Fear Makes the Wolf Look Bigger

Last year, as the UK’s general election approached, I made some seemingly cynical predictions about the outcome and the establishment media’s narratives to come:

“As the results become apparent, British establishment media coverage will offer us presenters and pundits who, with clipped enunciation, declare this a rousing victory for Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, and a vindication for his group within Labour who spent so many years opposing Jeremy Corbyn's Scandinavian-style social democracy, which will be announced as well and truly dead and buried; a ‘failed experiment’ that, we will be told, proved unpopular; too left-wing; too radical and unrealistic. Politicians appearing on networks will confirm that Labour has moved out of the ‘dark days’ of Corbynism and electoral ‘wilderness,’ into a bright future of better days in Britain, with change afoot.”

I didn’t take in much of the coverage myself, but was told by others that this turned out to be an accurate summary of the post-election establishment media narratives, and not at all cynical, as it turned out.

I also warned:

“With the left-leaning alternatives all but destroyed, fascist Nigel Farage – likely to finally become an MP at the eighth attempt, after years of platforming by an establishment media craving controversial click-bait to increase revenue – will be presented as the only alternative to ‘Labour/Tory, Same Old Story.’ Farage's Reform party are holding increasing influence on a Conservative party in turmoil and on the brink of disastrous defeat, and Farage is poised to exploit this opening. Nothing will fundamentally change under Labour. Austerity will continue, the cost of living will become unbearable, and the culture wars will be reignited. Starmer, then, will likely lead to Farage actually entering and occupying No. 10 Downing Street.”

Although Farage – despite indeed finally becoming a Member of Parliament – has yet to have opportunity to move into No.10 (he’ll have to wait until 2029 or more likely 2028 for that), the rest has all come to pass. Merely a year in, and “human rights lawyer” Sir Keir Starmer’s attacks on human rights and the working class have made him more unpopular than Donald Trump, as the population has realised change was not, in fact, forthcoming by switching from blue to red, like opting for Coke instead of Pepsi...both are still bad for us.

Don’t feel too overwhelmed by the dark clouds.

I saw a post on social media recently that simply stated “fear makes the wolf look bigger.” I traced its origins to a German proverb, and I believe it’s highly appropriate for what understandably feel like dark days for many, because it’s worth keeping perspective.

Whether Jeremy Corbyn starting his own political party five years too late with Zara Sultana will effectively steal or simply split votes is for a different article at another time, but it’s important to remember that Nigel Farage – similarly to Donald Trump in the United States – is a monster created by a Frankenstein-esque establishment media.

Nick Griffin was the Test Subject

You may remember when neo-Nazi British National Party leader Nick Griffin was platformed and essentially martyred on BBC’s Question Time featuring a panel of careerist professional politicians joining together to attack him with hyperbole rather than on policy, because their own positions offered little for the working class.

Simply overjoyed at the ratings spike, the BBC learned nothing of value from that experience, and instead then incessantly platformed fascist Farage – Griffin’s more polished, slick successor, wholeheartedly backed by the capitalist class – on Question Time over and over again, with those still habitually consuming establishment media, even gladly paying their TV License Fee, dutifully tuning in to watch the programme while venting their outrage at Farage on their smartphone’s social media apps, perfectly playing their part in the game of trending topics and mentions and clicks and hits and ratings that all translate into celebrity success. But nowhere was this more apparent than when Farage was featured in the ratings-grabbing, cheaply-made yet hyper-produced, cynical so-called “reality” show I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, after Question Time had proved him as a draw, increasing his profile. In the absence of a simple boycott of this fast-food television of gossipy celebrity worship, audiences instead solidified Farage’s own celebrity status, raising £1,500,000 for him and further setting the stage for his political messaging and entry into parliament, one step closer to 10 Downing Street.

“[Establishment media] have institutional interests in presenting far-left protesters in their vile 'both sides' narratives, drawing false equivalences with the far right.” - Natasha Lennard

For years now, the issue has not been a lack of vocalisation of the far right, but entirely the opposite: a tiny minority of fascists exploiting genuine discontentment and confusion in the working class mass majority, then amplified and platformed and interviewed and “debated” – a problem that never once went away with any of this “both sides” approach or devil’s advocacy, but just grew bigger, and stronger, and braver, and bolder, the more it was engaged with and fed, when the only solution to the problem of fascism, throughout history, has been to stomp it out completely. Promote better ideas, by all means, but always give them no airtime, no airwaves, and no airways – starve them of oxygen, until they can no longer breathe.

So how did we get here?

When Gillian Duffy Normalised Nick Griffin's Rhetoric

A significant turning point was Nick Griffin’s push to prominence coinciding with the then-prime minister of the UK publicly apologising for calling a racist a racist. On the campaign trail, Gordon Brown was caught referring to a voter named Gillian Duffy as a “bigoted woman” after she told him “You can't say anything about the immigrants because you're saying that you're…” trailing off before she could unavoidably add the word “racist,” then continuing her diatribe by saying: “But all these eastern European what are coming in, where are they flocking from?” to which Brown simply needed to reply: “Eastern Europe.” Instead, when audio was later released of him rightly describing Duffy as a bigot for her bluster about “flocks” of foreigners, he reversed his position, and apologised.

When one of Brown’s MPs, Alex Cunningham, spoke at a Labour fundraising event shortly after and admitted "She was a bigoted woman and that's all there is to it," a recording of his remarks went public and he, too, was forced to apologise.

Anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim policies admittedly made it difficult for Labour politicians to call out racism with any conviction or consistency, but the influence of the establishment media can hardly be overstated, since the likes of the racist Rothermeres and Murdochs constantly whipped up hysteria in their “news” outlets on invading aliens, in a display of true class solidarity – capitalist class solidarity, that is; inciting hatred and division among the working classes while wage theft continued in the form of something known as “profits.”

Being one of the capitalist class, Nigel Farage provides no solutions whatsoever to the problems faced by the working class, but his background and backers are rarely scrutinised while the media appearances increase, now buoyed by MP status off the back of “reality” programming, his carefully crafted and developed “straight-talking” (racist) flat cap cig-and-pint pub persona telling working people it isn’t the bosses taking their money off them, but foreigners, or Disabled people, or anyone other than the capitalist class Farage speaks for.

But the fact remains that Farage is indeed a monstrous media creation, existing in repeat appearances and tight camera angles at bus tour-type “rallies” where the only attendees are a few dozen gammon and their dog, largely looking stronger in number because of what turn out to be counter-protesters, yet all carefully framed by the same media that enforced a blackout, for the most part, on “socialist” Corbyn’s rallies that legitimately drew thousands of people on a regular basis.

Farage’s similarities to Trump are many, not least the fact that Trump also has a niche following, to say the least. Trump didn’t win this last presidential election; Kamala Harris lost it. But that was enough for Trump – a man so angered by the loss in 2020, so petulant and frustrated by the all-important second term being snatched away from him, simply because it was always going to be his second and final term where he could go all-out on his attack on the working class he falsely claimed to represent in order to retain power.

It was enough, despite the fact, with around 77,000,000 votes from a population of about 340,000,000, less than a quarter of Americans voted for Trump when counting the disenfranchised, and not much more than a quarter of eligible voters, just like in 2016, contrary to the establishment media narratives that constantly seek to legitimise a rigged system. The choices are dismal, and who can blame people being turned off by a system where the capitalist class themselves narrow down the options to two individuals they are prepared to allow the American working class to select to supposedly represent them all – never mind choosing between one supporter of genocidal capitalism, or the other.

Reality Check

Almost half of the American population would like an entirely different option to Republicans and Democrats altogether (but not a third party backed by billionaire Elon Musk). While white supremacist neo-Nazi Musk backed Germany’s fascist AfD party, 200,000 anti-fascist protesters marched in Munich. Most Americans oppose Trump’s expansionist policies and his proposals on Gaza, his cuts to Medicaid, his tariffs, and his plans for a dictatorship, finding his presidency pretty frightening, all things considered. Democrats who go after Trump, even threatening to impeach him, are more popular as a result of doing so. What’s more, 54% of Americans questioned at the time believed the burning of the Minneapolis Police Precinct was justified after George Floyd’s killing. More public supporters showed up for alleged CEO-killer Luigi Mangione's pre-trial hearing than turned out for Trump's hearing in the same New York City courtroom. Trump’s birthday/military parade was a flop, while mass protests against him erupted across the US.

The Counterrevolution is Real, and Must Still be Fought

None of this is to say that the attacks on civil liberties and marginalised communities are insignificant, or that the scourge of climate and Covid denialism isn’t a greater threat than ever with conspiracy theories becoming adopted into government policy, with ICE agents kidnapping people, and concentration camps being opened, all as the rich hoard – and add to – their obscene wealth. Late-stage capitalism means authoritarianism is turned to and utilised by capitalism’s proponents and beneficiaries. This all needs to be talked about more, and I will be doing so. But it's worth keeping some perspective.

“In this creeping normalisation of the increasingly unacceptable, a question that we often see on social media is: 'Why are things like this?' Why do things only get worse? Does it really have to be this way? This question is meant to express frustration with and rejection of this world, but the question itself is actually a propaganda victory for the fascist movement, which wants to appear as though it stands outside of history, emerging as naturally and inevitably as a sunrise. But there is an answer to why things are like this. It's because we are living through a counterrevolution. And it's important to insist that it's a counterrevolution, because one of the foremost tasks of the counterrevolution is to make everyone forget that something like a revolution ever seemed possible.” - Vicky Osterweil

When we consume establishment media, it becomes too easy to assume that what is occurring now is indeed a "natural and inevitable" emergence – that the fascists are the majority, that they cannot be ignored, that they must be heard, that the capitalist class are adored and accepted as wealth-creators, even that the system is trusted, and that we must avoid radical politics because it doesn’t go down too well outside of our safe spaces. In fact, the opposite is true, right across the board. Once we realise this, the challenge ahead of us – namely, this damned counterrevolution – becomes less overwhelming, and we can more effectively identify where, and how, to direct our efforts.

Fear does indeed make the wolf look bigger. But as another saying goes: when we lose our fear, they lose their power.

From now on, you can find articles like this away from my personal blog, instead over on The SilenceBreaker newsletter, which I'm very excited to launch as the home of all of my political analysis – past, present, and future. Please head there to bookmark or subscribe. I'll continue to post more personal pieces to this blog, one of which is coming soon.