How Britain Set Fire to Its Future

How Do You Destroy a Century of Progress in a Decade? Just Ask Britain

Image Credit

You might be a little baffled right about now, if you’re not British. Why did Britain just erupt in a a firestorm? I’m going to tell you, in detail, and then we’re going to discuss the meaning of it — because here we have probably the world’s pre-eminent example of something truly disturbing. Self-inflicted social collapse. I’m going to prove that, factually, too — the collapse part. What’s happening in — to — Britain? What Britain did to itself? It’s jaw-dropping. And yet….well, I’ll come to that.

The story goes like this, and we’re going to take it piece by piece.

1) The equivalent of Britain’s Secretary of State is a figure who’s become notorious for demonizing and scapegoating refugees. She speaks of “invasions,” as if they’re arriving in hordes, of armies, not as a handful penniless people on little rubber boats. Extreme rhetoric, to say the least. The kind of thing that makes the rest of the world turn up its nose at Britain — hence, no real post-Brexit “trade deals,” because, well, would you do business with lunatics like that?

2) One of Britain’s most beloved public figures is a former footballer called Gary Lineker. Think of him like a former NFL quarterback — an especially cherished one. He presents the BBC’s top program, Match of the Day. People love the guy. And Gary, well, he rubs Britain’s conservatives the wrong way, because he’s a strong supporter of rights, including for people like…the ones they hate…for example, refugees.

And so the seeds of a confrontation were sown. It happened like this.

3) Lineker tweeted, in response to yet more scapegoating from the government, that “this is immeasurably cruel policy…in language that is not dissimilar to that used by the Germany in the 1930s.”

4) Britain’s conservatives went absolutely bananas for a few days. To say they were furious would be an understatement. They accused Lineker of “diminishing” the Holocaust. But was he? You see, it wasn’t Lineker who’d made the point first, that this kind of language was, well, what the fascists used. It was…a literal Holocaust survivor. And scholar, to boot.

5) The BBC forced Lineker to step down.

6) His fellow Match of the Day presenters boycotted, refusing to present the show without him, and now the Match of the Day has…LOL…no commentary.

7) And this is a Big One, on the very same day, news broke that the BBC wouldn’t air an episode of David Attenborough’s latest documentary…for fear of right-wing backlash. Attenborough — the renowned naturalist. You’ve seen his documentaries. He’s not just loved by the Brits — he’s loved by the world.