Reaping what they sow

In the light of the Rotherham scandal, further news is coming out this morning of  two further similar criminal scandals in Halifax and Northumbria.

As ever,  I end up shaking my head at the vileness of what is going on in our country when I read things like this.

What did stick out though was the comment that appears to have grown up alongside it and that is the view that these stories will fuel reaction from the "far right".  It's an aside that demonstrates a fear on the part of the authorities.

There's no guarantee it will, but if it does, it's hardly surprising is it? This is what's called reaping what you sow. If they react it will be as much a reflection on those who turned a blind eye as those reacting. for some time now we have had everyday people just wanting a simple, legal, open and honest debate about some things that are going off in our nation. Some of that debate however has tried to wander into subjects that have become something  of a sacred cow in this country. These subjects are verboten. Anyone who brought them up was shouted down, pilloried, sidelined, warned. Debate was shut down and that was deliberate. Someone wanted to maintain a pretence that no such problem existed, leaving people in a kafkaesque world where they had to fight their own lying eyes.

So now we have this fear of a group taking us down an equally dark road by capitalising on it. If it weren't so serious it would almost be laughable. How can you express horror at a situation you helped create?  Such groups can only thrive when they are fuelled, by what we have seen in Rotherham - the turning a blind eye and shutting down those when legitimate concerns were being raised. Those raising the alarm we labelled as racists and hatemongers  because that's what the debate required. So it's no surprise that such groups are able to come along with a beguiling message. my message for those connected to such scandals, if you fear this reaction, then look to yourselves as you had a hand in fuelling this and no blustering and blithering otherwise will absolve you of that.

Of course it would seem that little has been learned. It's somewhat odd  this comment about fuelling the far right has come out alongside the stories. If you're reading with your eyes and mind properly open, you'll see that the story isn't being allowed to simply stand on its own for us to make of it what we will. A narrative is already being introduced - the fear of a backlash. the inference being, that given the specifics of these cases is that only bigots will react and you're not a bigot are you? Regardless of how inhuman this vile cruelty has been, we're being given a message. That message is hush, don't make a fuss, don't ask pointed questions abouts what going on here, who knew and why didn't you do something.

We're being told to carry on with the same thing that got us into this mess in the first place.