Last night I realised that the problem is more complex than it may appear at first.

There are people out there who have peculiar beliefs which support their ability to be taken in by the BNP or other groups. This does not just apply to political groups. It can apply to any other sort of belief - in UFOs to be harmless, in some forms of religion.

I was listening to the radio, and someone spoke of a man aged 85 who responded to another's statement that putting the BNP into power was not what his grandfather fought for with the declaration that it was precisely what he had fought for. I very much doubt that that was what he thought at the time. (Assuming even that he supported Mosely? Went along with the upperclass Nazis?)

People pick up ideas from others they mix with, the things they read and make their own world view. All of us do it. Then we assume that that view is the norm. Football supporters say that an internbational match unites the nation. Broadcasters assume that their audience thinks morris is funny. Morris dancers assume that what they do is interesting to others. etc.

Most of us test what we believe against the real world and adjust as necessary. People who get drawn into odd little groups don't. They can believe that Earth was populated by strange beings called thetans. That god requires women to have their private parts removed. And so on. Where beliefs are supported by the group, it is going to be difficult to shift. Even people who aren't yet in the group, but merely sympathise with the publicly shown beliefs of the group, are going to feel challenged in a way that drives them further in if they are made to feel that they are somehow wrong in what they think. That the wrongness is part of themselves, instead of a superficial error which is not essential to their self image.

BNP supporters will say things like "I'm not educated, but ...*" as though education is a fault they do not share which has brainwashed the liberals who oppose them. This makes a defence against any attempt to inform them of reality.

*I think what followed the but was a claim that god** put the diferent races in different places where he intended them to stay. I don't know which god, or the source.

**I use lowercase for any deity I suspect of non-existence or veniality.

Quite ordinary and nice people will come out with very suspect opinions, and it can be very hard to find ways of suggesting alternatives without making them feel attacked. If they have decided at some point that that nice Mr Griffin may be able to present their views in important places, any exposure of the real nature of said person could be seen as such an attack - and Griffin has already been working on that line.

Not easy. even without the threats.

Penny