So sick of all the political nastiness

[HotDogGuy]

And I’m not talking about the political parties.

I have my own mind about who I am going to vote for, in prior elections (maybe 2 elections ago) I would quite happily have a reasoned debate with people about politics because it was civilised - no name calling, no vitriol, just an exchange of ideas and generally ending in we’ll agree to disagree.

But now people thinks it’s acceptable to attack those that do not agree with their own political views. It is not. I disagree with how my husband is voting and how my mum is voting but it’s their choice and they can make that choice based on whatever they want - how it personally affects them, wider society. It is their right to vote for whoever they want to vote for.

If someone is so passionate about one political party then join them and campaign in an acceptable way. 99% will not but instead will feel they have a duty to attack those who vote differently.

And whilst a lot of politicians (from all sides) are behaving terribly I think politics has just caught up with social media where people think it’s ok to be nasty and have a go at others for being different.

Not expecting any response to this but needed to rant after reading yet another political thread on Mumsnet

Completely agree. I’m 99% sure my husband and I will vote differently. That’s fine. It’s his right to do so. I cannot stand people forcing any views on me, political or other. I left Facebook because of the brexit vote.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50726500

An independent study found that 88% (5,952) of the Conservative party's most widely promoted ads either featured claims which had been flagged by independent fact-checking organisations (including BBC Reality Check) as not correct or not entirely correct. No such incorrect claims were found in Labour's ads.

"Make the lie big, keep it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it” (Goebbels)

Agree with the spirit of this thread.

My neighbour voted exactly the opposite to me in the EU referendum. She will vote exactly opposite to me tomorrow.

I still feed her chickens when she's on holiday and give her pears off the pear tree. She still takes in my parcels and gives me apples off her apple tree. She's a good neighbour. We just stay off the subject of politics and respect each other's right to vote as we see fit.

How we are ever going to get the whole country to buy into that philosophy, though, is a mystery.

I actually had a reasoned discussion with a colleague about voting. I realised I’d gotten into a habit of voting for the same party and actually took a closer look at my local candidates and have since changed my vote. So it is still possible to have a civilised discussion about politics and agree to disagree, just harder!

There are a lot of bigoted types about at the moment that have zero toleration or respect for anyone else’s point of view.

It’s the stupid commies, the Nasty Toaries, the cunting leavers, the traitor remainers, the quisling yoons, Nicoliar Sturgeon, wastemonster and on and on and on.
Has anyone’s mind ever been changed by being relentlessly insulted??

Couldn't agree with you more, OP - the hate and name calling is just getting ridiculous

Obviously the election's important and I understand that people feel strongly, but you'd hope there'd be more respect for the right to hold different views than we see on here

Rightly or wrongly, I always feel the people who post these threads are “poor wee me” Tory voters. 😋

(NOT a Labour voter).

Yanbu. The worst I've found in my circle of friends/family are 'historic' voters. Those who would never dream of voting anything but WXYZ and never read the manifestos at voting time. Said circle people rarely have any constructive debate, often basing on past history and insults. Thankfully there are few of them.

I'm between two parties, the other 2 i cannot stand to vote for. Of the two i will begrudgingly decide the least worst in my opinion but I'm not thrilled, enthused or even pleased to vote for any of them.

I was told by a Tory voter at church this week that he was going to convert my son into being a Tory. He then asked how I could vote for an anti-semitic terrorist.
I responded by asking how he could vote for a misogynist, Islamophobe, compulsive liar.
So I'd have to agree OP. This election has brought out the worst in everybody.

To my mind neither of the main party leaders are really fit to lead. However when we have a choice of the most right wing party in living memory (and I'm old enough to remember Thatcherism) or a proper Socialist option, I know which I will go with.

A big part of the problem is that everyone has an opinion that 'must be respected' even when that opinion is shown to be based on lies/misleading statements.

A lot of people, on both sides, don't like being challenged. They've formed an opinion but haven't researched it enough for it to stand up to scrutiny and so they don't want to, or can't, explain their reasoning and when pushed either become defensive or abusive.

If your entire argument is based on 'just because', 'it's my opinion' or 'Boris/Jeremy said so' don't be surprised if people get pissed at you, especially when the stakes are so high this time round.

A particular family member on Facebook has been disgusting recently. Insulting those who are voting for a particular party. We are c*ts, thick, stupid etc. It is just so unnecessary. I disagree with a lot of other people's political opinions but I keep them to myself and respect other people's view points. It's a shame it's come to this. It has caused massive divisions.

hang on - there's an election?

I’m absolutely sick of it all. I feel terrible that this is what our country has become.

Tbh I just did one of those online tests where you vote for the policies and they don’t tell you which party they belong to as I felt like I needed to make my decision based on pure facts with no bias.

It’s told me what I need to know and what I kind of expected. So now I’m avoiding all other political discussion (apart from this thread apparently??) as it just makes me upset and angry.

hang on - there's an election

YABU, politics is inherently nasty. Just watch the parliamentary debates.

To this day I have no idea who my mum and dad vote for. I was taught about the democratic process and my mum took me to the polling station when I was a kid to show me the process. HOWEVER they have both always maintained that it is a secret ballot for a reason and will not tell me who they vote for, so as not to influence my own vote. I have always admired this and think a hell of a lot of loudmouths on social media could learn a thing or two from this mind set. Healthy debate is fine, but leave the vitriol at the door!

Couldn't agree more!
I'm going to vote Labour... What! You must be a leftie terrorist, Jew hater who wants to sell off the NHS and cripple businesses.
I'm going to vote conservative... What! You must be a Nazi racist who hates poor people and wants to ruin the economy.
I don't understand why people can't discuss things reasonably without personally attacking each other.
Friday morning social media will be full of posts from whichever side loses calling the winning party thick and delusional😣