There is a meme that has been sent around the internet, which asks the question, how far right are you? It has 20 statements on it, and each is awarded 5 percent to gauge exactly how far right you are. And this has been spread by various people like Laurence Fox, Martin Daubney, and other right wing media and political figures.

 

Quite a lot of people have taken this test and have been shocked to discover that they're getting scores in the high nineties or even a hundred percent. The purpose of this meme / test, is to make it seem that being far right might actually be okay. Because all the points on the test are completely reasonable  

 

It also makes people who agree with these points feel that the label of far right is actually a very unfair smear. But the problem with this is it completely misrepresents the true position of the far right, by spinning their beliefs into far more benign phrases. 

 

And this is what is called a Mott and Bailey argument. In the context of an argument, a mott statement is something that is obvious, incontroversial, and something that everybody would agree with. The Bailey is a bold, controversial statement that some people would attack. But if people do attack this, you can always retreat to the common ground of the obvious, uncontroversial mott statement.  

 

And this is exactly what this meme has tried to do. It says, Are you proud to be British? Now, nobody could argue with this statement, and this does not make you far right. However, if your pride in Britain extends to extreme nationalism, racism, xenophobia, an ideal national identity, That encompasses white Christians and the rejection of anybody who does not fit this stereotype as non British, or if you believe that there is a great idealized past that the country had before it was ruined by all these foreigners, then you might be far right.  

 

If you're fed up with extremist Islam, that's a perfectly reasonable statement. It's not far right, but if you assume that all Muslims are extreme, and resort to stereotypes, or ignore white supremacy, or downplay this, then you might be far right. 

 

If you care more about Britain than Gaza, that's a a perfectly reasonable statement, and not far right. However, if your attitude is that we should never give money to foreigners, particularly brown, Muslim foreigners, Then you might be far right 

 

If you preferred Britain before mass immigration. This might seem like a reasonable statement, but it assumes that all problems are caused by foreigners and it means that you actually believe that foreigners cause a problem. If you don't think that immigrants deserve human rights then you might be far right. This also begs the question, when are we talking about? Are we talking about the Saxons? Are we talking about the Huguenots? Or is this just a trope that you enjoy repeating? 

 

If you're against grooming gangs, nobody could argue with you. But if you're of the belief that all gangs are Muslim, and that all Muslims are, in turn, groomers, or that you ignore white grooming gangs or white traffickers, then you might be far right.

 

lf you believe in border controls, this is perfectly reasonable. However, if you treat asylum seekers as inferior human beings and would happily see them drown, or if you think that immigration is unfettered and is corrupting the pure organism of the country, then you might be far right.  

 

If you think that biological men should not compete in women's sport, that seems pretty reasonable. However, if you believe myths about trans people dominating sport and ruining it, or myths that people will transition just to be dominant in sport where they were failed as a man,or if you use this as a stick to be prejudiced against trans, or that you think there is a plot to destroy gender norms in the family unit, Then you might be far right.  

 

If you enjoy red meat, that is perfectly reasonable. But if you think that they will make us all eat bugs because of climate change which is a myth perpetuated against the poor oil industry by Marxist scientists, then you might be far right. 

 

If you think that a baby should have a mum and dad, no one could argue with this. But if you think that gay couples are wrong, or that gay couples adopting children is wrong, or that the traditional family unit is being destroyed by gay people, or that gay people are trying to groom children to be gay, then you might be far right. 

 

If you think that charity begins at home, that seems perfectly sensible. But if this is hiding the attitude that we should never give anything to foreigners, and that we should be totally self interested to the point of neglecting other people's plights, then you might be far right. 

 

If you think there are only two sexes, nobody could argue with that. But if you think that gender isn't a scale, and that trans or pansexuality isn't real, or that it is wrong to be LGBTQ, then you might be far right.  

 

If you own a gas boiler or a car, that's perfectly acceptable. But if you believe that climate change is a hoax designed to enslave you in a communist dystopia and lock you in 15 minute cities, then you might be far right. 

 

If you think that there should be no men in women's jails, though you may well have a point, but if you use this as a stick to attack all trans people as opportunistic and mentally ill, or perverts who are out to groom women and children, then you may well be far right.

 

If you voted Brexit, that doesn't necessarily mean that you are far right. But, if you voted Brexit to stop immigration, or to halt the Kalergi Plan, or to stop the Great Replacement Theory, or because you think that the EU is part of a one world government, then you might be far right. 

 

If you're fed up with the BBC, that seems perfectly reasonable, but if it's because you think that it is full of lefty, woke nonsense that forces black and gay characters down our throat in a Marxist plot to control us through political correctness, then you might be far right.  

 

If you're against the sexualization of kids and drag story hour, well, fair enough, that's your opinion. But if you think that these events are sexualized, and if you think that these events can send kids gay, if you think that trans people and drag acts are groomers, and if you think that this is part of the moral degradation of the West, then you may well be far right.  

 

If you like Winston Churchil hey, each to their own. But if you like Winston Churchill because you see him as a symbol of a lost, true, great past, or if you admire his racism, or the fact that his actions led to the death of loads and loads of foreigners, then you may well be far right.

 

If you're opposed to net zero taxes, that's entirely your opinion. But if you believe that C02 is the gas of life, or that climate change isn't real, or it's part of Agenda 30, or a WEF plot to enslave humanity, you may well be far right. 

 

If you've criticized the NHS, That's entirely up to you, but if you think that the NHS is the last bastion of communism, or it should be replaced with an insurance based system, or that doctors and nurses murdered people with drugs and then disguised these deaths as COVID, you may well be far right.  

 

If you like the Royal Family, hey, that's entirely up to you, but if you see them as a representation of the British Empire, then you may well be far right. 

 

And these are the sort of dishonest, sneaky tactics that the far right has to resort to to trick people. It's very similar to grooming. They realize that they can't tell the truth because reasonable people would find their positions completely intolerable.  

 

l've said this before and I'Il say it again. If you have to lie about your argument, then perhaps your argument isn't very strong.