Is Nick Griffin a Nazi or simply misunderstood?

Nick Griffin is possibly the least popular man in Britain making statements so unbelievable, you need to rub your eyes in disbelief. One such quote about the Holocaust is a pure example of this “I am well aware that orthodox opinion is that six million Jews were gassed and cremated or turned into soap and lampshades. Orthodox opinion also once held that the earth is flat… I have reached the conclusion that the ‘extermination’ tale is a mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie, and latter [day] witch hysteria.” Nick Griffin, unashamedly British and white, however, does that make him a Nazi or just a misunderstood patriotic?

There are a number of similarities between Mr Griffin and the Nazi’s. The Nazi party prided themselves upon the idea of a national white superior race and an idea felt strongly by Nick Griffin and has been entwined into the party manifesto – “The British National Party exists to secure a future for the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for millennia.” and when translated into its true meaning, it presents his racist views under the sheen of a pretence of political correctness. Furthermore, the Nazi’s believe in a pro Christian society, shunning other religions especially Judaism and Islam believing that other religions would have a purely negative effect on society. Similar to Mr. Griffin who states about the Koran, “I will show you that we have a monster in our midst”. Racism is a key part of the Nazi’s and Nick Griffin, thus a comparison between the two is easy to spot, but whether it is possible to conclude Mr. Griffin is a Nazi from these similarities is questionable.

However, Nick Griffin’s past shows strong links to Nazism as he admitted reading “Mein Kampf” aged 13, joined many nationalist societies whilst at Cambridge University, and was involved in a number of Nazi establishments before ending up with the BNP in the mid-90’s. Furthermore, he wrote a leaflet called “Who Are the Mindbenders?” stating how the Jews controlled the media and manipulated our minds. In 1998, Nick Griffin wrote an article for The Rune, a highly anti-Semitic article, and received a suspended two year sentence for Holocaust denial. This style of nasty spiteful propaganda is extremely similar to that of Goebbels in the 1930’s expressing irrational hatred of Jews with no apparent rational. Thus, the early yobbish shouts of “Nazi Griffin” become actual substantial arguments.

Nick Griffin has dabbled in Nazi’s policies and has highly similar views to that of the Nazi’s, however, it must be considered whether the calls of Nazism about Mr. Griffin seem slightly premature and are more an act of anger than genuine feeling of Nazism. His racist views may seem wrong and unsuitable for this day and age, but, there seems to be a level of media spin involved. Nick Griffin is a far right politician and in this conservative age, it is hard for many to understand his point of view. Britain’s is an extremely diverse society, accepting all different opinions and does not prejudice on race or gender or anything else. Thus when such an extreme point of view is brought into the political spectrum stating we should cut down our diverse society, people react angrily not only with the view but perhaps even the idea of the view. The emergence of the term “Nazi” to describe Nick Griffin is a knee jerk angry reaction and can be caused by lazy journalism where they attempt to insult Mr. Griffin personally rather than look into his political ideas and break him down through more sophisticated methods.

Nick Griffin and the BNP’s personal view is indefensible in the society we live in, however, to stamp him a “Nazi” for these views is improper. Nazi’s killed 6 million Jews, despite Mr Griffin’s beliefs, and used vicious tactics to enforce their point of view without any reservations, and they did it because they believed it to be right. Nick Griffin has never expressed a desire to kill anyone because of who they are or what they look like. Indeed, he has expressed extreme opinions about mass deportation of coloured citizens of Britain, but this does not make him a Nazi. Nick Griffin is not a Nazi, he is an extreme far right politician with extremely far right views believing in a “pure Britain” and a proper definition would be he is a deluded fool. However, he is not misunderstood as people understand his views and they don’t like them as they are wholly unsuitable for 21^st century Britain. To conclude is Nick Griffin a Nazi? No. Is he misunderstood? No. He is simply a deluded politician with an extreme point of view and sooner rather than later, he will disappear and all will be forgotten about him.