It Starts with Something Small

It starts as all things do, with something small. Something that goes completely unnoticed. Someone who you don’t know says something you’ve never heard- or gets a job you are largely unaware exists. One small little lie or comment that means nothing in the greater scheme of things, but it was essential to bring us to this point.

In the UK we have seen for years a number of politicians and media talking heads repeat a small lie, a lack of clarification and a slight omitting of certain facts. This has led to what we can call the ‘the Frog in the boiling pot.’

No one asks where the frog came from or how long the water has been getting hotter.

In the summer of 2024 the UK witnessed riots. We are told that the catalyst to these riots was a tragedy where the son of an immigrant family took a knife to three young children. This was not the spark that lit the fuse, nor was it the frog jumping out of the pot. This was a manipulation of the truth and exploitation.

Political figures asked ‘questions’ to which they already had answers. Asking why the individual who committed this appalling act wasn’t being named was not a simple quest, it was manipulation. The format and presentation was well thought out and so to were the words used.

A ‘dog whistle’ is a term we use for things spoken that aren’t inherently bad when taken at face value, but mean something very different to an intended audience. For example, when the term ‘immigrant’ and ‘asylum seeker’ are used interchangeably (despite meaning very different things) has been used for years, alongside condemning their existence; and lying about intentions or actions- I encourage you to look into the ‘Breaking point’ poster that a certain UK politician proudly used for evidence as to why they UK should leave the EU. And when the same political figure gave a well-thought-out presentation where he ‘asked a question’, it was not the question that he was asking, it was blood in the water.

The question was meant to convey the notion that the police were withholding information and that there was special treatment being given to a person who wasn’t white. The reality was that the person’s name was being withheld as he was under 18 at the time and as such, the police were not allowed to release his details.

But when you put emotion in a room, reason leaves it.

What followed was a tirade of lies that was entirely designed to cause as much pain and suffering as possible while exploiting the deaths of three children when we as a nation, should have been moaning.

Coordinated groups from around the country descended on areas they had little knowledge of to cause violence and harm to people who lived in the area.

You are not born to hate, it is taught by the people you love, and it festers like an open wound you won’t let heal.

Despite the man responsible for the Stockport incident being born in this country, into a Christian family and raised as such, a certain section of the population saw a foreigner committing murder and so the conclusion of ‘all foreigners are murders’ was put front and center.

People who work in the health service were attacked for the crime of not being white while others defended the actions by saying things like, ‘It’s a cultural difference that doesn’t mix here’ and ‘people are angry so of course they are acting this way.’

Complicit media allowing ‘immigrant’ and ‘asylum seeker’ was a small part in this.

The infamous ‘Breaking point’ poster which portrayed refugees as an incoming invasion and reached the conclusion of isolationism over everything else being the only defense- while ignoring the facts around the entire situation; was a small thing.

A politician demanding cartoon drawings be taken down from a children's detainment center lest they feel too comforted by them was a small thing.

There were a number of ‘small’ things that preyed on people's ignorance of various situations and that was where people fell victim to the worst of our society. The pond-life that puts out regular lies, misinformation, and dog whistles.

After the riots, people were being arrested for things they had put on social media. ‘Arrested for Tweets while criminals are released from prison,’ is a phrase that is still being used. Ignoring that these criminals had to be released early as the prison system has faced 14 years of neglect and the government of 10 months prior was told that this was going to happen- yet remained silent. It also ignores what these social media messages actually said and what they called for. They were in fact, calling for the execution of innocent people who had sought refuge and safety in ‘Great’ Britain- and these were extremely explicit.

People were led to this point with a number of small things that were so easily dismissed by the wider population, that we never saw it coming. They were primed, ready for the dog whistle as a starter pistol in a race. Every time someone carelessly conflated immigration with asylum, every time someone misrepresented a position and went unchecked or uncorrected, it led to one of the bigger examples that I have mentioned. By that point, the frog hasn’t noticed that the water is getting hotter and hotter.

Like an earthquake, we are still dealing with the aftershocks of what happened, and how we handle this will define a generation. I am pleased to say that after the initial riots, communities came together to see off the rioters - who again, came from miles from the areas they invaded to cause violence and suffering. But we must recognize the small moments that lead up to this. So when someone says, ‘People were arrested for social media posts’, remind them what the posts were. When media conflates Immigration: the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. And Asylum: the protection granted by a state to someone who has left their home country as a political refugee or if their circumstances fall into the definition of refugee according to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. They must be reminded of the difference.

We can be better, or we can allow a short memory and apathy lead us to another situation where reason gives way to emotion based on lies.