Read on Twitter
I've been thinking about @fotoole's piece on "trial runs for fascism" or "pre-fascism" relating to Trump. Similarly, when the Irish far right try to argue that this tweet is not racist, they're testing the boundaries. How much dehumanisation of Irish POC can they get away with?
Fintan wrote, "You have to undermine moral boundaries, inure people to the acceptance of acts of extreme cruelty." So maybe you start trying to erode at the established norm that racist language is unacceptable and taboo. If you can do that, that dehumunisation becomes far easier
Fintan's words again: "This allows the members of that group to be dehumanised. Once that has been achieved, you can gradually up the ante, working through the stages from breaking windows to extermination" https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-trial-runs-for-fascism-are-in-full-flow-1.3543375
The Irish far right are laying down gauntlets. Almost everyone who saw the Barrett tweet recoiled, of course. But maybe next time the message is slightly less extreme and so people recoil less. Then they test boundaries again and see how it plays
They try to gaslight you by saying that people showing up to Hazel Chu's house wasn't racially motivated—it's all part of a healthy democracy. So maybe future harassment and intimidation is less extreme and therefore easier for them to get away with because a bar has been set
It very much looks like trials runs for fascism to me. "The tests will be refined, the results analysed, the methods perfected, the messages sharpened. And then the deeds can follow."
Finally, the public is extremely easy to desensitise. Racially harassing a politician is a news story; racially harassing her a second time in a less extreme manner ends up far further down the news cycle. Gauntlets are thrown down, bars are set, and a new normal creeps in
