Hate killings won't end until toxic political discourse does

[struggle4progress]

Lucia Graves
Friday 17 June 2016 19.31 EDT

... With its strict gun control measures, shootings in Britain are rare. Those measures did not, however, stop an attacker from savaging lawmaker Jo Cox, an outspoken advocate for multiculturalism and an inclusive approach to immigrants. The attack comes amidst a divisive debate about whether Britain should remain in the European Union.

Usually, it is possible for people to qualify strong sentiments around race and ethnicity and to express them in ways that are functional within a democratic society that prizes free speech and freedom of religion. But just as a weapon in the hands of the mentally unstable can have violent consequences, the rhetoric of bigotry – and hatred cloaked in a veil of politics – can conjure violence.

The suspect reportedly shouted “Britain First”, as he attacked Cox, according to witnesses. Britain First is a far-right group known to put on anti-Muslim demonstrations. The organization has posted a statement distancing itself from suspect Tommy Mair and saying it “would never encourage behavior of this sort”. But its invocation – and the shooter’s alleged ties to the US based neo-nazi organization National Alliance – underscore the reach that bigoted thinking has played in discourse around the upcoming Brexit vote ...

“What we learned from Oklahoma City is not that we should gag each other or we should reduce our passion for the positions that we hold, but the words we use really do matter, because there are — there’s this vast echo chamber, and they go across space, and they fall on the serious and the delirious alike. They fall on the connected and the unhinged alike,” Clinton said in a speech in 2010 ...

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/17/hate-killings-toxic-political-discourse-jo-cox-orlando-shooting

[struggle4progress]

1. Killing in Britain spawns a reckoning over rhetoric on eve of EU vote

By Griff Witte and Karla Adam June 17 at 4:18 PM

BIRSTALL, England — The killing of a promising young British lawmaker who advocated passionately for refugees spawned a national reckoning Friday over a political culture that has turned increasingly intolerant in the final days of a bitter campaign to determine whether the country leaves the European Union.

... revelations that the alleged perpetrator had long-standing affiliations with neo-Nazi and other far-right groups prompted a widespread demand Friday for an end to the divisive rhetoric that has marred the referendum campaign.

In a rare joint appearance, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn visited the makeshift memorial set up near the site where Cox was killed. Both called for a kinder and less poisonous brand of politics ...

Dee Collins, the temporary chief constable of the West Yorkshire Police, said in a statement Friday evening that possible links to right-wing extremism were a “priority line of enquiry” in the investigation. She said the suspect’s mental health was also being examined ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/suspected-killer-of-british-lawmaker-jo-cox-ties-neo-nazi-ties-group-says/2016/06/17/2067ea0a-33ef-11e6-ab9d-1da2b0f24f93_story.html

[Igel]

2. "America first." "Britain first."

As though nobody can actually produce these expressions without "invoking" some prior usage. A prior usage which isn't the first usage, but has to be assumed to be the first. Why? Because, well, those are the first we know about and the only ones we care about.

I guess whenever anybody says, "Have it your way" they consciously know they're quoting a Burger King ad. And firmly believe that until a Burger King "framer" (also known as advertising consultant) devised this clever phrase, no speaker of English had ever used it.

Just another way of making "American grate." Again.