Tommy Robinson - Crypto-Fascist Hero Worship
I'm posting here what I wrote in a reply to someone on Facebook who claimed that Tommy Robinson is not far-right, that he's out for their best interests. I have modified it slightly to make sense outside the context of a Facebook thread. Tommy Robinson is appealing to your sense of wounded nationalistic pride - he's telling you that your problems, economically and socially aren't systemic, that there is no underlying cause. He's telling you that your problems are caused by a tiny sub-set of society that is somewhat different and unfamiliar to you - he's "othering" them - and that he can fix the problem by removing them from society. He is doing this by means of propaganda: manipulated statistics, quote-mining and attempting to lift and inspire your sense of nationalistic-patriotism and if he's told he's wrong, he'll profess to be a martyr of free-speech. He's claiming to be your hero because he'll fix what the propaganda claims -