This is something that, if you aren't in the UK, you won't understand so much. So this is for the UK guys on this site (although others are welcome, just keep in mind you probably know very little); what's your opinion on the English Defence League? Do you think they're racist Nazi thugs, or do you think they are defending working class British guys?
For those who don't know, the English Defence League is a protest group which is against "Islamification" of the UK. They believe that England is going to become Muslim, made to obey sharia law and shit like that. It claims to represent the working class, British man. They claim not to be racist, and claim to welcome members of any race, and that the only problem they have is with Islam in Britain.
This issue is actually very close to home for me; my hometown Stoke is a hotspot for people like this. It was one of the first places that held an EDL protest. I even have a close friend who attended this protest; of course, it doesn't help that the guy is a racist fucker. I love him, he's one of my best mates, but there is no denying he's a fucking racist. I know people who support them; again, they spend their time joining anti-Muslim Facebook pages and shit like this. I have seen this first-hand, the demographic of people who attend their protests and stuff. I haven't just learnt about this through Wikipedia and YouTube. My friend went to this protest and he literally, the day before, said to me that he was pleased because he believed it's the first step to "civil war kicking off"; that he wants to beat up some asians.
Me personally? I think they are nothing but racist thugs, as I said above. My friend I mentioned above attended the meeting after he spent the morning drinking in the pub. He went with this pub. Who frequent this pub? White, skinheaded, half of them on benefits. My friend associates with a 60 year old guy he met there who claims disability benefit and then walks to the pub and gets pissed all the fucking time. Yeah fuck those immigrants man! Sponging off benefits and shit.
All you have to do is look up one of their protests on YouTube to get an idea of what they're like. Just for an example, here's a clip of their protest in my home town (but be warned if you're Muslim the shit they say in this video will probably piss you off to fuck):
I just need to make it clear to you guys. This is the fucking city centre. Where they are is a place i've grown up in, spending many a day hanging around. And that is what these cunts did to it. It disgusts me. And when I see that fat chav shouting "E E EDL" it sends fucking shivers down my spine. To think that people approve of this.
What they stand for is so vague it would be funny if it weren't so hateful.
They believe that Islam needs to be "revised"; he decries the Quran as barbaric and such, then when asked if he's actually read it? "No." How can you be so outright hypocritical and keep a straight face?? Correct me if i'm wrong (because I have not read the Bible; but then again i'm not calling Christianity an evil force) but the Old Testament has stories about how the disabled and mentally retarded shall not be allowed into Heaven. That's pretty fucking horrible to me; should we revise the Bible as well? After all, Christianity is way more prevalent in the Britain I live in than Islam. I was raised being made to sing hymns and pray every morning in primary school for six years; if that happened with Islam, these guys would burst a blood vessel, but it's okay if it's Christianity? Why? I was made to praise a God I knew nothing about every morning. It wasn't until very late in my last year that I started to realise I actually did not believe in it.
They claim they are not racist, but then you hear them shouting about Muslims as though they are all "terrorists", a belief they seem to have purely from 9/11. Let's not get into the fact that I think 9/11 was purely orchestrated, and probably wasn't even done in Muslim belief, but even if it was, you do not fucking judge a whole race or religion based on one act. Shouting "get off our streets dirty terrorists" is racism, pure and simple. There is no two ways about it. Shouting "Allah is a pedo" is pure, uneducated antagonism. Making a speech where you say believers in Islam will burn in hell is pure racism! How can you say otherwise? These are all direct quotes, by the way, i'm not paraphrasing. I saw a video of these EDL guys where an asian was surrounded by these guys, one of them saying "go on, hit him", another "paki"; it's the kind of thing you see with 14 year olds.
I could go on and on, but i'm just rambling now, so I want to wait and see what other people say, then i'll come back to their specific claims. But i'm interested to see what people on here think of these guys. So fire away.