Reading Tolkien will turn you into a right-wing extremists - UK Government

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Professor Robin Reid of Texas A&M, is a clown. She sounds like she is a disgusting hedonistic, shrill moron, and a Communist. She is a buffoon, and no one should take anything she says about Tolkien seriously. She should be mocked and ridiculed, and ruthlessly crushed.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

[jhkim]

I think there's a lack of nuance here. There's been an historical problem with the Prevent strategy in the UK in its focus on Muslim extremism whilst not addressing right wing extremism. This is a problem because there have been some terrible right wing attacks over the last decade from the killing of a Labour MP to recent attacks on elderly Muslim men, they were burned to death whilst leaving a mosque.

Sure, the assassination of Jo Cox showed the problem of right-wing extremism. But the stupid part is that flagging reading Tolkien is a way of addressing it.

I wonder, though, what the books flagged are for other ideologies. Would people who read Yeats or Swift be flagged for Irish nationalist extremism?

The whole idea of it a government program to secretly flag and track down people with ideas outside the mainstream and therefore "extremist" is reprehensible.

--

They've already started with Dahl and Fleming.

Even with the outcry, they cannot be trusted.

They started long before Dahl and Fleming. The term for this is bowdlerization - from Thomas Bowdler (1754 – 1825). There's been edited editions Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan, Agatha Christie's "Ten Little N***ers", and many more.

[Garry G]

Sure, the assassination of Jo Cox showed the problem of right-wing extremism. But the stupid part is that flagging reading Tolkien is a way of addressing it.

I wonder, though, what the books flagged are for other ideologies. Would people who read Yeats or Swift be flagged for Irish nationalist extremism?

The whole idea of it a government program to secretly flag and track down people with ideas outside the mainstream and therefore "extremist" is reprehensible.

It's a report not government policy. It may or may not become a part of the Prevent policy but that's to be seen. I don't have any faith at all in the current UK government so I don't particularly expect them to implement good policy but there you go. If expect anything coming from stuff like this to be more than saying somebody who's read The Hobbit is an extremist though, it would be part of a picture being made.

Prevent isn't about secretly tracking people. It's about stepping in early to talk to people before they become radicalised. I have doubts about it's efficacy but I like the idea of engaging with people.

[MerrillWeathermay]

You're all just a bunch of right-wing extremists according to the British government.

https://boundingintocomics.com/2023/03/08/british-government-reportedly-believes-radicalization-into-the-far-right-can-occur-from-reading-tolkien-c-s-lewis-aldous-huxley-and-george-orwell/

so that's what happened to me?

[jhkim]

Sure, the assassination of Jo Cox showed the problem of right-wing extremism. But the stupid part is that flagging reading Tolkien is a way of addressing it.

I wonder, though, what the books flagged are for other ideologies. Would people who read Yeats or Swift be flagged for Irish nationalist extremism?

The whole idea of it a government program to secretly flag and track down people with ideas outside the mainstream and therefore "extremist" is reprehensible.

It's a report not government policy. It may or may not become a part of the Prevent policy but that's to be seen. I don't have any faith at all in the current UK government so I don't particularly expect them to implement good policy but there you go. If expect anything coming from stuff like this to be more than saying somebody who's read The Hobbit is an extremist though, it would be part of a picture being made.

Prevent isn't about secretly tracking people. It's about stepping in early to talk to people before they become radicalised. I have doubts about it's efficacy but I like the idea of engaging with people.

I don't have in-depth knowledge of RICU/Prevent, just a few articles -- but my impression is that they monitor public conversations online to target who they consider extremists, and create programs to deliberately de-radicalize them. That isn't an open and honest conversation between the government and those people, but rather, an effort to influence them without being influenced.

To me, it seems unfortunately reminiscent of the FBI of the 1950s and 1960s trying to de-radicalize those in the civil rights movement, among others.

Being a right-wing extremist isn't illegal as long as they aren't criminals or terrorists. They have a right to those views, and it isn't the government's job to stop them from being right-wing extremists.

The same goes for being left-wing extremists.

[Brad]

I can see how the links can be made.

Only if you're fucking retarded.

You brought up radical Muslims...well, yeah. They actually DO go around doing all sorts of violent shit. Typical liberal horseshit, have to investigate obvious nonsense to make sure they maintain an air of neutrality. Same reason they frisk 90 year old grandmothers at the airport because if they only focused on shifty looking crackheads blue-haired morons would call them bigoted racists.

[Garry G]

I can see how the links can be made.

Only if you're fucking retarded.

You brought up radical Muslims...well, yeah. They actually DO go around doing all sorts of violent shit. Typical liberal horseshit, have to investigate obvious nonsense to make sure they maintain an air of neutrality. Same reason they frisk 90 year old grandmothers at the airport because if they only focused on shifty looking crackheads blue-haired morons would call them bigoted racists.

I'm not quite following you, are you saying that only radical Muslims have committed terrorist acts in the UK? That's an interestingly weird assertion.

[Garry G]

Sure, the assassination of Jo Cox showed the problem of right-wing extremism. But the stupid part is that flagging reading Tolkien is a way of addressing it.

I wonder, though, what the books flagged are for other ideologies. Would people who read Yeats or Swift be flagged for Irish nationalist extremism?

The whole idea of it a government program to secretly flag and track down people with ideas outside the mainstream and therefore "extremist" is reprehensible.

It's a report not government policy. It may or may not become a part of the Prevent policy but that's to be seen. I don't have any faith at all in the current UK government so I don't particularly expect them to implement good policy but there you go. If expect anything coming from stuff like this to be more than saying somebody who's read The Hobbit is an extremist though, it would be part of a picture being made.

Prevent isn't about secretly tracking people. It's about stepping in early to talk to people before they become radicalised. I have doubts about it's efficacy but I like the idea of engaging with people.

I don't have in-depth knowledge of RICU/Prevent, just a few articles -- but my impression is that they monitor public conversations online to target who they consider extremists, and create programs to deliberately de-radicalize them. That isn't an open and honest conversation between the government and those people, but rather, an effort to influence them without being influenced.

To me, it seems unfortunately reminiscent of the FBI of the 1950s and 1960s trying to de-radicalize those in the civil rights movement, among others.

Being a right-wing extremist isn't illegal as long as they aren't criminals or terrorists. They have a right to those views, and it isn't the government's job to stop them from being right-wing extremists.

The same goes for being left-wing extremists.

I'm not massively disagreeing with you on this. Is say that it's a bit half-arsed in its thinking and was originally based on a Muslim terrorist panic thing. My preference would be more about engagement with people but once again we have a deeply fucked governing party at the moment.

[GeekyBugle]

Sure, the assassination of Jo Cox showed the problem of right-wing extremism. But the stupid part is that flagging reading Tolkien is a way of addressing it.

I wonder, though, what the books flagged are for other ideologies. Would people who read Yeats or Swift be flagged for Irish nationalist extremism?

The whole idea of it a government program to secretly flag and track down people with ideas outside the mainstream and therefore "extremist" is reprehensible.

It's a report not government policy. It may or may not become a part of the Prevent policy but that's to be seen. I don't have any faith at all in the current UK government so I don't particularly expect them to implement good policy but there you go. If expect anything coming from stuff like this to be more than saying somebody who's read The Hobbit is an extremist though, it would be part of a picture being made.

Prevent isn't about secretly tracking people. It's about stepping in early to talk to people before they become radicalised. I have doubts about it's efficacy but I like the idea of engaging with people.

So, if they aren't secretly tracking people...

How the fuck would they know who they need to "step in early" with before they become radicalized?

From the 2000s to the present the ideology with the most terrorist acts is Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_Great_Britain

And the rape gangs aren't even included in that list.

[Garry G]

Sure, the assassination of Jo Cox showed the problem of right-wing extremism. But the stupid part is that flagging reading Tolkien is a way of addressing it.

I wonder, though, what the books flagged are for other ideologies. Would people who read Yeats or Swift be flagged for Irish nationalist extremism?

The whole idea of it a government program to secretly flag and track down people with ideas outside the mainstream and therefore "extremist" is reprehensible.

It's a report not government policy. It may or may not become a part of the Prevent policy but that's to be seen. I don't have any faith at all in the current UK government so I don't particularly expect them to implement good policy but there you go. If expect anything coming from stuff like this to be more than saying somebody who's read The Hobbit is an extremist though, it would be part of a picture being made.

Prevent isn't about secretly tracking people. It's about stepping in early to talk to people before they become radicalised. I have doubts about it's efficacy but I like the idea of engaging with people.

So, if they aren't secretly tracking people...

How the fuck would they know who they need to "step in early" with before they become radicalized?

From the 2000s to the present the ideology with the most terrorist acts is Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_Great_Britain

And the rape gangs aren't even included in that list.

Are you saying they should only focus on Islamic terrorism because there's a bit more of it? I can only infer that you're fine with the other guys. I'm going to need you to explain being okay with white Christian terrorism.

[The Spaniard]

Sure, the assassination of Jo Cox showed the problem of right-wing extremism. But the stupid part is that flagging reading Tolkien is a way of addressing it.

I wonder, though, what the books flagged are for other ideologies. Would people who read Yeats or Swift be flagged for Irish nationalist extremism?

The whole idea of it a government program to secretly flag and track down people with ideas outside the mainstream and therefore "extremist" is reprehensible.

It's a report not government policy. It may or may not become a part of the Prevent policy but that's to be seen. I don't have any faith at all in the current UK government so I don't particularly expect them to implement good policy but there you go. If expect anything coming from stuff like this to be more than saying somebody who's read The Hobbit is an extremist though, it would be part of a picture being made.

Prevent isn't about secretly tracking people. It's about stepping in early to talk to people before they become radicalised. I have doubts about it's efficacy but I like the idea of engaging with people.

So, if they aren't secretly tracking people...

How the fuck would they know who they need to "step in early" with before they become radicalized?

From the 2000s to the present the ideology with the most terrorist acts is Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_Great_Britain

And the rape gangs aren't even included in that list.

Are you saying they should only focus on Islamic terrorism because there's a bit more of it? I can only infer that you're fine with the other guys. I'm going to need you to explain being okay with white Christian terrorism.

A bit more?  There's the understatement of the century...

[Garry G]

Sure, the assassination of Jo Cox showed the problem of right-wing extremism. But the stupid part is that flagging reading Tolkien is a way of addressing it.

I wonder, though, what the books flagged are for other ideologies. Would people who read Yeats or Swift be flagged for Irish nationalist extremism?

The whole idea of it a government program to secretly flag and track down people with ideas outside the mainstream and therefore "extremist" is reprehensible.

It's a report not government policy. It may or may not become a part of the Prevent policy but that's to be seen. I don't have any faith at all in the current UK government so I don't particularly expect them to implement good policy but there you go. If expect anything coming from stuff like this to be more than saying somebody who's read The Hobbit is an extremist though, it would be part of a picture being made.

Prevent isn't about secretly tracking people. It's about stepping in early to talk to people before they become radicalised. I have doubts about it's efficacy but I like the idea of engaging with people.

So, if they aren't secretly tracking people...

How the fuck would they know who they need to "step in early" with before they become radicalized?

From the 2000s to the present the ideology with the most terrorist acts is Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_Great_Britain

And the rape gangs aren't even included in that list.

Are you saying they should only focus on Islamic terrorism because there's a bit more of it? I can only infer that you're fine with the other guys. I'm going to need you to explain being okay with white Christian terrorism.

A bit more?  There's the understatement of the century...

I'll go for a lot more because it doesn't change the basic point that there's in implication that one type of terrorism is fine. Are you okay with a wee bit of white Christian terrorism?

[The Spaniard]

Sure, the assassination of Jo Cox showed the problem of right-wing extremism. But the stupid part is that flagging reading Tolkien is a way of addressing it.

I wonder, though, what the books flagged are for other ideologies. Would people who read Yeats or Swift be flagged for Irish nationalist extremism?

The whole idea of it a government program to secretly flag and track down people with ideas outside the mainstream and therefore "extremist" is reprehensible.

It's a report not government policy. It may or may not become a part of the Prevent policy but that's to be seen. I don't have any faith at all in the current UK government so I don't particularly expect them to implement good policy but there you go. If expect anything coming from stuff like this to be more than saying somebody who's read The Hobbit is an extremist though, it would be part of a picture being made.

Prevent isn't about secretly tracking people. It's about stepping in early to talk to people before they become radicalised. I have doubts about it's efficacy but I like the idea of engaging with people.

So, if they aren't secretly tracking people...

How the fuck would they know who they need to "step in early" with before they become radicalized?

From the 2000s to the present the ideology with the most terrorist acts is Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_Great_Britain

And the rape gangs aren't even included in that list.

Are you saying they should only focus on Islamic terrorism because there's a bit more of it? I can only infer that you're fine with the other guys. I'm going to need you to explain being okay with white Christian terrorism.

A bit more?  There's the understatement of the century...

I'll go for a lot more because it doesn't change the basic point that there's in implication that one type of terrorism is fine. Are you okay with a wee bit of white Christian terrorism?

Then why say "a bit" in your original assertion? 

I'm not ok with any terrorism.

[Garry G]

Sure, the assassination of Jo Cox showed the problem of right-wing extremism. But the stupid part is that flagging reading Tolkien is a way of addressing it.

I wonder, though, what the books flagged are for other ideologies. Would people who read Yeats or Swift be flagged for Irish nationalist extremism?

The whole idea of it a government program to secretly flag and track down people with ideas outside the mainstream and therefore "extremist" is reprehensible.

It's a report not government policy. It may or may not become a part of the Prevent policy but that's to be seen. I don't have any faith at all in the current UK government so I don't particularly expect them to implement good policy but there you go. If expect anything coming from stuff like this to be more than saying somebody who's read The Hobbit is an extremist though, it would be part of a picture being made.

Prevent isn't about secretly tracking people. It's about stepping in early to talk to people before they become radicalised. I have doubts about it's efficacy but I like the idea of engaging with people.

So, if they aren't secretly tracking people...

How the fuck would they know who they need to "step in early" with before they become radicalized?

From the 2000s to the present the ideology with the most terrorist acts is Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_Great_Britain

And the rape gangs aren't even included in that list.

Are you saying they should only focus on Islamic terrorism because there's a bit more of it? I can only infer that you're fine with the other guys. I'm going to need you to explain being okay with white Christian terrorism.

A bit more?  There's the understatement of the century...

I'll go for a lot more because it doesn't change the basic point that there's in implication that one type of terrorism is fine. Are you okay with a wee bit of white Christian terrorism?

Then why say "a bit" in your original assertion? 

I'm not ok with any terrorism.

You're okay enough to get into semantics about terrorism which is a wee bit icky especially when I referenced two old Muslim men burned alive earlier in the thread. That seems like something that's not good.

[The Spaniard]

Sure, the assassination of Jo Cox showed the problem of right-wing extremism. But the stupid part is that flagging reading Tolkien is a way of addressing it.

I wonder, though, what the books flagged are for other ideologies. Would people who read Yeats or Swift be flagged for Irish nationalist extremism?

The whole idea of it a government program to secretly flag and track down people with ideas outside the mainstream and therefore "extremist" is reprehensible.

It's a report not government policy. It may or may not become a part of the Prevent policy but that's to be seen. I don't have any faith at all in the current UK government so I don't particularly expect them to implement good policy but there you go. If expect anything coming from stuff like this to be more than saying somebody who's read The Hobbit is an extremist though, it would be part of a picture being made.

Prevent isn't about secretly tracking people. It's about stepping in early to talk to people before they become radicalised. I have doubts about it's efficacy but I like the idea of engaging with people.

So, if they aren't secretly tracking people...

How the fuck would they know who they need to "step in early" with before they become radicalized?

From the 2000s to the present the ideology with the most terrorist acts is Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_Great_Britain

And the rape gangs aren't even included in that list.

Are you saying they should only focus on Islamic terrorism because there's a bit more of it? I can only infer that you're fine with the other guys. I'm going to need you to explain being okay with white Christian terrorism.

A bit more?  There's the understatement of the century...

I'll go for a lot more because it doesn't change the basic point that there's in implication that one type of terrorism is fine. Are you okay with a wee bit of white Christian terrorism?

Then why say "a bit" in your original assertion? 

I'm not ok with any terrorism.

You're okay enough to get into semantics about terrorism which is a wee bit icky especially when I referenced two old Muslim men burned alive earlier in the thread. That seems like something that's not good.

Semantics?  You bet.  Words matter.