How social media gave oxygen to “White Lives Matter” stunt

In 1985 Margaret Thatcher popularised the term “oxygen of publicity”, fearing that widespread media coverage of terror attacks could fan the flames of the IRA’s terrorist agenda.

More than three decades later the term holds more significance than ever due to social media’s ability to amplify voices, for good and for ill.

None more so than in the case of the Burnley banner. Moments after kick-off at the Burnley vs Manchester City match earlier this week, a plane flew across the Etihad Stadium followed by a banner reading “White Lives Matter Burnley.”

The man who paid a pilot to fly over the stadium moments after the players took a knee in solidarity with BLM has been identified as an English Defence League supporter who has been previously pictured with its former leader, Tommy Robinson.

According to the Daily Mail, Jake Hepple of Colne, Lancashire, took to Facebook to identify himself on Tuesday, posting: “I’d like to take this time to apologise… to absolutely f***ing nobody!” The Lancashire police announced that the banner stunt was not deemed a criminal offence.

What is so interesting about this latest fracas in Britain’s debate about race is not really even whether the words on Hepple’s flying banner were racist or not – that is a matter for interpretation – but that anyone with a view can use social media to amplify those views, whether they be of outrage or not.

The banner operated like a no-publicity-is-bad-publicity strategy, inviting anyone with a smartphone to capture the image and share the message as a result. The message itself was ugly in intent, but the image was striking enough to fill Instagram grids.

Over 50 twitter users posted their own photos of the banner from the stadium or their homes on Monday evening. Taking to Twitter to condemn the display, the verified accounts of Raheem Stirling, the Mirror Football, Talk Sport, Piers Morgan and Roger Bennett all posted the image, broadcasting it to a joint following of over 12 million.

Many will argue that Hepple’s banner was racist for the simple reason that the Black Lives Matter movement does not exist to threaten the importance of white lives. As chair of English football’s anti-racism charity, Kick It Out, Sanjay Bhandari argues: “the point of Black Lives Matter (BLM) is not to diminish the importance of other people’s lives. It is to highlight that black people are being denied certain human rights simply by virtue of the colour of their skin.”

To supporters of the BLM movement, the widespread circulation of the Burnley banner on social media will feel like a threat to the progress of the last few weeks.

In reality, a few individuals created the banner, whilst players of all premier league clubs have been taking a knee and wearing the Black Lives Matter name on their kits, thousands of people attended BLM protests in London, over 14.6 million people posted black squares on Instagram as part of #blackouttuesday. Burnley fans have also started a Burnley Fans Against Racism Go Fund Me page to donate to the Stephen Lawrence charitable trust.

So why are the petty actions of one man dominating the headlines? It is understandable to feel outraged and want to publicly condemn this behaviour, but more than ever we need to think twice before posting.

Circulating the banner’s message is exactly what Hepple wanted. This isn’t to say these people shouldn’t be punished – the lifetime ban handed out by Burnley FC is a good place to start. But it would be smarter to limit the oxygen and attention posts of this nature receive – otherwise those sharing the image merely become complicit in giving such stunts a platform they do not deserve.