‘Careful mate, that foreigner wants your cookie’
The cartoon appeared online five years ago- and it remains apt for current events in England
The streets of England have been overtaken by rioters and looters in the last week, and if social media is to be believed there is more to come. Videos have emerged of groups fighting with each other, with the trigger for all of this being the tragic murder of three children in Southport last week.
Initially labelled as protests against these murders, the impact of this was watered down when people were pictured turning up to them with boxes of beer and cider. This was even more the case when people went out of their way to break into shops such as Shoe Zone and Greggs. If stealing steak bakes is a method of protesting the death of children, then this country is even further in the mire than I first thought.
Social media and the internet, in general, tend to find ways of expressing the mood of the nation during times like these. Amongst the videos of people fighting each other and shops being ransacked, there’s an image that resonates well with the attitudes I and many others feel is being reflected within the country.
It is of a white man and a black man sitting on either side of a table. The white man has a plate with one cookie on it, the black man has none. Sat in the middle is a man who represents someone who wants to keep people divided and also has a slight look of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Coincidence? Who knows.
This man in the middle has a mound of cookies yet he is shown leaning towards the white man and saying ‘Careful mate, that foreigner wants your cookie’. It is a simple drawing, but it depicts the state of the UK in 2024 in a pinpoint way. It is in the best interests of the ruling powers and the vastly monopolised media to keep the rest of us occupied and divided.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to say that people from overseas are the reason for problems in the country, the ‘they’ll steal your job’ is one of the go-to lines a government and media chief might opt for. Getting one part of society riled up and telling them that it’s not the government’s fault life is so tough (it sometimes is, not always of course) but that of another group of people is a cheap, easy, and sometimes dangerous escape route.
Adolf Hitler was able to win over the German people by saying the issues of their society, such as hyperinflation, unemployment, and defeat in the First World War, were all a result of Jewish people. He gave a broken nation someone to blame for their problems, and he was able to unite them- showing how lessons are still not learned from history.
Politicians and parties have for years pedalled rhetoric that contributes towards dividing people, with Nigel Farage being a prime suspect for this. He has spent time in the past chasing down boats full of migrants in the Channel, and his poster during the 2016 EU Referendum campaign that showed a queue of migrants and refugees was condemned as inciting racial hatred by union leaders.
Just days ago, Farage condemned the riots and said he has “always been 1,000 miles away from far-right agitators, from conspiracy theorists”. But years of stoking the flames of hatred have led to this moment, and plenty of people across the country have taken the word of Farage and others of his ilk as gospel.
There are bad people within all races that call the UK home, but there are also some of the best examples of humanity who belong to each. After several riots across the country, people from all backgrounds have come together and cleaned up their streets. These groups represent the best of England and not any of the people who are attacking others and wrecking businesses.
