I write this piece in the aftermath of a rather sensitive event, but it’s an event that has really triggered me albeit not in the way most people have been triggered.
If you live in the UK then you’ll be very aware of the quite shocking fire at Grenfell Tower on 14th June 2017 that killed seventy-two people and injured seventy-four others. It’s on record as the worst residential fire in the UK since World War Two. Public inquiries and police investigations are still ongoing as everyone fights to learn the truth about the tragedy—and who exactly is to blame for how easily the high-rise went up in flames.
Bonfire Night took place on 5th November, as it does every year in this country, and the nights surrounding it brought us the usual cacophony of fireworks going off all over the place (the less said about that the better) and people warming their hands in front of a fire.
A video soon went viral across the internet of a group of people who decided, for a joke, to make an effigy of Grenfell Tower and burn it on a bonfire in place of the usual effigy of Guy Fawkes (Bonfire Night is a celebration of a failed attempt to blow up the House of Lords in 1605 and Guy Fawkes was the man guarding the gunpowder barrels on the night the plot was uncovered).
As you can probably imagine, the joke went down like a lead balloon with the general public. People were absolutely aghast at this very distasteful joke. Calls for their arrest were made. Some even said they’d go and look for those who burned the effigy and physically harm/kill them. The press got hold of it and the story appeared on websites and in newspapers. In the end, fearing for their lives, the pranksters turned themselves into the police where, according to news sources, they’ve been charged with disturbing public order.
These thugs are getting what they deserve… right? Right?
Actually, no. In my opinion, they’re being punished and persecuted for absolutely no good reason whatsoever and I’ll explain why I think that forthwith.
I believe wholeheartedly in three things: the freedom of thought, speech, and expression. I think a person should be allowed to express what they think without fear of backlash. There are certain sects of society (I’m not naming which sects) that seem to be able to say what they like, when they like, and nothing is ever done about it irrespective of how hateful and inciting their words may be. Then there are other sects that are either shouted down by the public when they speak their mind and/or are met with the full force of the law.
This really concerns me. The fact that this group of idiots, whose only crime was making a joke in poor taste, have been threatened with violence, chastised from every angle, and had the law fall upon them makes me worry about what’s to come in the future.
My mindset is that if you have something to say and simply feel the need to say it then do so. If it offends me, which I seriously doubt it will, then I’ll walk away from that person. My agreement with what they say is not a prerequisite to them saying it. They don’t need my permission to say or do anything. If it doesn’t hurt me or anyone else physically then they have committed no crime. I fervently believe that.
We’ve reached a point in time where suddenly words are worse than violence. There are folk out there actually trying to make others suffer for having an opinion or, in the case of the effigy burners, doing something silly that hasn’t really hurt anyone (other than their precious feelings of course). To cause offence in any way is seen as the scourge of modern man—and people are offended by anything and everything! As a result, things are now being labelled as offensive that aren’t in any way offensive whatsoever to most people. Take the video of the crazy woman who thinks all words with ‘man’ in them need to be banned. Take the people who no longer identify as a certain gender and get annoyed that children are being wrongfully taught gender stereotypes.
The regressive left is starting to lose the plot. They’re actually becoming exactly what they hate the far right for: fascists. They’re eradicating freedoms because these freedoms are allegedly offending minorities. They scream for equality, but only if it means minorities are treated more equally than everyone else. These are the ones who suggest Christmas lights might be offensive to people of a non-Christian persuasion. These are the ones who suggest the English and Great British flags might be offensive to immigrants. What scares me is the fact that these weirdos are being listened to and, in some cases, their droning is being acted upon.
And so, we come back to our effigy-burners. Let me say here that I am in no way advocating their prank. It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t clever. It was extremely distasteful. It was also completely harmless! They’ve been charged, as earlier stated, on breaching public order despite the fact they were doing what they did on their own property. According to the law, freedom of expression is permitted so long as it doesn’t encroach on the rights of others not to be offended, even if what you say or do is on your own property. What that tells me is that freedom of expression is not permitted at all because anything can be found offensive depending on the viewpoint of the offended person. Someone could be walking past the house of another and overhear something that offends them. That would officially be harassment and the person who said the ‘offensive’ thing would be in breach of public order. Freedom of thought, speech, and expression is already dead!
Where does this leave us? It leaves us all having to be extremely careful about anything we say or do. It leaves us making sure someone isn’t reading our text messages over our shoulder. It leaves us hurtling towards a 1984-style Orwellian dystopia of order, control, and thought police. We’ve gone beyond appealing for acceptance of all walks of life to demanding nobody says anything that might upset someone else. The law and the suits in charge are backing it all up as well. Why wouldn’t they? Less freedom means we’re easier to control. Well done regressive leftists! Give yourself a pat on the back for screwing everything up!
The arrest of these people represents the start of something big and bad. It’s a dark day for us all here in the UK. It’s another step closer to our every move, word (spoken, written, or typed), and thought being monitored. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…
Read about the Gunpowder Treason Plot here.
Read about the Grenfell Tower fire on Wikipedia here.
Read an article about the Grenfell Tower effigy burning arrests from The i News here.
The Adventures of an Average, White Man...© 
I agree. We’re seeing a lot of that here in South Africa as well. The thing that frustrates me is that when a white guy here says something not even racially baised, but it’s said to a black guy, it’s “racist” and the guy is in deep shit. But a black guy can say things like “you white trash, go back to Europe” (even though he was born here by the way), the white guy isn’t allowed to say or do anything. It’s messed up. That’s just one example. I also hear what Imani is saying and feel the same way she does, but I understand that you simply meant the repercussions aren’t in line with what the situation warrants, especially since there are worse things being unreported and murderers, etc, getting off lightly.
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I know little of the social economy of South Africa other than the black-white divide is still very wide, yet it’s claimed apartheid is no more. Hmmmm, sounds like it based off what you say. It’s similar over here. It seems people who aren’t white can say and do as they please. Here’s what pisses me off: these guys have been charged for burning the effigy of Grenfell Tower and causing a public disturbance, yet there are viral photos and videos of Muslims burning effigies of poppies on Remembrance Day and nothing is done. Now that is discrimination by the police and I don’t care what anyone says to the contrary. They’re exacerbating racism by doing things like that, not stamping it out. As you say, far worse things get ignored. This is nothing but a PR stunt by the police in my eyes to come across as being socially minded. Leave the SJW shit to the public; you get on with upholding the law!
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Yeah, the problem here in SA if you actually live here and see the truth behind the news, is that of what people here call “reverse apartheid”. It’s become difficult to get work as a white male because most jobs are BBE. I’m not a racist at all, I believe everyone should have the same basic rights. It angers me that the criteria for getting a job isn’t based on merit, experience, or qualifications, it’s about the colour of your skin.
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It would appear that the UK is beginning to follow SAs model because the most important criteria a company MUST fulfil in when selecting employees is that minorities are represented. Not the very best people for the job; that’s a secondary criteria. So, there must be a percentage of blacks, Muslims, physically disabled, etc. Now, I have no concern about working with any of the above if they’re competent in their role, but I have worked in places where good people got rejected because they had to meet their quota of minorities. THAT boils my piss and IS discrimination against white people, which seems completely acceptable this day and age. I 100% agree with equality and I want to see it across the board in all countries across the world, but all I’m seeing is preferential treatment of certain sects of society, all alleged ‘minorities’, in my country, while in others it’s still majority rules, not naming no *ahem, Middle East* names.
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Exactly! The story is the same here. Us white folk are a minority in SA, but because of the “sins of our forefathers”, we’re getting punished to provide more opportunities for those who were oppressed many many years ago. I don’t care who gets the job, I don’t care if you’re purple, blue, what-the-hell-ever, as long as you CAN DO THE DAMN JOB. But no, that doesn’t happen unfortunately. It’s hard being in this world, lol.
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Right on! It is like whites are getting punished because of evil shit white people did way back when. So, what do they suspect is going to happen doing it this way rather than applying equality? One day, the virtue signalling will stop when whites realise non-whites have basically become exactly like the whites of old and they’ll start to push back the way non-whites did. The cycle will continue. “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. I refuse to be punished for the atrocities of people who predate me by generations. Whether they like it or not, racism works both ways!
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I absolutely agree! Well said!
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Suspicious old me does wonder if this has all been set up by the power players in the world in order to keep the little people divided and ignorant to the common enemy. In fact, I don’t wonder. I 100% believe it.
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Hmm, interesting. I definitely wouldn’t rule that theory out.
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Divide and conquer. It’s a tactic that’s been used since the ancient era and has proven very, very effective. Why would the elite change that strategy now?
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Social control through social media. Easy way for governments to manipulate . St the same time the courts are decimated meaning actual justice is out of reach for most people.
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Thank you for your thoughts and I agree with the points you’ve made. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et al., are pretty much for monitoring and herding nowadays. I already lost a job through comments I made on my PERSONAL, PRIVATE Facebook account. The judicial system is a joke. Different sentences being handed out for the same crimes based seemingly on the beliefs, cultures, and orientations of the perpetrator. The issue is that the powers that be think all eight billion of the little people are stupid and ignorant. The irony almost gives me a nose bleed…
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Any dealing with the law wakes you up but time. It’s not justice it’s a face saving exercise for the police – more like PR – justice has to be ‘seen’ to be done . Meaning if it’s not in the public eye the police will do nothing
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Which is entirely why corrupt politicians and those connected with the ‘old boys network’ (that we all know exists) get away with underhanded and downright illegal activities all the time. It’ll never change until society, en masse, realises the numbers game and sheds its fear of death.
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Sadly, we’re seeing a lot of this over in America…
When basic freedom of speech becomes threatened, it makes one pause and wonder exactly what has gotten us to this point.
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In my honest opinion, I believe it started with the protection of minorities and the less able. It began with equality, something I believe in greatly. Unfortunately, it’s grown to the point where the minorities and the SJWs believe that the minorities should get MORE than others rather than equality. Because their initial reasonable demands were given into, they’ve started pushing the boat out and demanding more, quickly removing the rights of people as not to offend anyone. It’s a very slippery slope that leads to eventual total law enforcement.
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It sounds like, absolutely yes, these people’s (heartless idiot’s) rights are being ignored. I can’t really imagine how the police would justify their charges. It was a disturbance online, yes, but as it was on private land, I can’t see it. I am sure they will be prosecuted by their community and peers (as they should) plenty enough without the law system becoming involved.
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Exactly! Let the people (peacefully) have their say and publicly shame these idiots. Their name will be mud. They’ll potentially lose their job or get turned down for work. That’s their punishment for acting in such a way. If the law becomes involved then they’ve served their punishment and should receive no more because the law has dealt with it. The police getting involved is, in my eyes, another act of virtue signalling and, more worryingly, a step towards a loss of freedom for all!
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This is an interesting post. I’m not quite sure what I make of it as it’s kind of bent my head a bit. I didn’t know about this as I don’t follow mainstream social media but I think the anger would have come from people’s empathy with the relatives of the lives lost in the fire. I think the threats of violence towards the pranksters were to ensure that the twats who did this were reminded of the lives lost…. something they were making people remember in a most insensitive way. I think I am probably a lot more reactive than you and less tolerant of pricks and that comes with the territory of my PD traits and empathic care for emotionally vulnerable. I wonder what you’d think of this….when the anti-suicide signs of hope were hung on the bridges, some bright spark put up a sign on the railings saying ‘just do it’ and another one saying ‘jump cunt jump’. They thought this was hilarious and they posted pics on social media of their handiwork and it went viral. Is this freedom of speech in your mind? Is this ok? Is my offence and the offence others felt unexpressable? Is the anger as a suicide survivor restricting their freedom?
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As I stated in the article, I don’t agree with what they did. It wasn’t funny and it wasn’t clever. It was in extremely poor taste. However, arresting them for it sets a very, VERY dangerous precedent and that is where my issue lays. If you want to vociferously express your discontent at their prank then you have the freedom to do so. What you don’t have the right to do is threaten violence and say “I’m coming to get you”. If we start restricting people’s rights to freedom of speech, thought, and expression, we open the floodgates because ANYONE can be offended by ANYTHING. These idiots deserve to be berated and called scum at every angle. They don’t deserve to be arrested or threatened with murder, especially when people are getting away with far worse out there. The example you gave about the bridges: technically it’s different. They’re wishing harm to another before harm has befallen them. Those signs could be what causes a death. The burning of the Grenfell Tower effigy pokes fun at a tragic event that had already happened. It’s no different to those who make jokes about classroom shootings in America, 9/11, or even Auschwitz. I don’t see people getting arrested for that… yet! And nor do I believe they ever should. If it starts happening then we’re hurtling towards a world I have absolutely no wish to be part of. Imagine your every thought and action getting monitored. Does that sound appealing to you? (I’m sorry if this post triggered you at all by the way. Let me reiterate that I DO NOT advocate the actions of these people. It’s the consequences of their stupidity I’m looking at).
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