, xenophobic shithead befellows are the only company they'll keep by leaving the EU.
posted by Talez at 6:54 PM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
Call of the vote off because no matter how much the Sun says immigrants are taking their jobs, people are realizing the vile, hateful little racist, xenophobic shithead befellows are the only company they'll keep by leaving the EU.
posted by Talez at 6:54 PM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
Also, Parliament (well, the Queen-in-Parliament) is the supreme and sole source of authority in the UK; and this "referendum" is a nasty Continental thing that has no place in British democracy.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:02 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:02 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
The sodding thing isn't even binding, and actually leaving will wreak too much economic damage for it to be actually allowed to happen.
posted by Artw at 7:08 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by Artw at 7:08 PM on June 16, 2016
.
posted by oneironaut at 7:17 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by oneironaut at 7:17 PM on June 16, 2016
My understanding is that there's also this misconception amongst Brexiters that they can have an a-la-carte menu of EU membership benefits they currently take for granted if they leave.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:21 PM on June 16, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:21 PM on June 16, 2016 [6 favorites]
.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 7:27 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 7:27 PM on June 16, 2016
"Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration,” she insisted...
And she was so right.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:37 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
And she was so right.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:37 PM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
Maybe I'm looking at the past with rose-colored glasses, but how did we get from a "everybody get together and love one another, give peace a chance, and we can realize MLK's Dream" state of optimism to this absolute hatefulness and despair?
Thatcher. Tories. UKIP. New Labour. All happy to entertain the rhetoric which has culminated in this hateful Leave campaign, and now this.
posted by Dysk at 8:07 PM on June 16, 2016 [9 favorites]
Thatcher. Tories. UKIP. New Labour. All happy to entertain the rhetoric which has culminated in this hateful Leave campaign, and now this.
posted by Dysk at 8:07 PM on June 16, 2016 [9 favorites]
.
posted by Annabelle74 at 9:39 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by Annabelle74 at 9:39 PM on June 16, 2016
Call off the referendum
I instantly thought "Yes," and clicked through. I can report that it feels gross and icky to be in agreement with notorious racist, homophobe, transphobe and all-around shitty human being Rod Liddle about anything.
posted by Pallas Athena at 9:47 PM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
I instantly thought "Yes," and clicked through. I can report that it feels gross and icky to be in agreement with notorious racist, homophobe, transphobe and all-around shitty human being Rod Liddle about anything.
posted by Pallas Athena at 9:47 PM on June 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
UK people, I am so sorry for this loss. And also, I apologize if I am totally off base, but I've been hearing more and more horror stories about physically and mentally disabled people in the UK being denied access to healthcare over the past year. I wonder if these cuts, as well as the toxic, fascist political environment, had anything to do with quietly mentally ill gardener/volunteer Tommy Mair's transformation into someone capable of such stunning acts of violence. I just don't know. I'm so sorry; this wave of violence we've been seeing has just been devastating. Trump, Mateen, Orban, Mair. MeFites, please keep yourselves safe from these violent men the best you can.
.
posted by moonlight on vermont at 9:48 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
.
posted by moonlight on vermont at 9:48 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:49 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:49 PM on June 16, 2016
Heartbreaking. Senseless. Revolting.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 9:55 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 9:55 PM on June 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
.
posted by genehack at 11:28 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by genehack at 11:28 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
My heart breaks for her children.
And it breaks for mine also.
I always thought of England as being the bright star of justice, social welfare, and tolerance that, if I were ever in trouble, if ever in Texas that I was threatened as a queer, brown single mother of 2, that I could maybe find sanctuary in England.
Now I know how that's not true.
My heart is broken for her husband, her family and her precious babies.
Wouldn't we all cross an ocean to save our precious babies?
May she rest in power.
posted by blessedlyndie at 11:31 PM on June 16, 2016 [6 favorites]
And it breaks for mine also.
I always thought of England as being the bright star of justice, social welfare, and tolerance that, if I were ever in trouble, if ever in Texas that I was threatened as a queer, brown single mother of 2, that I could maybe find sanctuary in England.
Now I know how that's not true.
My heart is broken for her husband, her family and her precious babies.
Wouldn't we all cross an ocean to save our precious babies?
May she rest in power.
posted by blessedlyndie at 11:31 PM on June 16, 2016 [6 favorites]
.
posted by Mister Bijou at 11:42 PM on June 16, 2016
posted by Mister Bijou at 11:42 PM on June 16, 2016
"Mentally ill loner" my ass.
It's perfectly likely that he was both a mentally ill loner and a far right supporter.
posted by Coda Tronca at 11:52 PM on June 16, 2016
It's perfectly likely that he was both a mentally ill loner and a far right supporter.
posted by Coda Tronca at 11:52 PM on June 16, 2016
Calling off the referendum now would be the worst outcome. It will lock many Leavers to Farage without forcing any kind of reckoning. Either outcome in the referendum will eventually prove a disaster for Farage and those like him. No referendum at all will roll it all over to 2020 and beyond.
posted by Emma May Smith at 12:15 AM on June 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Emma May Smith at 12:15 AM on June 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
one of the great things about the UK is that constituents can expect to sit opposite their Member of Pariiament at a surgery, or shake their hand on the street.
Indeed, and today is Friday, when so many MPs will have constituency surgeries scheduled. How many of them will be feeling less safe and more worried this morning? How many of them will be quite as happy with the idea of face-to-face meetings with their constituents as they might have been last week? And even before this: one in five MPs subject to an attack or attempted attack.
Making it harder for MPs to talk to their constituents, cultivating fear of the public they represent, likely putting other people off going into politics in the first place. Ugh. After all the showboating and grandstanding in our politics recently, I hope we can remember that the non-televised, non-remarkable, non-showy events like constituency surgeries are what democracy really looks like in our country - and this is what an attack on democracy looks like, too.
posted by Catseye at 12:16 AM on June 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
Indeed, and today is Friday, when so many MPs will have constituency surgeries scheduled. How many of them will be feeling less safe and more worried this morning? How many of them will be quite as happy with the idea of face-to-face meetings with their constituents as they might have been last week? And even before this: one in five MPs subject to an attack or attempted attack.
Making it harder for MPs to talk to their constituents, cultivating fear of the public they represent, likely putting other people off going into politics in the first place. Ugh. After all the showboating and grandstanding in our politics recently, I hope we can remember that the non-televised, non-remarkable, non-showy events like constituency surgeries are what democracy really looks like in our country - and this is what an attack on democracy looks like, too.
posted by Catseye at 12:16 AM on June 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
This was an act of political terrorism, and playing up the mental health angle (in a way.and to an extent that isn't done with anyone non-white) serves to erase that.
He is a far right terrorist. Anything else is secondary.
posted by Dysk at 12:17 AM on June 17, 2016 [10 favorites]
He is a far right terrorist. Anything else is secondary.
posted by Dysk at 12:17 AM on June 17, 2016 [10 favorites]
Which is different from denying that his mental health has anything to do with it.
We will probably soon read that the mental health outreach scheme he participated in, and praised in the press, has since been ended due to austerity cuts.
posted by Coda Tronca at 12:22 AM on June 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
We will probably soon read that the mental health outreach scheme he participated in, and praised in the press, has since been ended due to austerity cuts.
posted by Coda Tronca at 12:22 AM on June 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Call the vote off, as a mark of respect. We are in no fit state to vote anyway, to judge by the level of debate. Call it off.
The level of debate is exactly where a lot of the people who pushed for this referendum wanted it. Now we need to hold the damn thing to find out whether or not Britain is the tolerant country people believed it to be. I desperately hope that the wavering middle who have been tempted to Leave in recent weeks will wake up and realise that this is where that path leads us, and change their minds; but if not, I want to know just how bad things are, to inform my own personal decisions about the future of my family. I don't want to spend however many years waiting for a re-run.
I know there are Leavers who are voting for other reasons, as a strike against bureaucracy or to save a few quid or to bask in memories of British greatness or whatever, but people like Farage turned this into a referendum on immigration and race long before it was formally called. Reject them. Remain.
posted by rory at 12:58 AM on June 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
The level of debate is exactly where a lot of the people who pushed for this referendum wanted it. Now we need to hold the damn thing to find out whether or not Britain is the tolerant country people believed it to be. I desperately hope that the wavering middle who have been tempted to Leave in recent weeks will wake up and realise that this is where that path leads us, and change their minds; but if not, I want to know just how bad things are, to inform my own personal decisions about the future of my family. I don't want to spend however many years waiting for a re-run.
I know there are Leavers who are voting for other reasons, as a strike against bureaucracy or to save a few quid or to bask in memories of British greatness or whatever, but people like Farage turned this into a referendum on immigration and race long before it was formally called. Reject them. Remain.
posted by rory at 12:58 AM on June 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
According to records obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center Mair was a dedicated supporter of the National Alliance (NA), the once premier neo-Nazi organization in the United States, for decades. Mair purchased a manual from the NA in 1999 that included instructions on how to build a pistol.
This needs to be thrown in the face of anyone who talks about this murder as a "false flag". Some of the replies on tweets like Gabby Gifford's above are awful.
posted by rory at 1:07 AM on June 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
This needs to be thrown in the face of anyone who talks about this murder as a "false flag". Some of the replies on tweets like Gabby Gifford's above are awful.
posted by rory at 1:07 AM on June 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
It gives me some measure of hope that a Muslim woman of Polish/Pakistani heritage was elected MP in Sadiq Khan's old constituency, with an increased majority over the Tories.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:08 AM on June 17, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:08 AM on June 17, 2016 [7 favorites]
Some of the replies on tweets like Gabby Gifford's above are awful.
I had to immediately click out, because people were using it as a ghastly "gotcha" on American gun control and I saw red. I'm not surprised by that, and I'm not surprised by the Daily Mail's "LONE MENTALLY ILL MAN GUNS DOWN LOVELY YORKSHIRE LASS" horseshit, and I'm not surprised by the "don't politicise her death!!" big bag of wank, but it still has the power to make me powerfully unhappy.
As Cox's colleague Stephen Kinnock said: It’s not a big journey from saying horrible things to doing horrible things.
posted by monster truck weekend at 1:15 AM on June 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
I had to immediately click out, because people were using it as a ghastly "gotcha" on American gun control and I saw red. I'm not surprised by that, and I'm not surprised by the Daily Mail's "LONE MENTALLY ILL MAN GUNS DOWN LOVELY YORKSHIRE LASS" horseshit, and I'm not surprised by the "don't politicise her death!!" big bag of wank, but it still has the power to make me powerfully unhappy.
As Cox's colleague Stephen Kinnock said: It’s not a big journey from saying horrible things to doing horrible things.
posted by monster truck weekend at 1:15 AM on June 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
the Daily Mail's "LONE MENTALLY ILL MAN GUNS DOWN LOVELY YORKSHIRE LASS" horseshit
This from the paper that decided to go with "FURY OVER PLOT TO LET 1.5M TURKS INTO BRITAIN" after the Orlando shootings (because not ranting about IMMIGRANTS IMMIGRANTS IMMIGRANTS for a day might make your readers forget that you're supposed to hate other people, not emphasize with them), and then yesterday asked themselves "WHY DID MP JO DIE?" as if they didn't know exactly why she died.
posted by effbot at 1:42 AM on June 17, 2016 [9 favorites]
This from the paper that decided to go with "FURY OVER PLOT TO LET 1.5M TURKS INTO BRITAIN" after the Orlando shootings (because not ranting about IMMIGRANTS IMMIGRANTS IMMIGRANTS for a day might make your readers forget that you're supposed to hate other people, not emphasize with them), and then yesterday asked themselves "WHY DID MP JO DIE?" as if they didn't know exactly why she died.
posted by effbot at 1:42 AM on June 17, 2016 [9 favorites]
eh, s/emphasize/empathize/g
”Som svensk blir man dummare på engelska, och den första konsekvensen tycks vara att man inte märker det.” -- Horace Engdahl
posted by effbot at 1:55 AM on June 17, 2016
”Som svensk blir man dummare på engelska, och den första konsekvensen tycks vara att man inte märker det.” -- Horace Engdahl
posted by effbot at 1:55 AM on June 17, 2016
To be fair, the Mail is, so far as I can see, the only major British newspaper to have picked up the SPLC's story about Mair's National Alliance mail order purchases.
Surely that story can't stay buried for ever, though, especially if (as first reports had it) Mair's gun was homemade. Was it constructed from instructions in the NA "build your own gun" manual that Mair reportedly purchased in 1999?
posted by Sonny Jim at 1:59 AM on June 17, 2016
Surely that story can't stay buried for ever, though, especially if (as first reports had it) Mair's gun was homemade. Was it constructed from instructions in the NA "build your own gun" manual that Mair reportedly purchased in 1999?
posted by Sonny Jim at 1:59 AM on June 17, 2016
the only major British newspaper to have picked up the SPLC's story about Mair's National Alliance mail order purchases.
The Grauniad knows about it and is "looking into it". Cites caution "as we need to tread very carefully, not least for legal reasons as a man is in custody."
posted by Mister Bijou at 2:06 AM on June 17, 2016
The Grauniad knows about it and is "looking into it". Cites caution "as we need to tread very carefully, not least for legal reasons as a man is in custody."
posted by Mister Bijou at 2:06 AM on June 17, 2016
To be fair, the Mail is, so far as I can see, the only major British newspaper to have picked up the SPLC's story about Mair's National Alliance mail order purchases.
His far-right sympathies were highlighted on the 8am news on Radio 4 this morning; they mentioned his S. A. Patriot subscription.
posted by rory at 2:24 AM on June 17, 2016
His far-right sympathies were highlighted on the 8am news on Radio 4 this morning; they mentioned his S. A. Patriot subscription.
posted by rory at 2:24 AM on June 17, 2016
The Grauniad is now running the story.
posted by Mister Bijou at 3:12 AM on June 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Mister Bijou at 3:12 AM on June 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
The far-right political party Britain First said afterwards it was not involved in the attack and “would never encourage behaviour of this sort”.
ah, the sweet feel of my third aneurysm today
posted by monster truck weekend at 3:14 AM on June 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
ah, the sweet feel of my third aneurysm today
posted by monster truck weekend at 3:14 AM on June 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
The far-right political party Britain First said afterwards it was not involved in the attack and “would never encourage behaviour of this sort”.
Their press release recently literally used the phrase "militant direct action".
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:32 AM on June 17, 2016 [7 favorites]
I have had it with mediocre men lashing out violently because they feel their status is under threat by an increasingly more progressive society. I am so blooming over it.
I'm an EU migrant woman living in the UK and I am going to go make myself a strong cup of tea. Because I am tired and scared and fed up.
posted by kariebookish at 3:34 AM on June 17, 2016 [23 favorites]
I'm an EU migrant woman living in the UK and I am going to go make myself a strong cup of tea. Because I am tired and scared and fed up.
posted by kariebookish at 3:34 AM on June 17, 2016 [23 favorites]
*waves to winterhill* Hope you are doing OK today.
Some reasons why this should be reported as a terrorist attack:
1) It is, by definition, a terrorist attack
2) Showing the non-white/Muslim community that the authorities take terrorism seriously whatever it's origins
3) Highlighting the danger to society from the far right
4) Demonstrating that institutional racism is being fought, that lessons were learned from the Stephen Lawrence reports
Was Mair on the 'domestic extremist' list? What is the point of all that police time and taxpayers money being used to track peaceful demonstrators rather than violent right wing actors? Is that a rhetorical question?
posted by asok at 3:47 AM on June 17, 2016 [10 favorites]
Some reasons why this should be reported as a terrorist attack:
1) It is, by definition, a terrorist attack
2) Showing the non-white/Muslim community that the authorities take terrorism seriously whatever it's origins
3) Highlighting the danger to society from the far right
4) Demonstrating that institutional racism is being fought, that lessons were learned from the Stephen Lawrence reports
Was Mair on the 'domestic extremist' list? What is the point of all that police time and taxpayers money being used to track peaceful demonstrators rather than violent right wing actors? Is that a rhetorical question?
posted by asok at 3:47 AM on June 17, 2016 [10 favorites]
.
posted by SpacemanRed at 5:13 AM on June 17, 2016
posted by SpacemanRed at 5:13 AM on June 17, 2016
.
So very sad. One of the bright lights in a time of awfully dim politics.
posted by greenish at 5:26 AM on June 17, 2016
So very sad. One of the bright lights in a time of awfully dim politics.
posted by greenish at 5:26 AM on June 17, 2016
.
posted by theappleonatree at 5:46 AM on June 17, 2016
posted by theappleonatree at 5:46 AM on June 17, 2016
I’m fucking terrified.
On twitter last night, I said “An MP gets stabbed and shot by someone shouting “Britain First” on the day UKIP copies Nazi propaganda. This is terrifying.” Someone accused me of trying to make political gain. This was my response.
posted by Artw at 6:39 AM on June 17, 2016 [19 favorites]
On twitter last night, I said “An MP gets stabbed and shot by someone shouting “Britain First” on the day UKIP copies Nazi propaganda. This is terrifying.” Someone accused me of trying to make political gain. This was my response.
posted by Artw at 6:39 AM on June 17, 2016 [19 favorites]
.
UK MeFites, my thoughts are with you. There is a cancer, it's spreading everywhere—again—and I hope you for one pull through. I'm so sorry.
posted by seyirci at 7:12 AM on June 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
UK MeFites, my thoughts are with you. There is a cancer, it's spreading everywhere—again—and I hope you for one pull through. I'm so sorry.
posted by seyirci at 7:12 AM on June 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
I’m fucking terrified.
That piece gets at a lot of what I've been feeling over the past day. I'm scared for my country, and I want to do something, but I have no idea what I can do.
My boyfriend and I were talking last night about where we can go if things get worse, but really, I don’t want to go anywhere else. I love this country, I just wish it were less shit. Right now though, I’m not sure I see how that can happen. Whatever happens next week, I don’t see how things get better.
I remember when I thought the whole referendum debate was indescribably boring. At some point it become indescribably terrifying, and I didn’t even notice it happening.
posted by Law of Demeter at 7:36 AM on June 17, 2016 [13 favorites]
That piece gets at a lot of what I've been feeling over the past day. I'm scared for my country, and I want to do something, but I have no idea what I can do.
My boyfriend and I were talking last night about where we can go if things get worse, but really, I don’t want to go anywhere else. I love this country, I just wish it were less shit. Right now though, I’m not sure I see how that can happen. Whatever happens next week, I don’t see how things get better.
I remember when I thought the whole referendum debate was indescribably boring. At some point it become indescribably terrifying, and I didn’t even notice it happening.
posted by Law of Demeter at 7:36 AM on June 17, 2016 [13 favorites]
If you're old enough to remember the 70s, we had it far worse with the National Front then. They had 20k active members and were extremely violent at their demos - whereas the current fascists can hardly muster anyone for similar events today. The rhetoric about immigrants (much of it inspired by the famous Enoch Powell 1968 speech) was also more violent and apocalyptic.
posted by Coda Tronca at 8:31 AM on June 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Coda Tronca at 8:31 AM on June 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
If you're old enough to remember the 70s, we had it far worse with the National Front then.
Whereas today we have the violent, even more unsavoury, National Action.
I am not linking to its website, this link goes to Wikipedia: National Action
posted by Mister Bijou at 9:12 AM on June 17, 2016
Whereas today we have the violent, even more unsavoury, National Action.
I am not linking to its website, this link goes to Wikipedia: National Action
posted by Mister Bijou at 9:12 AM on June 17, 2016
The tiny profile and membership of National Action proves the point. The NF were getting hundreds of thousands of votes in the 70s and their violence resulted in several deaths.
posted by Coda Tronca at 9:20 AM on June 17, 2016
posted by Coda Tronca at 9:20 AM on June 17, 2016
I'm scared for my country, and I want to do something, but I have no idea what I can do.
This is really hard. I know that lots of Remain voters have felt intimidated (not dissimilar from Hillary Clinton supporters in the US) and kept their heads down and hoped that there were enough of them to get through the vote and see the toxic cloud dissipate. I know of people in strong Leave areas who won't put up a Remain sign as they prefer un-smashed windows. The political isolationists have isolated them.
The Leave campaign has been led by bullshitters, while violent bigots and nutters lurk in their shadow. The bullshitters and the nutters don't know each other, but the bullshitters know that the nutters exist, and they know the effect of their bullshit on the nutters, and the power of intimidation on their opponents.
It's easy for me to say from a distance, but I think there needs to be some kind of show of solidarity and visibility in the next few days, a demonstration of what Remain looks like in large numbers. Take back the dark night of the soul.
At some point it become indescribably terrifying, and I didn’t even notice it happening.
About three weeks ago, the Leave campaign made clear that it would be immigration, immigration, immigration and a sprinkling of bombastic nationalism until the vote took place. That was also when government purdah rules kicked in.
posted by holgate at 9:37 AM on June 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
This is really hard. I know that lots of Remain voters have felt intimidated (not dissimilar from Hillary Clinton supporters in the US) and kept their heads down and hoped that there were enough of them to get through the vote and see the toxic cloud dissipate. I know of people in strong Leave areas who won't put up a Remain sign as they prefer un-smashed windows. The political isolationists have isolated them.
The Leave campaign has been led by bullshitters, while violent bigots and nutters lurk in their shadow. The bullshitters and the nutters don't know each other, but the bullshitters know that the nutters exist, and they know the effect of their bullshit on the nutters, and the power of intimidation on their opponents.
It's easy for me to say from a distance, but I think there needs to be some kind of show of solidarity and visibility in the next few days, a demonstration of what Remain looks like in large numbers. Take back the dark night of the soul.
At some point it become indescribably terrifying, and I didn’t even notice it happening.
About three weeks ago, the Leave campaign made clear that it would be immigration, immigration, immigration and a sprinkling of bombastic nationalism until the vote took place. That was also when government purdah rules kicked in.
posted by holgate at 9:37 AM on June 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
I just stuck a Remain poster in my window (and felt a bit nervous about putting it up although I assume this area is pretty mixed if not mostly on the side of Remain). I've never put up a political poster before but there's a Leave poster just up the road from me and it makes me so angry every time I walk past to get to the bus, so maybe mine cancels that one out. I live right by a big junction so let's hope everyone waiting at the traffic lights sees it.
posted by theseldomseenkid at 10:07 AM on June 17, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by theseldomseenkid at 10:07 AM on June 17, 2016 [7 favorites]
Is it even vaguely possible that a man today could have been pushed to the brink of murder by political debate and the political situation?posted by Grangousier at 11:01 AM on June 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
I dont care where you come from. I dont care who you vote for. Thats the question Ive got. Can you conceive of circumstances in which somebody living in Britain today could be pushed to the point where they contemplate this sort of conduct?
And Im afraid to tell you that I can.
Evidence so far suggests that the killer had been planning some kind of attack (or at least fantasizing about one) since 1999, and the length of his far right hate is at least that long too. I don't know what made him attack Cox and attack now but there needs to be caution here.
Also, from the linked article above:
posted by Emma May Smith at 12:16 PM on June 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Also, from the linked article above:
Following the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox on Thursday afternoon, people from all across the country have been trying to make sense of what happened.I wondered yesterday whether or what customers would say to me today at the shop where I work. Lots of customers are older and quite happy to have a chat. None of them mentioned anything to do with the murder of Cox: "Did you hear...", "Isn't it terrible...", "That poor woman..." . Not a thing. I find that really surprising as it seems not to be registering or resonating at the level it should be. Her murder was exceptional and unprecedented, but I haven't the kind of talk that suggests it is stuck in folk's consciousness. Naturally, this is anecdote so take it as you will.
posted by Emma May Smith at 12:16 PM on June 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
My condolences from across the pond in California for the late MP Jo Cox's death. Amazing to have such violence right after the Orlando attacks... Attacking our leaders like Gabby Giffords and now Cox... one would just hope this doesn't become a more regular thing as those school shootings have been.
"Was Mair on the 'domestic extremist' list..."
Not sure if someone directly asked this already as I feel it's all overlapping the same... but how many on here do consider Radicalism the same as Insanity? Is it insane?
(For instance... as ISIS or Taliban sees the rest of the world as insane, just as we see them...)
Here in the U.S., many Americans are concluding that Radical Islam considers us (or themselves, depending where the projection is) unfit to fit within their society, yet... now here we are seeing one radical right-wing nut become unlivable or intolerable to conform. Yet, there are more of these happening. Just curious.
posted by sam3cat at 12:21 PM on June 17, 2016
"Was Mair on the 'domestic extremist' list..."
Not sure if someone directly asked this already as I feel it's all overlapping the same... but how many on here do consider Radicalism the same as Insanity? Is it insane?
(For instance... as ISIS or Taliban sees the rest of the world as insane, just as we see them...)
Here in the U.S., many Americans are concluding that Radical Islam considers us (or themselves, depending where the projection is) unfit to fit within their society, yet... now here we are seeing one radical right-wing nut become unlivable or intolerable to conform. Yet, there are more of these happening. Just curious.
posted by sam3cat at 12:21 PM on June 17, 2016
Evidence so far suggests that the killer had been planning some kind of attack (or at least fantasizing about one) since 1999, and the length of his far right hate is at least that long too
So one wonders what prompted him to attack now. Perhaps the all day every bloody day spewing of racist and ant-immigrant bile, no longer confined to crackpot underground right-wing groups, but spread everywhere like a pestilence by elected politicians and national news outlets. Just a thought.
posted by billiebee at 12:28 PM on June 17, 2016 [9 favorites]
So one wonders what prompted him to attack now. Perhaps the all day every bloody day spewing of racist and ant-immigrant bile, no longer confined to crackpot underground right-wing groups, but spread everywhere like a pestilence by elected politicians and national news outlets. Just a thought.
posted by billiebee at 12:28 PM on June 17, 2016 [9 favorites]
It's really not a new development in mainstream politics to get votes by saying 'immigrants are taking our jobs'.
posted by Coda Tronca at 12:39 PM on June 17, 2016
posted by Coda Tronca at 12:39 PM on June 17, 2016
One wonders whether it's entirely coincidental that Britain First announced a campaign of "Direct Action" recently. While it's possible that they thought they were "just" encouraging the harassment of Sadiq Khan,* it should be pointed out to them that "behaviour of this sort" is exactly what direct action looks like.
*I don't think this is a minor thing.
posted by Grangousier at 12:40 PM on June 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
*I don't think this is a minor thing.
posted by Grangousier at 12:40 PM on June 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
The singularly sensitive way that the media treats violent white men is beyond cliché at this point
From Reed Richardson's twitter, the murderer is variously described as:
"not a violent man"
"timid gardener dogged by years of mental turmoil"
"described as quiet, polite and reserved"
Because obviously it's of extreme importance that media remains fair and balanced about the "alleged" killer. And obviously nobody is demanding that gardeners around the world denounce him and take a stand against this kind of action. I mean, that would be patently ridiculous, wouldn't it? And if he'd struggled with mental turmoil clearly that's what we should focus on, and not the Neo-Nazi ideologies he subscribed to - and was fed in diluted form by the Daily Mail and UKIP and the rest of the hatemongers out there.
posted by harujion at 12:45 PM on June 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
From Reed Richardson's twitter, the murderer is variously described as:
"not a violent man"
"timid gardener dogged by years of mental turmoil"
"described as quiet, polite and reserved"
Because obviously it's of extreme importance that media remains fair and balanced about the "alleged" killer. And obviously nobody is demanding that gardeners around the world denounce him and take a stand against this kind of action. I mean, that would be patently ridiculous, wouldn't it? And if he'd struggled with mental turmoil clearly that's what we should focus on, and not the Neo-Nazi ideologies he subscribed to - and was fed in diluted form by the Daily Mail and UKIP and the rest of the hatemongers out there.
posted by harujion at 12:45 PM on June 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
Mainstream politicians ‘clueless on migration debate’: Brendan Cox vows to continue work on building international alliance to combat populist right’s focus on public’s fears.
posted by rory at 1:07 PM on June 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by rory at 1:07 PM on June 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
So one wonders what prompted him to attack now. Perhaps the all day every bloody day spewing of racist and ant-immigrant bile, no longer confined to crackpot underground right-wing groups, but spread everywhere like a pestilence by elected politicians and national news outlets. Just a thought.
How many years do you think this man lived in an ultra-right echo chamber? Was the news and information he got more or less racist and bilious than that in the media today? Does such a person even watch mainstream media or read a newspaper? The political atmosphere you feel and the intellectual environment in which you live is not necessarily his. The escalation which you perceive might be imperceptible to him. This referendum campaign as a whole seems to be shocking some people for the views being expressed, but I've honestly heard nothing so far which I haven't heard said by ordinary people many times in the recent past. You seem to think that it's hitherto been a "crackpot underground", but fuck me that ain't true one bit. I've heard worse in my own living room.
(I'm not saying that you're wrong, you might be right. But you, and a whole lot of folk in this thread, seem very sure for an event which happened yesterday.)
posted by Emma May Smith at 1:13 PM on June 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
How many years do you think this man lived in an ultra-right echo chamber? Was the news and information he got more or less racist and bilious than that in the media today? Does such a person even watch mainstream media or read a newspaper? The political atmosphere you feel and the intellectual environment in which you live is not necessarily his. The escalation which you perceive might be imperceptible to him. This referendum campaign as a whole seems to be shocking some people for the views being expressed, but I've honestly heard nothing so far which I haven't heard said by ordinary people many times in the recent past. You seem to think that it's hitherto been a "crackpot underground", but fuck me that ain't true one bit. I've heard worse in my own living room.
(I'm not saying that you're wrong, you might be right. But you, and a whole lot of folk in this thread, seem very sure for an event which happened yesterday.)
posted by Emma May Smith at 1:13 PM on June 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
How many loners does it take to hold up a banner?
posted by Artw at 1:29 PM on June 17, 2016 [22 favorites]
posted by Artw at 1:29 PM on June 17, 2016 [22 favorites]
Equally, people on the Leave side seem awfully sure that a person with far-right views murdering a politician known to be sympathetic to immigrants in the middle of a wave of virulent "Britain for the British" propaganda is just a really big coincidence.
posted by billiebee at 2:03 PM on June 17, 2016 [21 favorites]
posted by billiebee at 2:03 PM on June 17, 2016 [21 favorites]
.
posted by chicainthecity at 2:59 PM on June 17, 2016
posted by chicainthecity at 2:59 PM on June 17, 2016
.
posted by aroweofshale at 11:07 PM on June 17, 2016
posted by aroweofshale at 11:07 PM on June 17, 2016
Thomas Mair has given his name as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain” as he appeared in court charged with the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.
I think that simultaneously settles the question regarding both political motivation and mental stability.
posted by Grangousier at 2:34 AM on June 18, 2016 [10 favorites]
I think that simultaneously settles the question regarding both political motivation and mental stability.
posted by Grangousier at 2:34 AM on June 18, 2016 [10 favorites]
I think that simultaneously settles the question regarding both political motivation and mental stability.
I see the former, but the latter?
It could just as well be his refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of the court and its proceedings.
posted by Mister Bijou at 3:01 AM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
I see the former, but the latter?
It could just as well be his refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of the court and its proceedings.
posted by Mister Bijou at 3:01 AM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
.
posted by PippinJack at 3:44 AM on June 18, 2016
posted by PippinJack at 3:44 AM on June 18, 2016
I'm not convinced he's a 'loony', as he's broadly painted by the right-wing press. They've picked up on his use of anti-depressants, but to be honest, there's a world of difference these days between someone taking anti-depressants and psychosis requiring sectioning and significant treatment. He ordered his neo-nazi books in the late 1990s. This is a long-term worldview he's been festering, and since the nazi imagery Farage has declared acceptable in (his) public realm, I can see very much how the barrier for his action has lowered in recent weeks.
posted by davemee at 4:22 AM on June 18, 2016 [14 favorites]
posted by davemee at 4:22 AM on June 18, 2016 [14 favorites]
Pictures of a man who appears to be Mair taken down from the Britain First website now circulating. If it is him, he was present at a Britain First rally in Dewsbury (not far from his home). - This one via the Wayback Machine. Britain First are clearly doing all they can to scrub any possible association from him, just not very well.
posted by longbaugh at 5:14 AM on June 18, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by longbaugh at 5:14 AM on June 18, 2016 [7 favorites]
It's all just a series of coincidences, like that one episode of Father Ted.
posted by Artw at 6:31 AM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 6:31 AM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
the nazi imagery Farage has declared acceptable in (his) public realm
If you're in England, that realm is all yours now (Gove handed him the keys in April, if not earlier), and you're probably going to be stuck in it for a while, no matter what happens in the referendum :-/
posted by effbot at 7:13 AM on June 18, 2016
If you're in England, that realm is all yours now (Gove handed him the keys in April, if not earlier), and you're probably going to be stuck in it for a while, no matter what happens in the referendum :-/
posted by effbot at 7:13 AM on June 18, 2016
there's a world of difference these days between someone taking anti-depressants and psychosis requiring sectioning and significant treatment
If anything, seeking treatment for depression is evidence for the presence of insight.
I would like for these rightwing idiots (on both sides of the pond, sadly) to tell us what, if anything, a white conservative might possibly ever do that would be considered terrorism in their eyes.
Maybe they have to go to three doctors and get a clean bill of mental health before they shoot someone? Sign a letter saying "I am a terrorist about to commit a terrorist act intended to cause terror"? What exactly is the damn bar here?
posted by tivalasvegas at 7:45 AM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
If anything, seeking treatment for depression is evidence for the presence of insight.
I would like for these rightwing idiots (on both sides of the pond, sadly) to tell us what, if anything, a white conservative might possibly ever do that would be considered terrorism in their eyes.
Maybe they have to go to three doctors and get a clean bill of mental health before they shoot someone? Sign a letter saying "I am a terrorist about to commit a terrorist act intended to cause terror"? What exactly is the damn bar here?
posted by tivalasvegas at 7:45 AM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
The newspapers are of course full of crap, but Breivik and McVeigh both spring to mind as white conservatives both acknowledged as terrorists. And the UK is not about to be overrun by maniacs either.
posted by Coda Tronca at 8:04 AM on June 18, 2016
posted by Coda Tronca at 8:04 AM on June 18, 2016
It's been overrun by maniacs Since 2010 at least.
posted by Artw at 8:11 AM on June 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Artw at 8:11 AM on June 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
I must have missed them all...
posted by Coda Tronca at 8:15 AM on June 18, 2016
posted by Coda Tronca at 8:15 AM on June 18, 2016
Thomas Mair has given his name as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain” as he appeared in court charged with the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.
I think that simultaneously settles the question regarding both political motivation and mental stability.
Apparently had also searched out Cox's home address as well.
posted by My Dad at 2:26 PM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think that simultaneously settles the question regarding both political motivation and mental stability.
Apparently had also searched out Cox's home address as well.
posted by My Dad at 2:26 PM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
I must have missed them all...
They go by the name of "The Conservative and Unionist Party".
But slightly more seriously, the rise of the far right across Europe is terrifying, and the fact that the mainstream press refuses to acknowledge the existence of an act of terrorism done in the name of racist neofascism is indicative of the danger facing us. We're being told to ignore a genuine threat to the safety and liberty of our society for no good reason whatsoever.
Imagine what today would have been like in the UK if a Muslim man had assassinated an MP this week, and given his name in court as "Sharia for Britain, death to traitors". Think about what that implies about where we are as a society.
It's not the murder itself that is so frightening, but rather everything surrounding it. I'm really scared.
posted by howfar at 2:32 PM on June 18, 2016 [9 favorites]
They go by the name of "The Conservative and Unionist Party".
But slightly more seriously, the rise of the far right across Europe is terrifying, and the fact that the mainstream press refuses to acknowledge the existence of an act of terrorism done in the name of racist neofascism is indicative of the danger facing us. We're being told to ignore a genuine threat to the safety and liberty of our society for no good reason whatsoever.
Imagine what today would have been like in the UK if a Muslim man had assassinated an MP this week, and given his name in court as "Sharia for Britain, death to traitors". Think about what that implies about where we are as a society.
It's not the murder itself that is so frightening, but rather everything surrounding it. I'm really scared.
posted by howfar at 2:32 PM on June 18, 2016 [9 favorites]
Well we did have a guy recently assassinate an off-duty soldier and announce live on TV very rationally that it was for sharia etc.
The papers went mad for a few days while the criminal justice system did its work. He's in prison for life for his awful crime and we're all still here. I don't see the need to start mimicking the language of the far right with 'I'm scared for my country' stuff about what are very, very rare crimes.
posted by Coda Tronca at 2:47 PM on June 18, 2016
The papers went mad for a few days while the criminal justice system did its work. He's in prison for life for his awful crime and we're all still here. I don't see the need to start mimicking the language of the far right with 'I'm scared for my country' stuff about what are very, very rare crimes.
posted by Coda Tronca at 2:47 PM on June 18, 2016
Well we did have a guy recently assassinate an off-duty soldier
One of Lee Rigby's killers had a history of schizophrenia. He wasn't white, though, so instead of "mentally ill man kills soldier" what we got was "terrorist kills soldier"; Thomas Mair has an apparent history of mental illness (OCD and depression, from what's been reported, and he seems to've been in receipt of disability benefit), but he was also a politically-motivated extremist...yet, he's white, so a lot of the reporting is focusing on "mentally ill" rather than "terrorist".
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 3:10 PM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
One of Lee Rigby's killers had a history of schizophrenia. He wasn't white, though, so instead of "mentally ill man kills soldier" what we got was "terrorist kills soldier"; Thomas Mair has an apparent history of mental illness (OCD and depression, from what's been reported, and he seems to've been in receipt of disability benefit), but he was also a politically-motivated extremist...yet, he's white, so a lot of the reporting is focusing on "mentally ill" rather than "terrorist".
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 3:10 PM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
That's not actually a response to what I said.
The point is that the real threat posed to democracy by the far right is being systemically ignored, because it is politically and commercially expedient to do so. Our media refuse to acknowledge that this is a political killing. I don't know how anyone with an awareness of the history of the 20th century can be in the least degree sanguine about that.
posted by howfar at 3:11 PM on June 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
The point is that the real threat posed to democracy by the far right is being systemically ignored, because it is politically and commercially expedient to do so. Our media refuse to acknowledge that this is a political killing. I don't know how anyone with an awareness of the history of the 20th century can be in the least degree sanguine about that.
posted by howfar at 3:11 PM on June 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
the real threat posed to democracy by the far right is being systemically ignored
Of course it's being ignored; look at the front page of the Daily Mail, or the Express. The opinions of the far right aren't that far out of line, in some areas, with what passes for "mainstream" for some people. The difference is more one of degree than it is one of kind. With UKIP and the Tory right cynically exploiting fear of "migrants" to win votes from the disaffected white working class, with right-wing papers doing the same thing, with a solid majority of pro-Brexit voters citing "immigration/control of our borders" as a reason for voting Leave...the demonisation of immigrants as an irredeemable Other and a cancer on the nation who are going to steal our jobs and rape our women while sucking off the teat of the welfare state, taking all the council housing, etc...this is a political environment that makes me think "stochastic terrorism".
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 3:22 PM on June 18, 2016
Of course it's being ignored; look at the front page of the Daily Mail, or the Express. The opinions of the far right aren't that far out of line, in some areas, with what passes for "mainstream" for some people. The difference is more one of degree than it is one of kind. With UKIP and the Tory right cynically exploiting fear of "migrants" to win votes from the disaffected white working class, with right-wing papers doing the same thing, with a solid majority of pro-Brexit voters citing "immigration/control of our borders" as a reason for voting Leave...the demonisation of immigrants as an irredeemable Other and a cancer on the nation who are going to steal our jobs and rape our women while sucking off the teat of the welfare state, taking all the council housing, etc...this is a political environment that makes me think "stochastic terrorism".
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 3:22 PM on June 18, 2016
In the Guardian's Politics Weekly podcast, one of the panelists makes the argument that the murder of Jo Cox is really a women's issue, in that female politicians receive an extreme amount of abuse these days.
posted by My Dad at 3:39 PM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by My Dad at 3:39 PM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm fucked off they keep calling it a murder. It was an assassination.
posted by taff at 4:33 PM on June 18, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by taff at 4:33 PM on June 18, 2016 [6 favorites]
in that female politicians receive an extreme amount of abuse these days.
In that female MPs still make up less than a third of the Commons. In that female MPs are still treated by certain segments of the press as window-dressing. In that all-women shortlists for parliamentary selection are still regarded as an imposition, especially in "safe" constituencies that tend to have male-dominated local party structures, regardless of which party is involved. In that the fundamental legitimacy of women having political careers is still questioned.
I am now old enough to have acquaintances from my student days in really quite high office. I always expected some of them, especially the women among them, to do well in politics, even if I didn't share their party affiliation. I did not expect for them to be dealing with the kind of shit they now face on a minute-by-minute basis.
posted by holgate at 9:52 PM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
In that female MPs still make up less than a third of the Commons. In that female MPs are still treated by certain segments of the press as window-dressing. In that all-women shortlists for parliamentary selection are still regarded as an imposition, especially in "safe" constituencies that tend to have male-dominated local party structures, regardless of which party is involved. In that the fundamental legitimacy of women having political careers is still questioned.
I am now old enough to have acquaintances from my student days in really quite high office. I always expected some of them, especially the women among them, to do well in politics, even if I didn't share their party affiliation. I did not expect for them to be dealing with the kind of shit they now face on a minute-by-minute basis.
posted by holgate at 9:52 PM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
I quite like this summary on Facebook on what's going on with Brexitet al.
posted by Artw at 7:36 AM on June 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Artw at 7:36 AM on June 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
A former BNP member is now running for the seat.
That video is astonishing. The mental gymnastics gone through in order to blame Jo Cox for her own assassination while simultaneously arguing that taking advantage of her death is a mark of remembrance and respect...it beggars belief.
I'm not sure how comfortable I am with having this year scripted by Warren Ellis.
posted by howfar at 8:22 AM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
That video is astonishing. The mental gymnastics gone through in order to blame Jo Cox for her own assassination while simultaneously arguing that taking advantage of her death is a mark of remembrance and respect...it beggars belief.
I'm not sure how comfortable I am with having this year scripted by Warren Ellis.
posted by howfar at 8:22 AM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
John Harris wrote a good (though unsparing) piece on working-class Brexit support a couple of days ago:
posted by Sonny Jim at 9:02 AM on June 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
Instead of the comparative security and stability of the postwar settlement and the last act of Britain’s industrial age, what’s the best we can now offer for so many people in so many places? Six-week contracts at the local retail park, lives spent pinballing in and out of the benefits system, and retirements built on thin air?John Harris, Britain is in the midst of a working-class revolt, Guardian (17 June 2016).
It may have been easy to miss in the London-centred haze of the “knowledge economy” and the birth of the digital future, but this is where millions of lives have been heading since the early 1980s – and to read that some Labour MPs have come back from their constituencies, amazed by the views they encounter on the doorstep, is to be struck by a political failure that sits right at the heart of the story. How did they not know?
posted by Sonny Jim at 9:02 AM on June 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
Boris has shown his political ruthlessness by today declaring that he believes in an amnesty for illegal immigrants.
posted by Coda Tronca at 9:47 AM on June 19, 2016
posted by Coda Tronca at 9:47 AM on June 19, 2016
Huh, most decent people would call that "compassion."
posted by zombieflanders at 1:42 PM on June 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 1:42 PM on June 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
Correction: Boris Johnson suddenly discovers compassion!
posted by Coda Tronca at 1:53 PM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Coda Tronca at 1:53 PM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
As far as I know, the amnesty has been a long-held Johnson (heh) policy, that was rapidly backburnered when he declared for Leave. Not that this makes him any less of an opportunist, but worth having down for the record.
posted by ominous_paws at 2:36 PM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ominous_paws at 2:36 PM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
Correction: Boris Johnson suddenly discovers compassion!
It's his birthday, of course he's going to be extra generous.
posted by effbot at 3:12 PM on June 19, 2016
It's his birthday, of course he's going to be extra generous.
posted by effbot at 3:12 PM on June 19, 2016
Correction: Boris Johnson suddenly discovers compassion!
Correction #2: Boris Johnson suddenly discovers "compassion"!
posted by knapah at 4:43 PM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
Correction #2: Boris Johnson suddenly discovers "compassion"!
posted by knapah at 4:43 PM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
..female MPs still make up less than a third of the Commons. ..
Heartbreakingly, Rosena Allin-Khan was elected as Tooting MP (in place of Sadiq Khan who is now maypr of London) the same day as this murder. She was expected to be the 100th female Labour MP.
She is the 99th female Labour MP.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:17 AM on June 20, 2016 [8 favorites]
Heartbreakingly, Rosena Allin-Khan was elected as Tooting MP (in place of Sadiq Khan who is now maypr of London) the same day as this murder. She was expected to be the 100th female Labour MP.
She is the 99th female Labour MP.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:17 AM on June 20, 2016 [8 favorites]
RIP Jo Cox, I didn't know about you before this horrific incident and that saddens me. You were another one of amazing people who spend their lives giving back to their community. I hope that your legacy lives on.
On a separate, it boggles my mind that Boris "Johnson" is actually part Turkish. I mean, how does he incorporate his policies and attitudes with his own heritage?
posted by nikitabot at 3:34 PM on June 20, 2016
On a separate, it boggles my mind that Boris "Johnson" is actually part Turkish. I mean, how does he incorporate his policies and attitudes with his own heritage?
posted by nikitabot at 3:34 PM on June 20, 2016
Either outcome in the referendum will eventually prove a disaster for Farage and those like him.
Farage disagrees, of course -- he's gloating about how Johnson and Gove is now using all UKIP's arguments for the Brexit campaign (and some more, it seems, I don't remember "you're all nazis" being a UKIP thing), to the extent that tomorrow "is, in many ways, our referendum", and will be remembered as the UK Independence Day.
(when he's not doing that #notallwhitemen thing about how Operation Black Vote are the real racists for having a skinhead on one of their posters, that is.)
In the meantime, the last polls are a bit mixed, while bookies' odds indicate a 76% chance for a remain win tomorrow (up 20 points over the last week). We'll know how everything ends up some 35 hours from now.
posted by effbot at 7:07 AM on June 22, 2016
Farage disagrees, of course -- he's gloating about how Johnson and Gove is now using all UKIP's arguments for the Brexit campaign (and some more, it seems, I don't remember "you're all nazis" being a UKIP thing), to the extent that tomorrow "is, in many ways, our referendum", and will be remembered as the UK Independence Day.
(when he's not doing that #notallwhitemen thing about how Operation Black Vote are the real racists for having a skinhead on one of their posters, that is.)
In the meantime, the last polls are a bit mixed, while bookies' odds indicate a 76% chance for a remain win tomorrow (up 20 points over the last week). We'll know how everything ends up some 35 hours from now.
posted by effbot at 7:07 AM on June 22, 2016
Portishead just released a new video in tribute to Jo Cox and #MoreInCommon.
posted by effbot at 12:23 PM on June 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by effbot at 12:23 PM on June 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
« Older You're supposed to email and wait for a reply | The GMZ Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
.
posted by rtha at 9:52 AM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]