To think a lot of left wing people are actually close minded?

[DeepFatFriar]

Close minded as in not receptive to other peoples views.

Disclaimer: i consider myself left wing.

But at the same time, I'm quite happy to have a talk with someone down the pub who might be anti immigration or anti abortion. As long as they've thought their point out properly, im open to debate and i dont feell offended by their views.
But it feels like a lot of the left wing people i come across just go into "racist twat! Fucking tory!" mode- like theyre incapable of seeing that situations are often a bit more complex than just this is right/thats wrong.

For example with Brexit, i voted remain and was gutted by the result - at the same time, i felt a bit irritated by fellow remainers "theyre all little englander tory twats" attitude to brexiters. Yeah, some of them are. Others just have a different POV, you know?

I was discussing this with my mum and she said back in her day (im assuming this means the 70s!) "conversation felt more nuanced".

It sometimes feels like a lot of left wing people just want to live in an echo chamber. I think you need to try and keep an open mind to different points of view. You clearly dont have to agree. But you can at least accept that people have different mindsets because they've had different experiences - it doesnt make them a worse person though.

@ohgohome

Do you mean people are saying one thing on social media and another in real life? Pretending to be something they’re not? Why would people do that? What are their real views and why are they hiding them?

People probably hide the fact they are right wing, or right of centre, because they know how they will get viciously attacked by the far left, labelled stupid, racist, bigoted, thick, and so on......

Many people prefer to not admit they are right of centre, or that they voted Conservative, because they know they will be lambasted for it. I told people I voted Labour, but I actually voted Conservative. I told them I voted Labour, as I knew I would be attacked and shunned, and called thick and bigoted, as there are some very vocal left-wing people in my workplace (and neighbourhood.)

So I never said I voted Conservative.

I suspect many other people did the same. That is why the left wing (and also Corbyn) thought Labour were going to win the last election, because many people intended on voting Conservative, but actually told everyone they were voting Labour. No-one knows I voted Conservative. Only me and the ballot box.

I have always been a Labour supporter, but hell will freeze over before I will vote for them with Corbyn at the helm, and Diane fucking Abbott as his wingman.

disclaimer

Many left wing people and 'left of centre' people are fine; it's the FAR left. You all know the type I mean, and how dreadful they are. If you don't know -'the type' and you don't agree with me - then you are probably one of them!

"People probably hide the fact they are right wing, or right of centre, because they know how they will get viciously attacked by the far left, labelled stupid, racist, bigoted, thick, and so on......"
As opposed to the other way round where you get attacked as a snowflake, libtard, terrorist sympathiser you mean?

Lindalee
I have voted Labour, Conservative, lib Dems and Green in a variety of elections , local and national over the years. I vote for who I want and who I believe will do the best job, sometimes I get it right , sometimes I don't . If anyone asks me how I voted at an election, I tell them and the reasons why. If they don't want to be my friend anymore, that's entirely up to them. If they fall out with people because they believe that only one party gets it right all the time and in all situations at both a national and local level, then I can probably manage quite well without their friendship

I agree you just can't engage with some people.

What riles me is the victim Top Trumps that very left-wing people seem to like playing. There's a pecking order, and obviously white middle-aged males are worse than excrement. White disadvantaged men who live anywhere outside London aren't much better. Then it goes upwards.

I nearly blew a gasket when there were a (luckily small) number of posters if not actually defending the Manchester bomber, certainly saying we should have sympathy for him and his cause. Also any sexual violence by refugees towards women (Cologne etc) either did not happen or was excusable. In fact the whole "cultural" issue is a bit of a minefield, as I've seen people defending FGM, or girls being married off at 12, as these practices, however detrimental, trump women's health.

And as for trans stuff and gender self ID... well of course that trumps any safeguarding of children, let alone women. Women are so last year.

"I agree you just can't engage with some people"

Do you really see no irony in following that by your caricature of left wingers?

I haven't read the whole thread but yanbu.

I am left leaning and work in a very left sector.
Some of the things they come out with make me
Throwing the word racist, brexiteer around willy nilly. One of my colleagues actually said in the staffroom last week to a Tory voter. Yeah well all Tories are thick, racist pricks. He is far from any of those.

I would say there's is a huge superiority complex with a lot of left wing individuals. I know this is a huge sweeping statement but it's unfortunately how i see it.

Right wing also have the same kind of mentality " snowflakes, remoaners" etc but I have seen this far less with right leaning people than I have with left.

" One of my colleagues actually said in the staffroom last week to a Tory voter. Yeah well all Tories are thick, racist pricks"
He just said that-a propos nothing at all?

Look at Twitter and Momentum goons... its a weird cult ! Whoooooah Jeremy Corbyn ! Oh do fuck off !

So everyone who is left of centre is a Momentum goon scared ?

Isn’t it just jealousy though? In my experience in the U.K. the lefts are very jealous of the rights but not the other way around.

Also any sexual violence by refugees towards women (Cologne etc) either did not happen...
It didn't.

"the lefts are very jealous of the rights but not the other way around."

Jealous of what?

Just to add here, no major political party in the uk is anti-israel, no matter what individual members say. All three parties have their own long standing 'friends of israel' affiliated parliamentary groups.

I've actually been in situations where I have left the staff room at work as a result of some of the comments made about Tories. The Scottish independence referendum was for me the point at which this kind of behaviour became apparently acceptable - the no voters were indeed a silent majority in many cases simply because of the level of vitriol they were subjected to from a significant portion of the yes voters. I think it's sad that people are called names and worse for holding a different opinion.

BertrandRussell Their money I think, and the stuff money can buy. The Labour voters I know are low income or on benefits.

YANBU OP. I think it's incredibly myopic to shut down conversation but it seems to be a hallmark of the left these days. I directly correlate the authoritarian left's control of public voice to the Brexit vote and the election of Trump.

"BertrandRussell Their money I think, and the stuff money can buy."

we really can't win, can we. We're either too rich and privileged to have any right to comment on working class issues, or we're just champagne socialists or we're so poor that we're only voting Labour because we're jealous of the Tories' stuff!

I directly correlate the authoritarian left's control of public voice to the Brexit vote and the election of Trump.

Precisely - people were told 'You can't say that' for years until they decided 'This is a democracy, so yes we can'.

'This is a democracy, so yes we can'.
And what a delightful democracy they decided it would be...

Their money I think, and the stuff money can buy."
The assumption then is that all left wing folk are poor. That's a strange generalisation.

"Precisely - people were told 'You can't say that' for years until they decided 'This is a democracy, so yes we can'"
So hang on- the authoritarian Left was responsible for Brexit-even though Labour hasn't been in power since 2010? How do you make that out

"I supppose there was no Holocaust, either...)"

I think you should as for that to be deleted. You can't call people Holocaust deniers!

I have asked for that to be deleted.

I think there is nastiness and massive generalisations on all sides of the political debate, left, right and centre. Some of the posts on this thread are proof of that.
Don't agree with the poster who said the left wing and Corbyn thought they were going to win the last election, think there was a genuine concern Labour was going to be wiped out.