Doing our part to rid the world of hate

Hatred, loathing and disgust are terrible emotions.

They fester inside and breed within the humid plains of anger. Their sons are that of racism, classism, ageism and fear.

They lead to disagreement and as a human being, a Brit and an Aston Villa supporter, you see these emotions on varying and separate levels.

As a human being - the events across the world brewed with hatred splatter onto my twitter feed.

As a Brit - the ongoing debate over the EU referendum.

As an Aston Villa supporter - those who are shamed within the public domain for having different opinions.

People with disagree with just about anything.

It goes without saying, but these three can’t be compared because they are so independently unique. Being publicly shamed via the world of #AVFC on Twitter dot com is clearly nowhere near the world of the events of Orlando or Yorkshire. It’s in it’s own self contained bubble where no-one (hopefully) can ever be harmed for what they believe or say. Frankly and obviously, the struggles of various races, genders and communities are stratospheric compared to the very terrestrial issues of being called a twat on Twitter. I feel like I just have to bring Villa into it, because this is a site about Villa.

Orlando and Yorkshire proved, if you didn’t already know, that people will kill you for what you believe in. That even if you’re not the figurehead of a Civil Rights movement like a MLK, if you’re not the source of the issue - you can still be murdered for your beliefs in the Western World in the 21st century, no matter if you’re a member of the LGBTQ community enjoying a night out in your own safe space or if you’re a backbench MP - sticking up for the rights of those who don’t have any.

Hate begat hate begat hate. But there’s always a root.

For me, it’d be better to talk about the events of Batley and Spen, West Yorkshire. I’m not part of the LGBTQ community, I’m not black, I’m not from the Middle East. I’ll stick to what I know as a white lad who believes in the same world that Jo Cox believed in.

Jo Cox didn’t get to act on her beliefs, because someone with the chosen name of ‘Death to Traitors, Freedom for Britain’ gunned her down in a street.

A broken man pushed and pushed by the fear poured upon my country by the media and it’s politicians.

‘Refugee’s are coming to steal your money, homes and jobs’.

‘The EU will let ‘em all in’.

‘Our Government are traitors and should be tried for treason’.

All the above quotes can be found on the ‘Britain First’ Facebook page. The final quote was theirs, laid over an image of the House of Commons on the 6th of June, 2016.

Tom Nair, was found to be a member of this group (Although his actions shouldn’t reflect on everyone within this ‘squad’) and there are various accounts of him screaming their name as he carried out his crime. What you believe about this is up to you.

What I find incredulous is our own reaction to all of this.

‘How could this have happened? Here?’

I’ll tell you how.

Each of us, in our own follows political parties and entities. Whether it’s a Russell Brand, David Miliband, Boris Johnson, Paul Golding or Nigel Farage. We subscribe to these people and believe in them. We believe in the newspapers they conduct interviews in.

So when a campaign of fear is used by these entities to project their own views, when words like ‘traitor, hanging, death, traitors, scum’ are used time and time again and delivered through the form of longform journalism and memes, how the fuck can we sit there and be surprised that someone eventually broke?

Broken things can be fixed.

If we took the time and found it in ourselves to accept that our human race, which we all belong too can differ on views, we might just be okay.

If we can accept that people are just as entitled to be wrong as they are to being right, we could get through all of this.

If we could just acknowledge a world where we can vote for the political side of our preference, without disgust, we’ll be okay.

If we allow people to say idiotic things without reference just as much as we allow paragraphs of knowledge backed up with source, we could be alright.

If we can accept that someone can be born a different colour and not that of our own, we might just see a better day.

If we can accept that some people just want to lay with men, or no-one instead of a woman, we’ll get by just fine.

You see, we live in a place where you get to vote for the idiotic candidate of the campaign and that’s amazing. We don’t get a choice selected for us. We get to choose #remain or #brexit and the fact someone can disagree with you and be allowed their own choice is incredible.

Being able to disagree is a wonderful privilege of living in the 21st century and we could all perhaps show a tolerance towards the differing opinions of others.

If someone wants the Brexit, if someone thinks dinosaurs were put upon the earth to please our satanic overlords, if someone thinks Ashley Westwood is Britain's most under-rated footballer - let them have that opinion and move right on with your life. And hey, whatever you choose to vote for in this week\

Maybe, if we just started to accept that everyone else except yourself might just be a different, wonderful human being in their own way - the world might be better off for it.

Except if you think Leandro Bacuna has a future at Aston Villa, you can get the fuck out of my club if you believe that.