Ollie Mitchell

Misinformation is dangerous.

Disinformation is even more dangerous.

This is because it’s carefully chosen, targeted at certain people, and serves a certain purpose.

We all know this. We’ve all known this for some time, yet some people have consistently chosen to ignore this fact  because it serves them well. It serves a certain agenda.

Certain publications, with their inflammatory front pages and the like, used to be where much of this misinformation came from, but even the worst tabloids had a little bit of credibility they wanted to keep. A little bit of accountability.

Nowadays, everyone has a platform. Once, those that used it badly were struck away from social media, but now, that isn’t the case. Certain bad actors have put a stop to that, and it’s terrifying.

The country has so much racism bubbling up from the misinformed, and the disinformed. I knew this. Many people knew this. However, I always felt that while this was a definite problem, we, as a society, were okay as we were, as racist people didn’t feel safe spreading hatred.

They’ve been made more comfortable for around a decade – and yes, I ABSOLUTELY blame the Brexit campaign for much of this. Nigel Farage made people suddenly believe immigration to be a problem, and for all the wrong reasons, people used this to vote to leave the EU.

Not everyone that voted ‘Leave’ voted for nefarious reasons, that is very clear, but a big part of the campaign was to make people believe for the first time that immigration was a problem.

Immigration, that is the very foundation that the UK is built upon. Immigration, that is responsible for many of the best people in society – the NHS, schools, etc etc etc etc, would be nothing without the wonderful people from other countries that contribute to them.

The fact that leaving the EU has had little to no effect on immigration means nothing to these people, but that is besides the point – and one man deciding to run in the most recent General Election brought them back out from the cracks of society, and just a month on from the vote, here we are.

England (and, heartbreakingly, Belfast in Ireland) has been poisoned by rhetoric that doesn’t serve a single person well. Those that wish ill on others suddenly feel that they can use this hatred to harm others. They’re smashing up homes , business, mosques, hotels.

Southport was heartbreaking, and the three little girls’ deaths hit me hard – they’re just like my sister. Full of love, full of happiness, full of an incredible support for Taylor Swift. Regardless, however, of whether you can relate – it showed the very lowest part of humanity. A man full of hate. It was pure evil – from one man.

The debate should have become about violence against women and girls.

Immediately, disinformation about the event caused the moment that the scum of society had been waiting for. It could easily have been another moment. They don’t care about the evil crime committed by Axel Rudakubana – a Welsh Christian – they decided they’d use this moment to spread something that is a huge problem in this country: Islamophobia.

Palestine isn’t treated the same way as Ukraine in this country, and across much of the Western world. As soon as Russia invaded Ukraine, the ‘de facto’ stance of the West was support for it.

I’m Deputy Editor of Forge Press, my University’s ‘independent’ newspaper – and we aren’t allowed to express a political stance, as we’re part of the SU, a charity. I must note that my comments now are unrelated to that role.

Forge Press ran a front page with the Ukraine flag on shortly after the invasion. We now cannot express a stance either way on a genocide. This is a ‘political issue’. Why?

I’d suggest the colour of the Palestinians’ skin, and their religion. A scapegoated religion, due to the actions of the very few that go ahead Islam’s teaching and beliefs to spread terror.

Islam (as well as all immigration from non-predominantly White countries) has been used as a political pawn (by blue, red and more) for far too long, and this has caused hatred similar to what we once saw for LGB people and we are currently particuarly seeing for transgender people, again, thanks to disinformation from certain bad actors with large platforms.

Note the ‘Stop the Boats’ slogan from the Conservative party, the recent anti-immigration rhetoric from ‘Labour’ to attempt to appease the far-right. They play a part.

Islamic teachings are teachings of kindness. We’ve seen the best of those teachings often this week, such as from religious leaders in Liverpool handing out food and speaking, with love, to those that have blind hate for them. Similarly, those cleaning up the streets and opening their hearts to even those that don’t deserve it. ISIS, and similar organisations, do not follow Islam’s teachings, just as Christian mass-shooters in the USA do not follow Christian teachings.

This matters not to the violent, Islamophobic thugs that have destroyed cities – ‘our cities’ – and that have spared not a single thought for the beautiful lives of the three young girls that are now gone.

Some of the greatest people I know are people of colour. Some of the greatest people I know are Muslim. Many of them have been made to feel unsafe by idiots that have been radicalised by disinformation. A man that I could not hold in higher regard, a man that is so full of love, a man that has repeatedly shown me the best of humanity, is scared. That alone is despicable. Multiply that by hundreds of thousands, and that’s the situation we find ourselves in.

Much of my motivation for becoming a journalist was to help put a stop to disinformation, and I genuinely believed it may be a problem that could be combated.  I thought society was better.
I’ve never felt more scared that maybe, I was wrong. Is society what I hoped it was?

However, many places, such as Sheffield – a wonderful, diverse, beautiful city, one that I’ve fallen on love with – have fought back. For every Rotherham – attempted murder against asylum seekers in a hotel – there is a Sheffield, where evil was driven away by those with love and compassion.

This is a terrible situation, though, for so many people, and one that has left me furious. I can’t stop thinking about the fear, the hatred, the evil, coming from a group of people. A group of people that you and I can both identify.

I have found it hard to express my feelings on this situation, but I feel it vital to do so. I hope I have said the right things, and I am open to learning more about these issues, as I’m sure much of what I have written could be improved upon. I’m sure I’ve missed a lot.

Journalists and politicians have, for too long, said whatever serves their agenda, without sparing a thought for what is right, what is the truth, and what their words can cause. This must change.

We MUST fight against the evil in society, we MUST hold journalists and politicians that created this problem to account,  and we MUST show the fascists, the racists, the Islamophobes, that love always wins against terror.

It will win.

Featured image credit: Mylo Kaye ALT: A man holds a sign saying ‘RACISTS NOT WELCOME HERE’, part of a crowd.