lets change the meaning

***this blog rambles on a bit, but i'm tired and i think it's worth reading on cos it makes a good point***

EDL. its just three letters. that a few years ago didn't mean much. now they stand for something bad.

so what does the EDL mean to you? racists? thugs? hooligans? people who can't see past what is infront of them looking for the easy answer and someone to blame and finding the wrong answer? scumbags?

well why does it have to mean that?

i'm gonna take a quick step back.... a few weeks ago i bumped into a friend i hadn't seen for a while who mentioned that she hadn't seen a blog from me in ages. So i went home that night and tried to write one. just couldn't think of anything to write about. so i gave up. then tried again a week later, and again couldn't think.

this last week i've had something to write about. but it's not been nice. we've all seen what happened in woolwich and the fall-out thats come from it. and i didn't want to write about all the nasty things i have seen said. i've covered that topic before in this blog http://therealbigdave.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sick.html when i witnessed racism first hand and it knocked me sick.

what happened to that poor lad this week was a horrific, unforgivable act that has ended a young lads life and ruined the lives of countless others that knew him and loved him and scarred the people who were unfortunate enough to witness it. and lots of horrible people have jumped on this situation and tried to use it to further their cause of hatred. people like the EDL and the BNP.

at a time when people should have been showing love and compassion towards people mourning the death of a loved one these groups have been leading the way in an out-pouring of hatred and bigotry. and that's what really boils my piss. as a country we should be supporting his family and celebrating his life but instead this has become an argument about race and religion.

so in that previous blog i wrote i talked about wanting to change peoples views to make them realise that differences people have are not bad things they are just different. i didn't know how to though.

then a while back facebook introduced me to the English Disco Lovers (https://www.facebook.com/englishdiscolovers?fref=ts) this is a group who are trying to change the meaning of those three letters. with a simple ambition of becoming the first thing you find when you search for EDL on google.

in a recent status about what happened in woolwich they said We must stand up for peace, equality and unity in order to put an end such violent actions.

that sounds like some pretty good things to stand up for to me.

i'm also lucky enough to play in a band https://www.facebook.com/bequietshoutloud?fref=ts. we're good lads, we like to have fun. our music is influenced amongst other things by disco. disco music is pretty awesome. the bass lines are amazing. we've been known to throw in the odd disco cover to our sets. people dance to them, they have a good time. and the english disco lovers - north east division seem to like us.

so now i'm in a position between playing in a band that loves disco and the english disco lovers existing to be part of something thats good, to try and spread a good message.

peace, equality, love, unity and having a good time are all things that make this world brilliant.

racism, bigotry, hatred and violence are all fucking horrible things.

so click the links i've put in this blog. join the english disco lovers, join the english disco lovers-north east division https://www.facebook.com/EnglishDiscoLoversEdlNorthEastDiscovision?fref=ts if you live where i do, or find your local division and join them. lets spread some love, lets have a good time, make sure you tell everyone you know about this and lets change the meaning of EDL to mean something better than it does right now.

.....well i've just read that back and christ i sound like a hippy. but fuck it, it's better than being a racist cunt aint it :)