People never learn - British National Party gains 12,000 votes in Oldham

[Guest Commander Hamblin]

I was reading yesterday's copy of The Times, and wanted to discuss this article I saw in it (About the Oldham situation), more specifically, two paragraphs in the article.

quote:

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Rhona Norton, 42, mother of eight children, who claims her house was attacked shortly before the riots by "three carloads of Asians" said: "I voted BNP and I don't worry who knows it. Everyone in the street voted for them. This morning, I feel like somebody is actually fighting for the white people of Oldham, for their rights."

Across the road Vinny Burman, 32, an unemployed warehouseman, and his wife, Lisa, 30, said they felt abandoned by Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Mr Burman said: "Nick Griffin is more willing to come around to see us for a chat. Nobody else even comes close."

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Reading those two paragraphs shocked me immensely, because it gave me a small insight into the minds of those two voters (And, likely, all the other BNP voters). My first thought was: "Don't these people ever learn?"

It seems like history has been proven right. When there's a crisis, and when the government seems ineffective towards handling it, people's political persuasions polarise to either the far left or the far right. I almost couldn't believe it, I thought people were smarter than that by now! That they would be able to see through some magical promise to solve every problem they have with the stroke of a wand!

It just proves that old saying. Those who do not learn the lessons of history, are doomed to repeat it (Or something along those lines). I doubt this will happen all over the country, since those race riots are limited to Oldham (Thank God), but it still frightens me deeply.

I admit, I was curious to see what the BNP would get in Oldham on the election night, but when I saw just how many they got (They beat the Liberal Democrats for crying out loud!), I was shocked! And now, seeing the reactions of, I'm amazed that they could speak that way.

I also have the feeling that those two obviously haven't sat through a single History class their entire life. They must've waltzed through life, completely ignorant of the kind of situations which caused people like Hitler to come to power. Not to make stereotypes, or to generalise, but Rhonda Norton is a woman with eight children, and Vinny Burman is unemployed. They don't sound like they are particularly well off people, which would only enforce the idea that they probably didn't spend their school days listening intently in class. Just goes to show two things.

1) History can be just as important a subject as Maths or English.

2) Ignorance is something that should continue to be combatted, because it's only ignorant people who go and do stupid things like voting for quasi-fascist, racist parties like the BNP.

I only hope that there aren't as many people out there who would be caught in the trap by the BNP, or other extreme right wing/left wing groups out there. Yes, the violence needs to be stopped, but it can't be done by simultaneously giving up those freedoms which we so cherish!

[/preachy mode]

[Guest Mikel]

Actually, I think the saying is "Those who forget the past are bound to repeat it."

Anyway, I agree with you.

[Steve Schacher]

There is an aspect to this happening over here, too, but I think that it isn't so much a left/right thing as it is an old heritage/new heritage thing.

If you interpret the desire for "somebody [who] is actually fighting for the white people of Oldham" against the Asian influx to really be a desire for new residents to assimilate into the established culture of the country that they are adopting as their own, then it becomes more understandable and less of a bigoted statement.

In the USA, the latest rebel cry is that something is from "dead white men," as if this invalidates the need to respect whatever it is that the "dead white men" did. At the simplest level, it is African-Americans demanding that schools named after George Washington and Thomas Jefferson be renamed for more respectable people (meaning people that the African-Americans should be looking up to as role models), because Washington and Jefferson were slave-holders. In order to think this way, people have to forget that there wouldn't be a USA if not for what Washington and Jefferson did.

In a larger context, it means not having to follow the laws handed down by "dead white men." But from a societal standpoint, it means losing the links that bind us as a country. As we tear down our historical icons, we tear away our heritage, which may serve the purposes of the Left who, simutaneously are demanding open borders and increased immigration. When the immigrants come to the USA, it isn't so that they can assimilate, but rather, so they can isolate into ?????-American communities and demand that the rest of us adapt (read abandon) our customs to meet their demands of maintaining their customs which originated from a society that they are fleeing.

This is just one "living white man's" opinion.

[Fendi]

I've got a better idea it is obviously deprevation that caused those guys to think that way (both the whites and the Asians). If everyone is made equal (money-wise) then I guess thats the end of the problem. But wait thats Communism and though it looks good on paper it really wont work. So why don't we all go back to the tried and tested formulae of Despotism. I would gladly volunteer to be your future Pharaoh Muahahaha!!

[Guest]

Ohh haa, Fendi for grand DESPOT!! Benevolent I hope!! lol Good one Fendi!! I like it!!