Oh, I’m in trouble on Twitter again!

As my regular readers know, I’m only too happy to court controversy and rile people up whether it be on my old Your Thurrock column, here on this blog or on Twitter and Facebook so it will come as no surprise to you to learn that I have, once again, pissed someone off by posting the picture above.  I wouldn’t mind but the idiot doesn’t even like the Tories so I can’t for the life of me see what his problem is.

The person, @garreh, had this to say:

 @valen1971 @MarchPayne I find that very offensive, tbh. And I detest the Tories.

The rest of the exchange went as follows:

Valen (Myles) Cook ‏@valen1971 4h

@garreh_ @MarchPayne Do you? Tough! The #Tories are using Nazi tactics and hiding your head in the sand isn't going to alter that fact.

Garreh ‏@garreh_ 4h

@valen1971 @MarchPayne Juvenile.

Valen (Myles) Cook ‏@valen1971 4h

@garreh_ @MarchPayne No, you're confusing your reaction with someone speaking plainly. You don't follow me so ignore it if you don't like it

Garreh ‏@garreh_ 4h

@valen1971 @MarchPayne You think by loosely using word 'Nazi' in relation to Tories, you're somehow advancing the debate? 6th form politics

Valen (Myles) Cook ‏@valen1971 4h

@garreh_ @MarchPayne Twitter is not a place for debate. It is a place for opinions and banter. Don't like it? Don't read it!

Well, to satisfy Garreh’s need for a debate, here’s a look at the reasons why the comparison between the Cameron administration and the Nazis is an apt one.  Garreh probably won’t see it but then that’s his hard luck.

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•       Demonisation of the poor, sick and disabled
• Cameron’s administration is constantly perpetuating the myths surrounding people on benefits by highlighting the minority of fraudulent claimants and holding those up to be the norm.  The sick and disabled are constantly being referred as being ‘scroungers’ and ‘skivers’.  There is no mention of the vast amount of unclaimed benefits.  There is no mention of the fact that a large amount of benefit claimants are actually in paid employment in low-paid jobs.  Atos assessments due to the shake up in the welfare system have been viewed as not fit-for-purpose for claimants with mental health issues.  The Bedroom Tax is a direct assault against the poor, sick and disabled in social housing.  Having a disability and being on benefits is being pushed as being a negative thing that is the cause of the UK’s dire economic position.
• The Nazis persecuted the disabled and mentally unwell as they did the Jews, Romany Gypsies and homosexuals.  They were stigmatised with having to wear symbols on their clothes just like the other undesirable groups.
• The comparison here is that Cameron’s administration and the Nazis stigmatised the sick and disabled; they may not be forced to wear symbols on their clothes but the constant negative output from the Cameron administration towards those groups does much the same job by creating a fear/hate reaction in the general population.  Both unfairly treated the disabled and mentally unwell as both pushed the idea that having a disability or mental illness is a negative thing and that they have a negative effect on society – the Nazis believed they weren’t racially pure and Cameron’s administration blames them for the economic drain on the UK

•  Restricting rights and freedoms
• Cameron’s administration has brought in the ‘Workfare’ scheme which is taking away jobs from low-paid workers and creating a slave class.  The UK now has fewer worker rights than Mexico.  The right to legal aid is being eroded or completely withdrawn.  The Cameron administration has enacted legislation to prevent the public from ‘firing’ their MP if they don’t do their job.  They also enacted legislation to prevent the public from removing an administration before the end of the full five-year term.  The Cameron administration have constantly appealed against Appeal Court decisions on welfare reform judgements to allow them to continue to operate their policies despite removing the right of appeal for individuals when dealing with welfare issues.  This administration is trying to push through the ‘Gagging Bill’ that will stop organisations campaigning on issues of public interest in the lead up to a General Election therefore removing the right to freedom of speech for many groups and individuals on virtually every issue under the sun.  The Cameron administration wants to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights as some of their policies cannot be enacted whilst the UK remains bound by it.
• Hitler removed the freedom of speech in Germany and forced all citizens to become members of the Nazi Party.  He created an environment in which any opposition was quashed leading to a country in which it was virtually impossible to oust the incumbent administration during his term of office.  Undesirable groups in German society were used as slave labour.
• Comparing the two administrations, we can see that both see freedom as something that cannot be allowed.  Freedom of speech is being eroded in the UK now as it was eroded in Nazi Germany and being done so at a slow enough pace that the UK public don’t notice unless they bother looking.  The Cameron administration may not have created an environment in which opposition is being quashed but it has guaranteed that it cannot be removed by the public before the end of its term of office despite any opposition which amounts to the same thing.

• Divide and Rule
• The Cameron administration has pitted the various socio-economic groups against each other in an attempt to reduce the size of any opposition.  The rich against the poor, the middle class against the rich, the middle class against the poor, the low-paid workers against the people on benefits, the jobseekers against the sick and disabled, the pensioners against the people on benefits, the young against the old and the resident citizens against the immigrants.  As a result no group will stand shoulder to shoulder with another group and therefore there is no effective opposition and each group will be picked off one by one except for the rich who will sail through everything without a care.
• The Nazi administration pitted the general population against Hitler’s target groups – the Jews, the disabled, the mentally unwell, homosexuals and various other ethnic groupings.  As a result, no group could stand up for the others and atrocities were committed on those groups.
• Comparing the two administrations, both have set different groups of people against one another to reduce the opposition to their policies.

• Democratically elected
• Both Hitler and Cameron were democratically elected into office and have abused the power they were foolishly given to persecute groups they have found offensive to their sensibilities and worldview.

So, as you can see, the Cameron administration may not have launched into a ‘Final Solution’ against certain groups in society as the Nazis did but it has reduced the rights and freedoms within society to their own advantage just like the Nazis.  They have created a divided society much like the Nazis did in Germany and, looking at the quote from the photo, we can see the Nazi-like thought processes that have led to worker’s rights being eroded in the UK, the right to freedom of speech being eroded and the right to appeals being eroded.  The right to adequate living space is being eroded for those in social housing through the Bedroom Tax.  The right to being paid a minimum wage for work for those forced onto the ‘Workfare# scheme taken away.  And, if they are not stopped, the right to healthcare that is free at the point of delivery will disappear like a fart in a hurricane.

It is interesting to note that the group that is least affected by the welfare reforms and other changes are the pensioners.  Some cynical people might say that this is because the Tories are buying themselves power as the population is becoming increasingly top heavy with older people, making the pensioners the largest group who can vote.  By leaving the pensioners alone, the Tories are basically buying the Grey Vote and that seems rather undemocratic to me.

Sadly, it’s people like Garreh who refuse to take their heads out of the sand and realise that the Cameron administration is using Nazi techniques to push through an extremely right-wing agenda that is causing misery at the poorer end of the socio-economic scale.  The quote in the photo is quite apt for what is happening here in the UK right now and, unfortunately, if we don’t start learning from history, we will be doomed to repeat it.

Feel free to comment.