[roryirvine]

Not excusing the rioters in any way (especially since friends and family living in that part of Belfast are directly affected by it), but it's fair to say that a US citizen bears a great deal of responsibility for incitement.

(It's probably also unwise to view it as being racist in the American sense - instead, there's a complex set of overlapping bigotries at play. None of them are good, but it's not simply based on skin colour. Musk and his extremist friends don't understand it either, but clearly don't give a fuck.)

[alephnerd]

Not denying Elon Musk (who is an English South African immigrant btw) role and I gladly accept American far-right involvement, but there was clear organization at the local level, which is unsurprising given NI's history of paramilitaries.

It feels like just about every Brit and NIer on HN has been trying to absolve responsibility for what has become a common occurrence in the British Isles now. that to deny and absolve the very real local level organization that occurred is what irks me.

The reality is British rightwingers like Steve Hinton and Paul Marshall have also been influencing American politics just like American rightwingers have in the UK. And the UK (and Europe in general) was always a much shittier and racist experience for a BAME like me versus the US.

> It's probably also unwise to view it as being racist in the American sense

It definetly is. I have extended family who are BAME in the UK and Scandinavia, and were around during the old school BNP wave. None of this shit has changed, and acting "holier than thou" pisses us off.