There was an EDL march in my home town a few weeks ago, opposing the building of a new mosque. More anti-racism campaigners turned up, and to view the pictures in the local rag, you could see that those on the EDL side - outnumbered three to one, or so - just looked like fringe loonies. Some were clutching banners that asked for someone (who I’m not sure) to FREE TOMMY ROBINSON.
The fact that I relate the experience of seeing these sad, dimished little group of people, to the re-posting of this video by someone I felt a lot of respect and empathy with, and who I thought I could relate to, is a bit alarming and scary.
About 12 years ago, a charity mugger (‘chugger’) I tried to avoid eye contact with, in the same town, tried to get me to stop and talk to her - the ultimate aim for me to donate money to the charity she represented via a direct debit - called out to me ‘I saw your t-shirt and thought you might want to donate money’. The assumption was because i was wearing a Queen is Dead t-shirt and an obvious fan of indie music, that I had a left wing sentiment.
Wearing the same shirt today would probably mean people branding me a fascist. That’s alarming.