Abu Hamza and Nick Griffin are unlikely compatriots. Yet they share the same fate – both are being prosecuted for speaking their minds. One could question the relative value of those minds, but I wouldn’t be so cruel… I do find myself briefly enjoying the delicious irony of the juxtaposition of these two polar opposites sharing the same discomfort before considering the wider, more disturbing implications of the situation.
Abu Hamza is on trial for fifteen charges, including soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. For his part, Nick Griffin is facing two charges of “using words or behaviour likely to stir up racial hatred” – what a wonderfully PC way of putting it…
Mr Griffin has been ranting about Islam and terror attacks while Hamza has been vilifying Infidels and Jews.
So, where do I stand – given that I find both platforms equally abhorrent?
Both Griffin and Hamza are pretty obnoxious characters and are condemned by their own words – so be it. In Hamza’s case, the transcripts come across as somewhat deranged. This may be a result of translation, of course; but tends to suggest that he is unbalanced as much as hateful and hate filled. Griffin is a sorry little Hitler wannabe and is rightly reviled by most people. But – and here is the million dollar question – should a civilised society allow them to speak as they do?
Upon reflection, I’m with that quotation usually attributed to Voltaire:
“I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it.”
It would seem the Devil thinks likewise. Hamza and Griffin and their ilk won’t go away if found guilty. The things they have to say will still be said. Just less openly.
I feel that creeps like these two are mostly ‘preaching to the converted’ anyway and that the rubbish they spout only serves to alienate them from normal decent people. I’m also with Voltaire on this one.
There is nothing to gain from their incarceration, it is all part of the glorification of this extremism.
Let’s remember back in the 1970s and 1980s when Sinn Fein words were spoken by actors in this country. This ridiculous notion served only to allow extra publicity and make many people think what are the government actually afraid of?
If Griffin and Hamza are found guilty they will become maryrs to their cause and still their ideology is not tackled and refuted in public. Griffen should be brought onto Question Time, let him speak in the political mainstream because then his arguments can be picked apart and people will be shown what a narrow-minded racist tosser he is.
”’Longrider replies: I agree entirely – but that wouldn’t surprise you in the slightest…”’
The views of my extended family are very similar to that of Nick Griffin. I have had to sit there (not anymore because I no longer see them en masse) and listen as various members of my own family (cousins) have spoken about taken a Gatling gun up to Southall and ‘mowing down the pakis’ and talking of ‘shooting queers up the arse’ and how ‘homos shouldn’t get knighthoods as they spread disease’ and speaking of ‘darkies’ and ‘coons’. Are they a one-off family? No, I think very many people think and feel like this and bringing in PC which renders people afraid to speak their minds, a lot of these abhorrent views are left for family gatherings and that (in my opinion) is very harmful indeed. To see one of my cousins chatting away happily to a Sikh chap he works with, then just seconds after he’s walked away, calling him a ‘filthy fucking paki bastard’ is quite frightening and very very sad. I loathe racism. I loathe sexism, homophobia and general intolerances but I’d rather people be open about their repugnant views than they go underground and do untold damage from there.