I've spent a week trying to sum up my views without posting something the length of war and peace. This is the best I've come up with (still far too long but waiting another week is unlikely to make it any shorter) so here goes nothing.
There are 2 linked issues. The first is Lego not supporting the Daily Mail. I think it would have been better for their business if they renewed the campaign but it is their money and their choice. The second issue is Lego publicly supporting a communist hate group and giving coverage to the allegation that EVERY national conservative/right wing supporting newspaper in Britain (and I believe the only 3 that supported Brexit) is guilty of hate crimes and must be shut down.
So why do I think Stop Funding Hate is a communist hate group? The flippant answer is that a Nazi hate group would be more likely to send a mob to smash up the newspaper offices.
On a serious note, the traditional tactics of left wing extremists (usually communist) are to bring false charges against their opponents. You can see it in the current fake news controversy where strangely it is only the pro-Trump fake stories that are being criticised. There were just as many pro-Clinton fake stories but for some reason the left wing media and left wing social media won't mention them and are using the opportunity to try to dismiss all right wing sites as fake. Getting back on topic, Right wing dictators seem to be proud to be seen as such. They stop holding elections, show off their loyal mobs and openly grab opponents off the streets just because they can.
Left wing dictators like to pretend that they are still democratic. They want you to believe that you can vote for whoever you want. Its just coincident that every single opposition member is in jail for fraud or making hurtful remarks about communists, or breathing without obtaining the correct paperwork. All newspapers are allowed but people need to be protected against unapproved ideas and oh look ALL opposition newspapers editors are in prison after being found guilty of hate speech. Its unfortunate but nothing to do with the current supreme leader who is so popular the dead rose from the grave to vote for him giving a world record 1000% election win.
Stop funding hate openly wants to shut down law abiding businesses for no other reason than they don't like the stories. If a UKIP supporter was calling for the Daily Mirror and the Guardian to be shut down because of their anti-UKIP stories he/she would rightly be condemned as an extremist. It doesn't become acceptable behaviour just because the person in charge is a communist rather than a Nazi. Yes newspapers get things wrong sometimes but the benefits of a free press (despite the best efforts of certain MPs, judges and celebs to impose censorship) far outweigh the problems.
Also who decides what is hate speech? We now know Lance Armstrong is a cheat, but before he confessed his supporters dismissed the allegations as anti-american / jealous hate speech. Would Armstrong still have faced justice if he had been allowed to call the reports hate speech and stop the allegations being published?
Finally am I a hypocrite for boycotting Lego because of its support for a boycott? Quite possibly. I would argue that I am only following Lego's own advice - if you don't agree with the political aims of a company then you shouldn't do business with them and I don't agree with Lego's views but I will leave that for any rules lawyers to argue.
Mark
There are 2 linked issues. The first is Lego not supporting the Daily Mail. I think it would have been better for their business if they renewed the campaign but it is their money and their choice. The second issue is Lego publicly supporting a communist hate group and giving coverage to the allegation that EVERY national conservative/right wing supporting newspaper in Britain (and I believe the only 3 that supported Brexit) is guilty of hate crimes and must be shut down.
So why do I think Stop Funding Hate is a communist hate group? The flippant answer is that a Nazi hate group would be more likely to send a mob to smash up the newspaper offices.
On a serious note, the traditional tactics of left wing extremists (usually communist) are to bring false charges against their opponents. You can see it in the current fake news controversy where strangely it is only the pro-Trump fake stories that are being criticised. There were just as many pro-Clinton fake stories but for some reason the left wing media and left wing social media won't mention them and are using the opportunity to try to dismiss all right wing sites as fake. Getting back on topic, Right wing dictators seem to be proud to be seen as such. They stop holding elections, show off their loyal mobs and openly grab opponents off the streets just because they can.
Left wing dictators like to pretend that they are still democratic. They want you to believe that you can vote for whoever you want. Its just coincident that every single opposition member is in jail for fraud or making hurtful remarks about communists, or breathing without obtaining the correct paperwork. All newspapers are allowed but people need to be protected against unapproved ideas and oh look ALL opposition newspapers editors are in prison after being found guilty of hate speech. Its unfortunate but nothing to do with the current supreme leader who is so popular the dead rose from the grave to vote for him giving a world record 1000% election win.
Stop funding hate openly wants to shut down law abiding businesses for no other reason than they don't like the stories. If a UKIP supporter was calling for the Daily Mirror and the Guardian to be shut down because of their anti-UKIP stories he/she would rightly be condemned as an extremist. It doesn't become acceptable behaviour just because the person in charge is a communist rather than a Nazi. Yes newspapers get things wrong sometimes but the benefits of a free press (despite the best efforts of certain MPs, judges and celebs to impose censorship) far outweigh the problems.
Also who decides what is hate speech? We now know Lance Armstrong is a cheat, but before he confessed his supporters dismissed the allegations as anti-american / jealous hate speech. Would Armstrong still have faced justice if he had been allowed to call the reports hate speech and stop the allegations being published?
Finally am I a hypocrite for boycotting Lego because of its support for a boycott? Quite possibly. I would argue that I am only following Lego's own advice - if you don't agree with the political aims of a company then you shouldn't do business with them and I don't agree with Lego's views but I will leave that for any rules lawyers to argue.
Mark