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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Consider this before voting…

107 replies

Ourfuturetheirfuture · 04/07/2024 08:16

We are in a unique and dangerous time in history. We are potentially on the cusp of a world war and climate chaos has started and will get worse. Children are growing up in poverty, public services that we rely on are struggling. There is much that needs attention to give us safety, stability and better life chances.

Today we are choosing who we want to lead us through the dangerous seas ahead and to try and improve our lives.

AIBU to ask you to consider;

Reflecting on your reasons for voting one way or another? Is it driven by feelings or facts? Is it a knee jerk decision based on a headline or a carefully thought choice based on research or somewhere inbetween?

Reminding yourself that the way to solve, minimise or survive the above issues will be complex and slow so anyone promising one quick solution is lying.

Russia are trying to create division and instability and are using SM to do this. Many politicians resort to whipping up fear, anger or other emotions to get you to vote for them. Look out for any information that looks too good to be true or seems to be trying to make you angry - consider fact checking it.

If you are thinking of voting for a party as a protest vote then please reconsider. Your voice is unlikely to be heard and you will still have to live with any consequences. Spoiling your paper is better than voting in a party you don’t really want at the helm.

Checking that it’s your head and not your heart making the decision.

Working class men, and then women, all fought a long hard battle to give everyone the chance to vote. Democracy is a great thing and we all have a duty to use it responsibly, especially now as we all stand at this particularly perilous point in history.

I know IAB a bit U posting this here as it’s not really an AIBU but I’m hoping I’m forgiven. Long time poster (darked on washing, Mexican house thief are in my memory bank). I’m not a Russian bot and I did my postal vote already. I’m a mum and worried about the future. I want the best for us all.

Happy voting day everyone whoever you decide to vote on. I’m so glad we all get a chance to. 😊

OP posts:
Fink · 04/07/2024 16:40

Ourfuturetheirfuture · 04/07/2024 16:03

I know. There is huge variation in how people decide and it’s so important everyone has a say. I’m just so aware of all the misinformation, divisiveness and ‘dog-whistling’ (please help me find a better way of phrasing that - I hate that it suggests we are like dogs!).

Show quote history

It isn't saying that humans are behaviourally like dogs. It refers to a whistle which is inaudible to human hearing but can be heard by dogs, because they can hear higher frequencies. So it just means something that people not in the know wouldn't pick up on/hear anything amiss in, but people who are within the community know. Like 'from the river to the sea', until it became better known.

If you want to phrase it another way, it's just covert messaging.

People use it incorrectly to mean anything that isn't spelled out, is left implied, but we all recognise parties who do that. That's not dog whistling. For it to be dog whistling, you would need someone who has studied it or is part of the group to explain what the implication is, it wouldn't be 'heard' (i.e. remarked upon, noticed) by ordinary people.

Original poster
Ourfuturetheirfuture · 04/07/2024 16:42

LunaNorth · 04/07/2024 13:19

I’ve been and spoiled my ballot. I couldn’t bear not to turn up. Feels pretty pointless but at least nobody could accuse me of apathy.

It will be counted at least.

OP posts:
Original poster
Ourfuturetheirfuture · 04/07/2024 16:49

Fink · 04/07/2024 12:02

I didn't mean to come across as snippy by asking if you had studied history at all, but pretty much everything in your opening paragraph is a list of things that are better now than at almost any other time and place in the world, and yet you label our time as unique and dangerous. It's just not true:

Death in war worldwide is at one of the lowest points (as a proportion of the population) that it has ever been in recorded history. Not quite as low as the early 2000s, but so abnormally low compared to every other decade going back 1000 years. And that's over the whole world. Dying as a result of war as a UK citizen, military or civilian, is so incredibly unlikely that it wouldn't even be visible on a pie chart. So, yes, there are current tensions in the world, areas of conflict, and the risk of escalation. But historically speaking we are still well below average war casualties.

Children in poverty now is shocking, but, again, as nothing compared to periods when child mortality was between a third and a half (i.e. up to 50% of children born alive wouldn't live until their 5th birthday, which doesn't even count all the miscarriages and maternal deaths).

Public services are struggling. But for most of history they were non-existent, or dependent on the whim of a rich benefactor, or severely restricted (free education for citizens of X, but 85% of residents are not citizens, for example).

I'll give you climate change. Not because the climate hasn't fluctuated before, but because human activity is making it worse by a huge margin.

It's not that I disagree with the premise that there are things wrong with the country, and that many things are worse now than in the recent past. But it's helping no one to claim that 'we are in a unique and dangerous time in history' when it is so patently false. Surely it just undermines the overall message.

I guess I’m mostly referring to my voting history rather than ever - probably not clear. And yes, you have a point that my words were somewhat hyperbolic. I guess I just want us all to take this election really seriously and I think in the past I’ve been a bit more blasé and less thorough because it didn’t feel quite so important. May be my age but I do think we have some much tougher times ahead than in my adult life so far. But apologies for not considering my words better. And you are right, of course, compared to previous generations, we have it much better - I mean flushing toilets are a fab example and I’m thinking about that more as festival season is upon us!! Lots to be thankful for.

OP posts:
Original poster
Ourfuturetheirfuture · 04/07/2024 16:52

Laiste · 04/07/2024 15:52

I STILL haven't made up my mind 😳

Been past the village polling station twice (walking up to sports day and back) and i'll be going past it twice more in the next couple of hours!

I've been giving it the side eye.

Oh no. That’s hard to still be deciding at this point. If it’s between two and there is nothing between them then maybe a random coin toss. Or have a think about your main values and which one is most important to see which candidate reflects that best? Good luck.

OP posts:
Boomer55 · 04/07/2024 16:55

OP - just look at the manifestos, and vote for what fits best for you. The world has always been a dangerous place, and the UK has always been “boom and bust”.

It doesn’t need a drama, just see who you prefer.🙂

Original poster
Ourfuturetheirfuture · 04/07/2024 16:57

Fink · 04/07/2024 16:40

It isn't saying that humans are behaviourally like dogs. It refers to a whistle which is inaudible to human hearing but can be heard by dogs, because they can hear higher frequencies. So it just means something that people not in the know wouldn't pick up on/hear anything amiss in, but people who are within the community know. Like 'from the river to the sea', until it became better known.

If you want to phrase it another way, it's just covert messaging.

People use it incorrectly to mean anything that isn't spelled out, is left implied, but we all recognise parties who do that. That's not dog whistling. For it to be dog whistling, you would need someone who has studied it or is part of the group to explain what the implication is, it wouldn't be 'heard' (i.e. remarked upon, noticed) by ordinary people.

Show quote history

Ooooh. I thought it meant saying something that called to peoples aggression or other heightened emotional states. So getting the dogs to attack kind of thing.

So I have been using it incorrectly which I’m glad about because I can quit using it as I hate it!

So what I need is a phrase that captures the incendiary statements (often untrue or exaggerated) designed to create fear/anger/othering/blame/division etc.

OP posts:
emgee2 · 04/07/2024 17:32

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 04/07/2024 09:17

Another Trump term is a far bigger threat to world stability than Putin, and not because he's likely to go invading anywhere, but because his ignorance, indifference, and (if you believe some of the more outlandish stuff) contrivance with Putin leaves certain countries and territories far more vulnerable to Putin's machinations than they otherwise would be with a cohesive, determined NATO still intact.

About the only place Putin could realistically go after the conflict in Ukraine is resolved one way or another is the Baltic States, but unfortunately for him all three are paid-up, longstanding NATO members, so if he picks a fight with them, he's picking a fight with the entirety of NATO, and as he's already well aware, the Russian military has had it's pants pulled down by a nation a fraction of Russia's size already, and is in no state whatsoever to be getting into a conflict with any sort of serious adversary any time soon.

That changes if NATO falls apart at the seams, and the only thing likely to make that happen is the corpulent orange American idiot.

Show quote history

As an American citizen, I completely agree with that, although I'd phrase it differently - another Trump term makes Putin a far bigger threat to world stability (and that's without getting into the China problem). But I would add that Farage/Reform and their ilk are cut from much the same cloth.

@Ourfuturetheirfuture

I knew who I was voting for and then did the online quiz, which returned a different party that I agreed with- 92% vs 90% for my original choice. I went with my original and now can't decide if that was head or heart 😅. It's a safe seat, though, so no real issue.

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