AIBU for thinking hating people for their political leanings is perfectly normal?

[VelvetChairGirl]

I have been reading a brexit thread on here and lots of brexit voters in it seem horrified that they are hated and families have stopped talking to each other, and cut each other off over it.

but its politics nothing affects us more then politics, we have people who cut off others for believing in conspiracy theories and things. Brexit is the biggest shake up in this country in my life time, its taken away our freedom of movement for work and education, needlessly introduced a tonne of red tape, made our rights and standards extremely vulnerable to being destroyed (tories dont like food standards and workers rights this is well documented and they are in charge right now), reduced our standing in the world and will very likely lead us to being the poor man of Europe again, not to mention the fact its cut off vital EU funding to science research, regeneration and education projects up and down the county.

it affects everyone, of course people are perfectly entitled to hate those who voted to hurt them financially, prospects wise etc as much as they would hate someone who physically stole from them, theres very little difference is there?

@antoniawhite

I really don’t think our public services are fine anymore. The state my sons’ state school is in would make you weep. And it makes me really sad to see how many youth centres and public libraries have gone. Yes, Blair did allow free movement immediately. I myself don’t have a problem with that, though I know others do.

I meant where I live rather than in general😀

It's only the left who hates the right.
The right might disagree but you don't get "never kissed a socialist" t shirts.

You get a hell of a lot of libtard/ snowflake references and glorying in Remoaner tears and contempt for the ‘woke’. I’ve seen a hell of a lot of hatred from the right, and indeed been the target of it, and I’m not especially leftwing I don’t think. I’m quite central.

I was told to fuck off and die because that’s all I deserved because of being a Remainer. I must say I wasn’t feeling the love then. I’ve had Remainer friends who have been spat at for their views by the rightwing supporters of Tommy Robinson.

Tends to be the far right (or Americans) doing that. I'm a Tory voter, former Tory apparatchik, with many Tory friends. We would never refer to someone as a libtard.

And the MPs who have had death threats from people who’ve ended up in jail have been overwhelmingly Labour MPs or Remainers, such as Anna Soubry, targetted by the right. There’s plenty of v unpleasant hatred on the right.

It’s probably the extremes on both sides doing that to be fair.

Irl it probably dues go both ways although I haven’t experienced any of that type of stuff.

On here it seems more acceptable to say you hate the right, they are the c word etc

If people avoid tories do you find out how they vote when making new friends? I’m not particularly interested in how people vote, they might have offered info re Brexit but not usually general elections. I would avoid someone with strong extreme views they voice though. Including any kind of hate

My friendships are based off shared values. There are political beliefs that are directly opposed to my values. I wouldn't tell someone I hated them because they voted a particular way, but I wouldn't choose to spend time with them either.

I have acquaintances whose political views and mine are very very different and we get on fine in a general 'bump into at a party' way, they're perfectly nice at a superficial level, but they're not people I'd ever choose to spend time with because they believe in things or policies which I find abhorrent.

I tend to think people who say 'it's just politics' or 'what, so you'd really not be friends with someone who voted for a party that does X???' are usually people who are privileged enough not to be directly affected (or affected in a life changing way) by shifts in policy.

@woodhill

Labour did overspend and got us involved in unnecessary wars.

Have you seen the kind of debt this country is in lately (this is both before and after COVID) it has got worse, but yet we've had 10+ years of cuts. How do you explain that then? People may berate Labour for a global banking crisis, but people voted Tory to fix it and they have made huge cuts, plunged many families into poverty, yet things have got worse. It may have been a good arguement for a Tory government in 2010 (I did vote for them then, which I bloody regret), but it certainly has no weight at all now.

I do agree about the Iraq war. That should never had happened and it was hugely damaging to Labour.

My friendships are based off shared values.

Mine are too but thinking about it they include tolerance, lack of hate and extreme expression. So I’m more likely to have diverse political views around me

@woodhill

Labour did overspend and got us involved in unnecessary wars.

Labour provided high quality public services. We got very good value for money. A global economic crisis hit at exactly the wrong time for them if you want to look at overspending, cast your eyes over the Tories who have pushed debt up to the highest level for over 70 years. It’s very easy to be superior about the Iraq war with hindsight, at the time the majority of the British public backed it.

Hate is a strong word. I don’t hate anyone I know personally but all the same, my time is finite and I don’t spend my limited free time with people whose values are very different to my own.

And …Why are you all talking about ten years ago? The shit show is happening now.

I think a PP made an excellent point earlier.

To those who don’t socialise or interact with people with different political views to you, does this extend to religion?

If you are an atheist, would you disassociate with a friend if they converted to Islam for example?

@OneTC

Unless it's genuinely extreme politics then no it's completely fucking bonkers

This

No, no hate for someone who disagrees with your views.
For the politicians, some of them get close enough to be hated.
Radical, extreme views are the worst ever!

I don't think it's normal but then in the run up to ''repeal the eighth'' in Ireland, I felt so much anger towards people who were pro life no matter what and I think it's FEAR. These people were seeking to control the actions of strangers. Seeking to control other people's freedoms. So I think the anger was really fear.

I don’t have a high opinion of people who begrudge things for those who aren’t well off. I find them really unpleasant because they seem so bitter. And a lot of the time take a very black and white view about it all.
I don’t hate them, but I do have to question who they are as people for begrudging things like free school meals, education for 2 year olds to lessen the gap, council housing, money, food vouchers etc…

@NantesElephant

Hate is a strong word. I don’t hate anyone I know personally but all the same, my time is finite and I don’t spend my limited free time with people whose values are very different to my own.

And …Why are you all talking about ten years ago? The shit show is happening now.

It is relevant because people are implying that we as a country would be better off with a labour government when in reality we have no idea if we would or not. Based on previous experience we could be doing even worse now. I suppose we will never know.

I agree with you that we have no idea if we would be better or worse off with a labour government. Part of me feels things could not get any worse at the moment, but politically I am homeless. They are all awful.

A lot of the characters in charge around 10-15 years ago have stepped down, some good politicians in both main parties, some downright harmful… parties have changed. I don’t think the past is necessarily a good guide as to who is the most competent to take us forward.

Based on previous experience we could be doing even worse now

I don’t think that’s even possible. At least we wouldn’t be dealing with Brexit as well as a pandemic. .

Labour did overspend and got us involved in unnecessary wars.

They didn't overspend in general: yes, a few pet projects like the Millennium Dome, but spending on health and education was good value for money.

I do agree about the Iraq War.

@Blossomtoes

Based on previous experience we could be doing even worse now

I don’t think that’s even possible. At least we wouldn’t be dealing with Brexit as well as a pandemic. .

And we wouldn’t have squandered 37 billion on track and trace.

I also think Corbyn would have locked down sooner in 2020 and heeded the messages from Italy.

@Blossomtoes

"Labour provided high quality public services. We got very good value for money. A global economic crisis hit at exactly the wrong time for them if you want to look at overspending, cast your eyes over the Tories who have pushed debt up to the highest level for over 70 years. It’s very easy to be superior about the Iraq war with hindsight, at the time the majority of the British public backed it."

Labour inherited a country whose economy was on the up; public borrowing had been reduced and inflation had been brought under control. Brown`s slogan was no more boom and bust. Haha. They then started to spend money on services but they didn't have the money to do everything so they borrowed and sold gold reserves at a low price. This was the boom time.
My dad was not a financial whizz but just from reading the newspapers, he had discerned the American subprime mortgage bubble. Now if my dad could spot it, surely the Bank of England and therefore the Treasury knew what was coming. Why didn't they step in with actions prior to the crisis? Instead Brown left the UK with no funds to cushion against the impact. And that resulted in the bust. He's not to blame for what happened in America but he is to blame for not being prepared for the consequences for this country.

Of course debt is high now. We've just paid a large portion of the country 80% of their wages to stay at home and do nothing! Or did you want everyone to be jobless and probably homeless?! Are you seriously comparing Labour running up debt during a benign economy to pandemic spending?

Yes, the British public backed the war but that was because they had been told misleading facts. In fact the reason I was against the war was because I watched Hans Blix give his report to the UN and he was 100% categorical that there were no WMD in Iraq. They had searched every lead they'd been given by security services from different countries. Blair ignored all that and used dodgy information off the Internet to support his position. How many of the general public would know what Blix said? How many believed that a PM would never take them into a war to risk British lives? It's not superior hindsight to look at the honest facts and realised that we were lied to and misled.
Up til then, I never believed a PM would lie over such a serious matter. I actually think that's when politics and trust in politicians started to change.

but spending on health and education was good value for money.

Public private partnerships?!