Labour MP Jo Cox shot in Birstall

I feel angry too. Can't control how I feel. I don't feel hatred though. But I am very angry that this could have happened.

I think all right minded people of whatever persuasion feel very angry about this as it is such a betrayal of everything decent people in the UK hold dear. As a long standing member of the Labour Party I feel the intense pain evident in all who speak of her - she was one of our own and will be greatly missed. My thoughts are with her family and especially her husband and children.

Seems it might have been a single sick-minded saddo. Probably nothing to do with any organisation. Just a sorry individual.

The 'lone wolf' theory has been debunked in many studies. People might not actually belong to an organisation, but that doesn't mean that they act without a context. These days they don't have to have physical contact or receive a physical newsletter. There is an increasing amount of hatred and bile spouted online and it's almost inevitable that inadequate loners will be tipped over the edge. They are, after all, doing what their online 'heroes' advocate. The people responsible for these vile sites and anybody else who spouts hate speech is responsible when one of their invisible followers goes the whole way. The whole lot of them are 'sorry individuals'.

So much hatred

Who knows what what goes on online, and in people's lives.

It's not that difficult to find out what happens online. Most people don't seem to look. People don't act in a vacuum. ISIS knows that and so do other extremist groups. The difference is that when ISIS encourage their followers to commit atrocities, people wring their hands in despair. Whenever other people are influenced in the same way, people start making excuses, such as mental illness or acting alone, or defending people's right to free speech.

Err - perhaps some people don't want to look.

Hatred breeds hatred

Maybe you should, so that you know what's really going on.

There was a thread on GN a couple of weeks ago about the rise of right wing populism, but people didn't seem to want to believe it. It's happening under our noses and it won't go away if people wear nose plugs and blinkers.

When a poster (accidently?) posted a link to a vile right wing, white supremacist website and I objected, it was MY post which was deleted following complaints from other GNers. What does that tell you?

There isn't much individuals can do about social networking, but every single person can refuse to be complacent and challenge complacency in others. They can refuse to accept the lies and propaganda put out by these haters.

'But we know that even lone lunatics don’t live in a bubble. They are influenced by outside events. That’s why, when there is an act of Islamist terrorism, we quite rightly want to know if it was, implicitly or explicitly, encouraged by other actors. We do not believe – at least we should not – in collective guilt or punishment but we do want to know, with reason, whether an individual assassin was inspired by ideology or religion or hate-speech or any of a hundred other possible motivating factors. We do not hold all muslims accountable for the violence carried out in the name of their prophet but nor can we avoid the ugly, unpalatable, truth that, as far as the perpetrator is concerned, he (it is almost always he) is acting in the service of his view of his religion. He has a cause, no matter how warped it may be. And so we ask who influenced him? We ask, how did it come to this?

So, no, Nigel Farage isn’t responsible for Jo Cox’s murder. And nor is the Leave campaign. But they are responsible for the manner in which they have pressed their argument. They weren’t to know something like this was going to happen, of course, and they will be just as shocked and horrified by it as anyone else.

But, still. Look. When you encourage rage you cannot then feign surprise when people become enraged. You cannot turn around and say, ‘Mate, you weren’t supposed to take it so seriously. It’s just a game, just a ploy, a strategy for winning votes.'
..part of an article from The Spectator.

Thanks for that, Tegan. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to give a link to the complete article, because it's worth reading and expresses in much finer language what I've been trying to say.

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/06/a-day-of-infamy/

Brandon Cox said that we must fight this poisonous toxic hate.

Hate can never survive in isolation, and it feeds on the type of nationalistic rhetoric we have unfortunately witnessed over the past weeks. It must stop. We can put a stop to it by respecting our fellow human being from wherever they come. To love and cherish what people have to offer our country. To fight for the underprivileged and those suffering from injustice of all forms, just as Jo Cox spent her adult life doing. Her example should inspire us and be a beacon for us to follow.

And a 'blame culture' Tegan

Please let nobody use this dreadful event, the dearth of a mother, wife and respected politician, as a political pawn. It is sad beyond belief.,

So we brush it under the carpet and deny that extreme right wing groups don't fuel hatred that can lead to events such as this?

A good tribute by Philips Collins "to a remarkable woman".

It includes this passage on a certain too easy cynicism about politicians. He reminds us that most MPs are decent people, doing a tough job as well as they can:

"I am tired beyond words of the cynical nonsense spouted every day by professional pundits (as well as amateur ones) that politicians are just in it for themselves, want nothing other than glory or the opportunity to fiddle bath plugs on their Parliamentary expenses".

Thank you bags
The whole article is very well written, while the second paragraph expresses exactly what I'm trying to say.

"it is impossible to know yet whether the heat generated by the politics of the day played a part. To draw any general conclusions seems to dive too quickly back into the rancour that was preoccupying us until 1pm yesterday. It’s too early to conclude whether, at the extreme end of the spectrum of concern about immigration, lies a violent act. In any case, apportioning blame in the abstract brings nobody back from the grave. All will become clearer as the dust settles. At the moment, the saga of the past few months seems entirely trivial."

Everyone should read that tribute. It says so well what we would like to have said ourselves.
Philip Collins was lucky to have known Jo Cox.

Agreed, anya. A bit of calming down and quiet grieving, as ref campaigns have decided to do, will not go amiss.

Yes, ann. I'm really glad I found it to read.

@Anya

Twitter is buzzing with accusations of turning this into a political pawn, including by the squirming scumbags, Britain First. Some nutjobs are even accusing the Remain campaign of staging it.

Meanwhile, the following conversation has appeared on the Facebook page of a group calling itself 'South East Alliance':

"I really hope it was a muslim who's shot the dirty b*tch."
"Unfortunataly it was an old white man..."
"F*cking dirty c*nt. I've got a few beers in the fridge incase they turn her life support machine off."

There's more where that came from.

Don't you dare try to stop people from criticising those who quite deliberately whip up hatred, intolerance and bigotry.

DD thank you for giving the link.

Thank you that is a brilliant article - initially written in response the the appalling Breaking Point campaign advert.

DD we, on GN, do not need to sink to that level.