Tory MP endorses violence to defeat enemies. He means HIS enemies, not ours
Oppressor: It seems Johnny Mercer wants young people to join our armed forces so a Tory government can order them to brutalise others in the name of far-right-wing political dogma.
What kind of twisted mind does Plymouth’s Tory MP, Johnny Mercer possess?
He has started a huge debate with a claim that there is nothing wrong with killing to defeat the enemies of a nation.
Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to him that, to many of us, he is an enemy of the United Kingdom.
By his own reckoning, would I not be well within my rights to gather a few dozen like-minded people, track him down and beat him brutally with baseball bats wrapped in barbed wire (for example)?
If, as Tory MP Johnny Mercer claims, there's nothing wrong with killing to defeat your enemies, the millions suffering Tory austerity in Britain should have risen up and wiped him and his cronies out long before now. #Austerity https://t.co/R16N9vdtxQ
— John Wight (@JohnWight1) November 28, 2018
No, of course I wouldn’t. He doesn’t mean it like that.
We’re told he made his comment in a tweet encouraging young people to join the army. It stated: “The application of violence to defeat the enemies of the nation has become worryingly unpopular. Nothing wrong with fighting (yes killing) for values/what you believe in. The oppressed/bullied/tormented/voiceless deserve it. Join the fight; best thing you’ll ever do.”
So he wasn’t discussing “the application of violence” for “values you believe in”. He meant he wants young people to enlist in order to apply violence in the name of values he believes in.
And what about the line that “the oppressed/bullied/tormented/voiceless deserve it”? If you think he means they deserve protection, think again!
Mr Mercer means the oppressed/bullied/tormented/voiceless deserve to be oppressed/bullied/tormented/voiceless.
If you don’t believe me, just look at Conservative policies regarding sick and disabled benefit claimants since 2010.
It’s a philosophy you can see espoused in the movie (and, I suppose, novel) Starship Troopers. Author Robert A Heinlein had imagined a future civilisation in which far-right politics had conquered the world and in one scene, a character states that violence is “the supreme authority from which all other authority is derived… Naked force has resolved more issues throughout history than any other factor. The contrary opinion, that violence never solves anything, is wishful thinking at its worst. People who forget that always pay.”
This is what Johnny Mercer believes – but notice that he doesn’t want to put himself at risk in the application of that “naked force”. He wants the plebs to do that for him.
Note that he served in the Army as an officer, not in the ranks.
Officers are the people who decide how troops should be deployed, and send them out – often to their deaths. But they don’t often put their own lives on the line, and I wonder how often they expect to be asked to take the lives of others, as Mr Mercer is clearly asking others to do in his tweet.
My point is that it is easy to sign orders for other people to die, and to expect other people to carry out those orders. But it is less easy to actually do it oneself.
So what does Mr Mercer’s tweet actually mean? As indicated, this has been the subject of heated debate.
An article in The Independent has published several responses which make good points, as follows:
“Noelle Moysi said: “Is this really what you mean? You’re an MP and words matter. Jo Cox was killed by someone fighting for what they believed in. Jo Cox’s murderer saw her as an enemy of the nation and shouted the words Britain first as he did it.”
“Helen Troup said Mr Mercer’s remarks were “exactly the justification used by the IRA of course”.
“Lavendar Luke said: “I believe synth music is better than guitar music. Yet when I kill and fight for my beliefs I’m ‘a psychopath’ apparently. Thanks for standing up for me Johnny.””
My own suggestion about the meaning of the tweet would be this:
It means he wants he wants the young people of the United Kingdom to put themselves at risk of death in order to subject the oppressed/bullied/tormented/voiceless to the worst far-right-wing domination possible, while he and his fellow Tories sit back and call the shots.
No thanks. If he wants to go around bullying other people – at home or abroad – he can damn well try it on his own and see how far his “values” get him then.
These Tories always talk big when the odds are stacked in their favour and it’s your life on the line.
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I support much of what you write, but I cannot agree that army officers do not put their lives on the line. Remember, for example, Col. H. Jones, VC who perished at Goose Green? Perhaps you would consider amending your article to remove this slur on many brave officers who have been killed in the line of duty? At this time of year, when we have been remembering the dead of two World Wars, that would be a good thing to do.
I’m not saying that no officers ever die in the line of duty. But let’s turn this around – what’s the ratio of officer deaths to deaths of the troops they command? And, since you’ve mentioned Remembrance Day, what was that ratio in 1914-1918?
And are you suggesting my conclusion is mistaken? Considering what we know about Conservatives, I would be very interested in your argument in support of such a claim.
Why don’t you petition the EU and force the hand of May the horrible to hold another referendum, we did a petition that was handed to downing street with millions of names that were removed by No. 10 saying they were fake names and addresses, l can assure you l am not fake by any means, l voted Tory nearly all my life, l am now ashamed of myself,being disabled is no joke, l cannot even walk to my local shop without feeling l’m going to die, atos failed me l have five medical conditions, none easy to deal with, l was never afraid to graft hard, even owning my own business, carpet and upholstery cleaning l was real good too, l had a helper but l did 99% of everything, (just so you know l’m no shirker) l have put off going to doctors about my heart, because like the ostrich, l’m burying my head in the sand so to speak) without the EU many like myself will be vilified by this Gov. Even amnesty international got involved during the ConDem era (l coined that name by the way ConDem by name condemned by nature lol) this Gov never released the figures on how many died because of what they did, l stopped counting but it was around 10,000 when l couldn’t bare it any longer
I think lots of us came up with the term “ConDem” around the same time. I certainly started using it the day a coalition was first suggested.
Seems quite close to what we are told Muslim belief is. Just another poster boy for murder.
Remainers voted to be in a transnational body with aspirations of empire and fully intends to conscript our young, presumably that brutalisation will be ok.
Tories are only happy when they are killing – either people or animals.