I wrote this in June 2016, before Trump and Brexit. I did not realise it could get so much worse.

[Soph0571]

When you allow hate filled speech to go unchallenged this is what happens.

Today in the UK a Member of Parliament has been shot 3 times, once in the head and stabbed several times, by a man allegedly shouting, ‘Britain First’. Mrs Cox is the parliamentary constituency MP for an area in West Yorkshire that has a high immigrant population and both her and her husband have been fully behind the remain in Europe campaign. As the Brexit campaign enters its final seven days, we have seen an increasing focus on the immigrants are bad strategy. Everything that is wrong with the country has been laid at the feet of those who would come to our shores to get a better life.

The media in its desperation to be seen to be impartial has allowed hate filled rhetoric to go unchallenged in the weeks leading up to this violent and unprovoked attack. Much as in America, where the hate filled rhetoric by some against the LGBT community certainly influenced events in Florida this past weekend.

They are not many, but we have hate filled, angry and sometimes unstable citizenry. We have people who really are not that bright and can be easily led by those that would use fear of other to manipulate their feelings and their votes. It is not a stretch that some of those people being fed lies and distortions might jump the shark. It is not unreasonable to suppose that when words are used to stir up hate against other communities that hate filled rhetoric may spill over into violent action.

When you allow hate filled speech to go unchallenged, people get hurt. People can die. It is shocking to me that on the streets of my country today a member of parliament is fighting for her life because someone thinks ‘Britain First’ is so fucking important it is worth taking a life over. People are being wound up to the point that reason has left the building. It is shameful. Decent people need to sit the hell down and think about what they are saying or doing before this happens again.

I am so angry I am shaking.

UPDATE 1725 - Mrs Cox has died from her injuries - my deepest sympathies with her family
Further information on the shooting:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/16/labour-mp-jo-cox-shot-in-west-yorkshire

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I said they were not many. I am wrong. It has got so much worse. There does not seem an end in sight.

[LeftishBrit]

1. So sad and disgusting

There is pushback: over 4 million signatures on an anti-Brexit petition; a huge peaceful demonstration - estimated at about a million people - in London yesterday. But it horrifies me that there can still be death threats and harrassment of MPs and political activists, and that this is justified by some because 'they are thwarting democracy'. Although people of all political persuasions have been subjected to such threats, it seems to be commonest toward Remainers, and perhaps especially female Remainers, including the organizer of the petition I mentioned.

Democracy is not just about voting. It is about every person's right to speak out; to oppose their government; to oppose the majority, without risking punishment.