Radicalised
The atmosphere is growing toxic and I have previously wondered just how fractured society will become whichever way the vote goes
The murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox yesterday was sickening. A married mum with two kids, she was shot and stabbed as she walked through her Constituency.
I knew nothing about her before her murder. The tributes now being paid to her describe a strong and principled politician, someone who became an MP not for her own selfish ends, but in the hope of doing some good in the world. She only entered Parliament 13 months before the death, but it is evident she had made quite an impression.
According to a witness interviewed by the BBC the killer shouted something like “Britain First” as he attacked her. “Britain First” is a fascist group that wants the country out of the EU. Jo Cox was campaigning for Remain, and sections of the media are suggesting this was a politically motivated assassination. However, his neighbours seem to have known little about the killer, he kept himself to himself. There are also reports he has a history of mental health problems.
The Brexit campaign has become poisonous, with both sides using scare tactics and hurling abuse at one another. The atmosphere is growing toxic and I have previously wondered just how fractured society will become whichever way the vote goes. Is it possible that, as in Orlando, here is an individual sat alone at home soaking up the hatred being spewed out by the media, both online and off. Weak minded, mentally unstable and impressionable, he is radicalised to such an extent that he feels justified in killing the innocent? The only saving grace is he did not have access to an assault rifle.
17th June 2016