AllThis seems rather unkind to me, even harsh, so I venture a third possibility: the misguided who aren't necessarily particularly dim-witted, but haven't yet woken up to reality and perhaps have been taken in by party and media spin, and (in some cases) Trades Union propaganda.
Must
Be
Either
Corrupt
Or
Thick
For example, I know of a Labour fellow who is actually quite decent, fairly with-it, but who makes some very silly decisions sometimes and not just once either: he has repeated exactly the same error even after it had become obvious to all the first time. I feel like shaking the fellow and telling him: "You can do (and be) better than this!"
There's another, in a different party, who really shouldn't be there. He isn't all that bright, admittedly, but his heart is in the right place. Of that there is no question at all. I don't expect (or necessarily even want) him to change party allegiance, but he does need to get a grip rather than parroting obviously misguided policies that are actually quite obviously unworkable in the real world.
I had a long telephone call from someone in another part of the country whose own political outlook is somewhat mixed, for various reasons. He is gradually waking up to reality, learning through personal experience, observation and discovery; yet he is still more Socialist than Conservative, and still hadn't realised that it was the Unions using the workforce as pawns in their political games that were responsible for the ills of the 'eighties in his home region.
Those "corrupt and the thick" to whom my contact was referring are probably permanently lost causes, and might as well be ignored for electoral purposes: they will always be tribally Labour supporters. It is the misguided people who are far too slowly growing up in this context, and realising, a few at a time, just how much they have been taken in over the years.
I still see evidence of this in comment threads, on Facebook, and even (rarely) on the doorstep. Yes, it is diminishing, but not fast enough. Those people still voting Labour who really ought to know better are going to be so ashamed of themselves one day, realising that (unlike many of their fellows) they were just too slow on the uptake to realise in time. They missed what others had already learned.
In Medway, despite the very mixed nature of our population, there is probably a lower proportion of such folk than the national average, and my expectation is still for all three parliamentary seats to be taken from Labour by the Conservative canidates. My remaining concern lies mostly elsewhere, where there are still safe Labour seats that by rights ought not to be so by now.
There's still some growing up and waking up to be done in many areas!
So if we are on the political left the only possibilities are that we corrupt, stupid or misguided? And accordingly any debate with those who are has to be conducted on that basis? Well I'm sorry most people on the left (or on the right or in the middle for that matter) are not corrupt, stupid or misguided? We are just different from yourself.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you fail to understand that most people reach their political standpoints based upon a wide range of factors including the values which they hold, and that one of the things that separate mankind from other animals is that we are able to exercise some real choices over our destiny. I'm afraid you appear to have moved little beyond the "there is no alternative" mantra of your political matron.
If you did realise that there are real political alternatives, all with validity and different underlying morality and values, then it would be possible to wake up and have a grown up debate.
Isn't one of the lessons of history that societies where there is little tolerance of those with different views and values, and such views are rubbished rather than engaged with, tend to be pretty disastrous.
And there I was trying to be helpful and more inclusive...
ReplyDeleteFortunately, for those of us on the ground (and on the doorstep), we have a very much clearer picture than the gross figures, and I can see from my own experiences why my contact came to his conclusion: there really are very few actual Lefties still around.
Just because there is a lot of "mass" in a body of people the size or a nation, and the consequent inertia, doesn't negate the people's almost overwhelming desire to return to the more traditional Conservative way of running our affairs.
Only those with a chip on their shoulder, those of the "my father voted Labour and his father before him" variety, and those effectively bought through unjustifiable benefits dependency or being in a public sector non-job still support Labour in most areas nowadays, even the north-east heartlands.
That's the real world out there!
Oh, and it's the Labour government who have sought to suppress free speech and opposition to themselves, during the past dozen years...
"Only those with a chip on their shoulder, those of the "my father voted Labour and his father before him" variety, and those effectively bought through unjustifiable benefits dependency or being in a public sector non-job still support Labour in most areas nowadays, even the north-east heartlands."
ReplyDeleteOthers of us on the ground hear rather different things - but perhaps we listen rather than try to put words in people's mouths. Or perhaps you were only listening to your own voice? Perhaps you should ask yourself what those people who didn't want to talk to you actually think rather than making assumptions.
I built up my reputation by listening to what people were (and are) saying, regardless, and I am known for not "putting words in people's mouths".
ReplyDeleteIt is one of the advantages of being completely open about my identity that it can be checked and verified, unlike unsupported allegations from semi-anonymous critics.