As Septicisle points out, it's just the latest in a series of far-right extremist convictions, most of which have received far less media attention than the trials of Muslim extremists for similar offences. There is of course the justification that links have been claimed with the spectral Al-Qaeda network and overseas training of terrorists, thereby creating a much bigger story in those instances; but that's only part of the story. It might also be worth asking where these far-right loners, often with a cruel streak for minorities, whom they blame for their own failures, get the fuel for the fire - who, for example, keeps telling them that foreigners are taking their jobs and council houses? In which newspapers might they find that kind of justification for their hatred?
On this occasion you can't fault the Mail's reporting as regards the seriousness of the offences: Lewington is labelled as a 'white supremacist' embarking on a 'terror' campaign; he's called a 'fanatic' on a 'murderous mission' - and he was discovered just by chance before he had a chance to put his horrific fantasies into reality.
No, it's not the Mail's reportage which is the issue here. It's the readers' comments. Remember, these are comments which are actively moderated and approved for publication, with many comments failing to make it through the filtering system. The comments you read here, then, have been selected for publication, just as newspapers might choose which letters go on a letters page. Remember that when you read this:
Evil pigs like him muddy the waters for any reasonable debate over immigration. Very few native Britons like the unprecedented levels of foreigners in their midst but most resist the urge to kill or maim. Disgraceful man.....certainly not a patriot.
- Kay Jones, England, 15/7/2009 15:15
It's a comment which is ostensibly critical of Lewington for his failed bombing campaign, but it's critical because the commenter is saying he's let the (far right) side down. Not just that, though: the commenter says it's perfectly understandable that 'native Britons' would have an 'urge to kill or maim' foreigners. That is the kind of view the Mail regards as being acceptable to publish: that immigration makes people have the urge to murder or commit violence against foreigners, but that they should resist it.
As I write this, that's the fifth best rated comment on the story, out of 38.
Yes, there are comments slamming Lewington and Kay Jones's view, but they are less well rated. Also in there in this:
There are no excuses for engaging in voilence for political ends. I understand this guy's frustrations with immigration but there are now legitimate electorial alternatives.
People like Lewington blacken the name of British patriotism.
- Paul, Isleworth, UK, 15/7/2009 15:40
Again, that word 'patriotism', just as in the Jones post. Again, the idea that people are frustrated with immigration, and it's understandable, but there's a political solution - which I assume to mean the BNP and their hateful extremist policies.
Yet again, it's an example of pretty sickening views being voted well up in a Daily Mail story. I can't help thinking this is a news story, not a blog or other platform. What is really added by those comments? What would be lost if they weren't there - if all comments weren't there, apart from a few clicks on the website?
6 comments:
I understand your anger may give you the urge to kill or maim Daily Mail commenters, but please resist it.
This is the worst one:
What a totally ludicrous verdict, the man was clearly no more than a drunken fantasist, but political correctness now rules in our courts.
- Duane Rush, Beaconsfield, Bucks, 15/7/2009 16:05
I may have become desensitised to Mail readers' comments, or perhaps these were presented without enough context, but they seem quite reasonable. People are angry at what they are constantly told is a dangerous level of immigration. Simply saying "I understand why..." doesn't mark you out as part of the rabid fringe.
Patriotism is also a mainstream and positively-viewed emotion, however much I wish it wasn't.
That lovely word patriotism raises the interesting suspicion that those Mail readers who object to the BNP object because they think its politics are too German.
Or am I being unfair?
Word Verification: filingra, Viagra for the office party.
I quite like the fact the Mail have comments. They're a nice opportunity to punch out a diatribe of fury at shoddy journalism and/or bigoted commentary by readers, only to watch it disappear into the ether while even more hateful bullshit (directed elsewhere) gets approved and voted up to the top of the pile.
I think I'd hate reading articles from the Mail even more if I couldn't console myself that someone, somewhere, is being paid to read my futile vitriol and press the 'don't approve' button.
I expect you or a commenter has suggested this before, but in case not, perhaps this could be a selling point of dead tree newspapers 'your chance to enjoy the news stories without all the idiotic comments'.
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