"Graham's mother, who is retired and in her 60s, supports the hard-right agitator and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson with what her son describes as a religious fervour. She has told him Keir Starmer is a communist trying to replace us all with Muslims and Covid was a hoax."
"Graham noticed a big change in his mother during the Covid pandemic. He remembers walking home from work one day and receiving a phone call where she was listing off conspiracy theories at him."
"Graham has never had a clear idea of what, exactly, his mother is consuming on her screens, or how she has become radicalised. But he is far from alone in grappling with the sometimes extreme rightward political drift of an older relative."
Graham's mother, previously uninterested in politics, became radicalized during the Covid pandemic, influenced by conspiracy theories and extreme right ideologies. She now fervently supports Tommy Robinson and believes in various unfounded claims about political figures and events. Graham struggles to understand her views and feels a growing distance in their relationship. He is concerned about her online consumption and the impact it has had on her beliefs, reflecting a broader issue of political radicalization among older relatives during recent years.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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