Thread. I have talked a lot recently about extremists using the internet to indoctrinate others. But this morning I want to talk about the people who want to get out of the rabbit hole and don’t know how.

It may surprise you to know that I’ve been approached by quite a few people who know they are being radicalised by the far right but who are so addicted to Twitter/Telegram/Discord etc that they can’t see a way out of the routine that extremist social media has become.

People have talked to me about how at first they found horrific content like Holocaust memes shocking but after a while they become numb to them. They recognise their own humanity is being eroded.

Many are weary and tired and even disgusted at what they have become. They don’t know how their lives became one long scroll through hate. They want their lives and their families back.

Yes they have political views. But somewhere along the line the forum where those views could be expressed became a mire of racism, misogyny, calls for murder, jokes about rape and abuse. It isn’t where they wanted to end up. Many are not even sure how they arrived there.

To those people I say log off. Get your lives back. Get your families back. You will never change these people who sit and spew hate all day but you can make sure you don’t end up like them

To the left I ask that we don’t demonise the people who want to get out and change their lives for the better. It takes a lot of courage to lay foundations for a better life. If we refuse to believe people can change then our own humanity is at risk.

The potential to live a decent life is within us all. No matter what people have said and done in the past. There is no point of no return.

I would expect every single member of #ResistingHate to support and help anyone who turns their back on hatred and extremism, regardless of their political views.

There will come a time for us all when we look back at our lives and ask ourselves if it was a life worth living. If you have spent that life on social media spewing bile about black people, Jews, Muslims, gays etc. then will you think it was a life worth living…? Honestly?