To think middle-class Guardian reading lefties, really are morally superior to their rabid Daily Mail/Telegraph reading counterparts?

[ComposHat]

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.

You only have to look at the comment columns on Mail Online to find some really horrible people. When you see people openly rejoicing at, for instance, the children of potential asylum seekers dying in dreadful circumstances, it can make you absolutely ashamed of the human race.

The assumption that all Tories agree with the drivel that is written in the DM is wrong. Many right leaners are perfectly able to recognise crap when they see it.

I read the Guardian, pay loads of tax and would be more than happy if it all went directly to someone with 9 kids and no job. They could even buy a big, fuck off flat screen tv with it if they liked. I don't live in Islington though

Morally superior eh ? Dunno about that. Working class Tory would describe me, I suppose. I try to live my life as well as I can, treating people as I would like to be treated. Sun reader, too. Because it's quick, and a laugh. Get my news from Radio Four. Try to make up my own mind about things. Bit resentful that where I live (council estate) and the paper I glance at define me in some peoples opinions. I find that these assumptions seem more prevelant with Guardian types. Feel like I am dismissed with a metaphorical pat on the head. Would never vote UKIP, have voted LibDem, feeling a bit lost now,TBH.
I generally vote/act in my and my families best interests, basically because I cant afford not to. Would be nice to be able to act differently in the interests of fairness and justice -too busy getting by, though.

Sun reader, too. Because it's quick, and a laugh.

Ah yes. The hilarity of the Hilsborough headlines. And the sexy shots of murdered Riva in a bikini. Side splitting.

I don't like the Sun. Sorry.

I did occasionaly buy the DM at the weekend to read Liz Jones' latest crazy ramblings, but after the horror of the Philpot front page, I just can't.

I read the guardian, believe me no one is too low class to read it!

They certainly think they are. I am getting a bit fed up of champagne socialist types. Who always make sure they live in the best area and their children go to the best schools. They are one of the reasons people can't be bothered with Labour any longer.

Catgirl1976,

Casual and systematic anti semitism, a tax dodging offshoring parent company.......

No, I don't like the Guardian..........

I am MC and read the Guardian and the Mail free online. I find them both very unsubtle. I also just voted LibDem in the local elections. (Well someone had to).

My dad was a Christian Socialist. He absolutely lived his beliefs and was a kind, thoughtful and v clever man. There are far too few people like that now (certainly not me). I think a lot of MC left leaning people nowadays do it for themselves - that feeling of altruism can be very powerful.

Can we agree we both like 'Heat' magazine Things?

The Daily Mail makes me scream in apoplexy whenever I'm asked to read any of it, never has so much shit been written made up I'm not keen on the Grauniad, too much Tory bashing for the sake of it, much prefer The Times thanks, which despite being a Murdoch paper still manages to stay more central than right, and has a bloody good super fiendish sudoku. I get my real news from Private Eye though

DH reads The Times and I must admit, its puzzles are far superior to any other papers IMO

I'm with Dolcelatte

Did the DM make up the Philpots as well?????????

Sadly some of us don't live in Islington, can't afford champagne and would be totally mad not to vote in our own, our parents and our children's best interests.

Although in the latter case Grove (and Ofsted) are such twats that one wonders?

Not that I think labour would be any better, the temptation to mess with and want control over education is irresistible. Local councils interfering and wanting to empire build rather than simply providing cheap centralised services has a lot to answer for.

People like Polly Toynbee can afford to be morally superior except she isn't. She doesn't have to worry about competing with a Polish person who will work a 7 day week for pittance, she was born into a well-to-do family and will never have to even think about where her next pay packet will come from or how she will feed her kids or pay for a pension or housing.

It is very easy to pontificate and be morally superior from a place of safety and comfort.

The problem is that a lot of morally superior Guardian readers do not actually live in places like Toxteth or Bradford but tend to live in naice, middle class areas where they can wear their Public Enemy and Che Guevara t-shirts and talk about socialism and how evil Thatcher was without ever really having to analyse their opinions.

Besides, a lot of them turn out to be hypcorites, like Diane Abbott and Nick Clegg who end up shunning state schools in favour of private or religiously selective ones so their children won't have to mix with the riff raff that they berate other lesser mortals for not mixing with.

Its a MN meeting of minds !

Can we agree we both like 'Heat' magazine Things?

Catgirl..........

Also, the Guardian newspaper is one of the biggest hypocrites out there. Whilst pontificating about tax avoidance, GMG (Guardian Media Group) has offshore subsidiaries in the tax haven known as the Caymen Islands, pays little to no corporation tax and most of it's columnists have their own Ltd Companies and bill for work done so they can pay themselves mostly in dividends (which is taxed far less than PAYE), all of which are perfectly legal but which, according to The Guardian, are morally repugnant.

Do as we say, not as we do....

So, YABVVU!

Reading a newspaper cannot make anyone morally superior.The only way to demonstrate morals is through action. Having worthy thoughts doesn't change anything.

Do as we say, not as we do....

Should be on the masthead of the Guardian........

Followed by........Because we know whats best for you

I have ended up being an online Telegraph reader because I think both their cartoonists are far superior to others. :)

I am definitely not right wing, and many people who comment on their news are not rabid right wingers either.

There's a lot of sweeping statements being made here on both sides but I think ruby is onto something. And I speak as someone brought up by Guardian reading, centre-left chattering class types and who has many among her friends. I am centre left in my basic political make-up too.

My problem - if it is a problem - with Guardian readers is exemplified by this post. It's that some - not all - of these people genuinely believe themselves to be morally superior just because they are on the left. They may be more compassionate than rabid, foaming at the mouth UKIP supporters but often they assume that anyone who supports free market economic policies, for example, does so out of pure greed. In fact there are plenty if coherent arguments in favour of liberal economic policies (I happen to be in favour of a mixed economy) but I don't automatically assume that someone who favours privatisation in industry is doing so in order to rape and pillage the economy.

This government has hive too far in cutting public services,IMHO, but the way that many of my Grauniad reading friends approached this was a knee jerk assumption that any approach to scale back on spending was automatically evil. There's an unwillingness even to have a debate or to admit to any possibility that some benefits needed to be cut. Ditto with Thatcher's death. I think she did more harm than good but the way some parts of this constituency reacted you would think she was Pol Pot.

I don't hang out with a lot of Telegraph readers so maybe they are just as intransigent and bigoted about the left - I don't know. But I do feel that there's a sanctimoniousness and a kneejerk quality about parts of the left which puts me off a set of views I would otherwise embrace.

I didn't realise by ticking a box on a ballot paper I was defining my personality and self to some weirdo with an agenda.