AIBU?
To think middle-class Guardian reading lefties, really are morally superior to their rabid Daily Mail/Telegraph reading counterparts?
ComposHat · 05/05/2013 01:47
Posh lefty handwringers/Champagne Socialists/The Islington mafia call them what you like, but I think they are unfairly maligned.
Because in purely self economic terms it would be more beneficial to adopt a right wing stance and advocate less taxation, cuts in stamp duty and inheritance tax, yet they take an opposing view in the interests of fairness and justice.
By contrast, Middle/upper class Tories act largely in their own interest.
MrsWolowitz · 05/05/2013 06:43
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seeker · 05/05/2013 06:53
Read the post as well as the title, people.
I think there are still some one nation type Tories who occupy the moral high ground, compos, but in general I agree with you.
People are now deeply suspicious or disbelieving of anyone who has believes or who votes against their own personal best interests.
Abra1d · 05/05/2013 07:04
Many Guardian readers carefully position their families near decent state schools, so they don't have to worry. They live in leafy areas.
i know many, also, who send children to private schools.
Equally I know Telegraph readers like my husband who has spent the two years of his redundancy working pro bono for charities. He voted Tory, which directly led to his unemployment (the new govt cancelled his contract). He still thinks (as do I) that there was no other option. Labour had blown its moral credibility by lying (Iraq) and spending all the money.
So who was self-serving in this instance?
Cerisier · 05/05/2013 07:06
The Guardian readers I know are teachers, doctors and government workers. None of them create wealth for the country, all of them are paid for by the taxpayer.
All of their jobs are important but they are not being selfless in voting for big government and high taxes.
BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 05/05/2013 07:08
I don't think it's fair to lump the Mail and the Telegraph in together; the Telegraph may have a particular world view, but at least it makes an effort to report the actual news insted of just making up any old shit to inflame prejudice and bigotry like the Mail does.
JakeBullet · 05/05/2013 07:10
Nah, one of my best friends is a rabid Tory 
, he is also one of the most selfless people I know. We have some right political rows (mostly wine soaked) but even if I DO lean to the Left/Centre I don't consider myself morally superior to my friend. ...but neither is he morally superior to me. As people we are very similar but just vote differently and see the answers to issues in a different way.
dolcelatte · 05/05/2013 07:14
Interesting.
It is much easier to have a 'touchy feely' view on the less fortunate members of society if you are sufficiently isolated from them.
There have been a number of debates on here, for example, about benefits and those who claim them - usually by someone posting a link to the Daily Mail, which they then claim not to read - and lots of moral posturing about evil right wing racists.
The individuals who have the strongest views tend to be those closest to them. I am willing to believe that most people who claim benefits are entitled to them but that a minority abuse the system. However, if I'm frank, I don't know anyone on benefits - not because I shun them - I just don't come across them. So I don't lose sleep worrying about false benefit claims. I just pay my taxes and accept that some of the money will be spent wisely and some not.
However, it would irritate the hell out of me if I were working very hard for little reward and knew that my next door neighbour was making false claims/abusing the system. These are the people who are voting for UKIP ie the ones who consider that their views are not taken account of.
So, having digressed, I don't think the people you refer to are morally superior; they just like to think they are. I also suspect that many of these individuals, whereas sufficiently above the majority in terms of financial reward and education to feel entitled to be patronising towards those they see as beneath them, are not actually high achievers. They are not, therefore, being particularly self sacrificing in espousing left wing views in relation to stamp duty, IHT etc.
RubyGates · 05/05/2013 07:44
It's very easy to look smug and superior, and nod your head at the wise political decisions coming from those benevolent socialists if
a) You are reliant on the government/local council for your income.
b) You are sufficiently well insulated from "real-life" to believe that the 'naice, outstanding, state school" that little Tarquin and Jocasta go to is indicative of what all state schools are like, (and you don't understand that other people's children are attending schools with security guards on the gate, shit on the walls and knives in pockets)
c) If the bottle of wine you had with dinner costs more than my week's entire grocery budget.
d) You only ever use public transport to a couple of stops into central London to see, "something quite daring" at the South Bank Centre.
YABVU
(I can't afford a newspaper, I read them at work in the library)
JakeBullet · 05/05/2013 07:45
I think on here that any view considered "bleeding heart" by the more right wing posters is attributed to Guardian reading, leftie and Islington types. I have found one or two folk on MN so right wing they are practically goose stepping . I have to admit to a feeling of "moral superiority" over those posters.
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