I'm sorry Mr. Tori if this review will hurt. I know you did your best.
I consider myself to be, broadly speaking, politically progressive. I am a foreigner who moved to britain specifically because of its internationalism, intellect, and openness. The recent renaissance of a paleoconservative ultranationalist regressive right in Britain is deeply troubling.
One way to expose interview subject with repulsive and poorly thought through views, is to give them just enough rope to hang themselves with. And, indeed, this documentary is at its best when Tori interviews the dim bulbs of the foul mouthed working class anti-islam campaigner and that delusional american-accented fool living in liverpool. To most viewers with an open mind,it becomes quite clear that those two have nothing to offer.
However, when dealing with other subjects, many of whom (like the woman leader and the student with the mussolini t-shirts), the documentary falls utterly flat. The woman and the student present narratives and worldviews that are internally consistent and carefully phrased. Mr. Tori, utterly unprepared and perhaps even a bit overmatched without realizing it, too often resorts to irrelevancies and labels instead of providing an actual response. For example, by way of "rebuttal" to the student's ultimately deluded but broadly internally consistent worldview, Mr. Tori speculates if the student is being used by dark forces. That's not a rebuttal, Mr. Tori - it just advertises that you had no real response. At other times, Mr. Tori seems to think that simply attaching the "r-word" label to somebody's views will be a sufficient counterargument. It's not.
And that's really the danger of today's new ultrarightists - the more sophisticated of them (including richard spencer) present a tale that has a real internal logic to it. Some of what they bring up are real issues that some of the worst "rebutters" on the left ignore or misconstrue. Responding to today's ultrarightists means understanding their arguments and picking them apart with the same careful language that they have used in constructing them. When the rebuttals fail because of unpreparedness or failure to really address the rightists issues, it attracts more people to the nationalists' cause.
Mr Tori is a very, very brave man for doing this documentary. It is important work. I am sure it was done on a shoestring budget. It is a pity that he let the more clever of his subjects effectively get the best of him.
I consider myself to be, broadly speaking, politically progressive. I am a foreigner who moved to britain specifically because of its internationalism, intellect, and openness. The recent renaissance of a paleoconservative ultranationalist regressive right in Britain is deeply troubling.
One way to expose interview subject with repulsive and poorly thought through views, is to give them just enough rope to hang themselves with. And, indeed, this documentary is at its best when Tori interviews the dim bulbs of the foul mouthed working class anti-islam campaigner and that delusional american-accented fool living in liverpool. To most viewers with an open mind,it becomes quite clear that those two have nothing to offer.
However, when dealing with other subjects, many of whom (like the woman leader and the student with the mussolini t-shirts), the documentary falls utterly flat. The woman and the student present narratives and worldviews that are internally consistent and carefully phrased. Mr. Tori, utterly unprepared and perhaps even a bit overmatched without realizing it, too often resorts to irrelevancies and labels instead of providing an actual response. For example, by way of "rebuttal" to the student's ultimately deluded but broadly internally consistent worldview, Mr. Tori speculates if the student is being used by dark forces. That's not a rebuttal, Mr. Tori - it just advertises that you had no real response. At other times, Mr. Tori seems to think that simply attaching the "r-word" label to somebody's views will be a sufficient counterargument. It's not.
And that's really the danger of today's new ultrarightists - the more sophisticated of them (including richard spencer) present a tale that has a real internal logic to it. Some of what they bring up are real issues that some of the worst "rebutters" on the left ignore or misconstrue. Responding to today's ultrarightists means understanding their arguments and picking them apart with the same careful language that they have used in constructing them. When the rebuttals fail because of unpreparedness or failure to really address the rightists issues, it attracts more people to the nationalists' cause.
Mr Tori is a very, very brave man for doing this documentary. It is important work. I am sure it was done on a shoestring budget. It is a pity that he let the more clever of his subjects effectively get the best of him.