shocked my best friend voted Reform

[clearmoon]

Long standing close friend came round for dinner and we were nattering away, and she just mentioned off hand in the conversation that she had voted Reform. i am really shocked. We don't discuss politics much. But I would have guessed lib dems or labour. I love her dearly. But I do wonder if I should think about her differently now, or just carry on as before

YANBU - She is not such a good person as I thought all these years
YABU-its all fine

100%. And I say this as someone who was a staunch Labour supporter for most of my life.

So in your response in which claim to quote Farage you basically don't quote him but pick a few words with quotation marks. Over 95% is what you say he says. Your not quoting him, you aren't responding and you are making allegations which cant back up.

I can pick a few words out there air from politicians from any party which would mirror the tiny snippets of 2-3 word quotes you have provided.

It just sounds like intolerant rhetoric and prejudice that it isn't based on evidence and you aren't able to back it up.

I don't think I've said anything at all about migration! I'm just responding to the idea that voting a political party into government is as ineffectual as voicing an opinion.

Ok, here are some examples of Farage's racism, with a link so you can see I'm not making it up. Scroll down to see his remarks about women too (it's not only immigrants he has contempt for). So yes I most definitely would judge a friend who supported his views:

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments: from 'racist' comments to a plane crash | Evening Standard
REMARKS ABOUT RACE/IMMIGRANTS:
"in 1981, an English teacher reportedly wrote to the headteacher asking him to reconsider his decision to appoint him a prefect, citing reports of fascist views. Another teacher allegedly said that on a Combined Cadet Force camp organised by the college, Farage and others “marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night shouting Hitler Youth songs".

In 2013, Farage said he supported Muslim immigrants who “integrate” into society, but not those who are “coming here to take us over”.

In a 2014 interview on LBC, Farage said he felt "uncomfortable" when he heard people speaking other languages on London transport.

When LBC radio presenter James O’Brien asked why he objected to Romanian migrants but not Germans — like his Hamburg-born wife Kirsten — Farage retorted: "You know the difference."
Farage also suggested he would be concerned about living next to a house of Romanians.

He defended Ukip candidate Kerry Smith for using the word "ch**ky" to describe a Chinese person.

Farage has been condemned by leading Jewish groups, such as the Board of Deputies, for using antisemitic-linked tropes.
In 2017, Farage came under fire for antisemitism after an LBC interview in which he described the so-called US “Jewish lobby” as a concern of his.
He has spoken of a "new world order" and the threat of a "globalist" government, often singling out Goldman Sachs and George Soros.
The only formal response he has ever given to the complaints from Jewish groups was (via a spokesperson) to call them “pathetic” and “a manufactured story”.

REMARKS ABOUT WOMEN:
Farage said in 2014: “If a woman with a client base has a child and takes two or three years off work, she is worth far less to the employer when she comes back than when she goes away because her client base cannot be stuck rigidly to her.”
He added: “Maybe it’s because I’ve got so many women pregnant over the years that I have a different view [of maternity leave].”
In 2014, Farage also said that breastfeeding women should "sit in the corner".

He also admire Putin and Trump.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27459923.amp here’s an example of Farage being racist, if you really couldn’t think of any at all whatsoever.

"Again"? What other "mistruths" have I spouted?

Happy to provide a handful of racist and offensive remarks by Farage but come on, let's not pretend anyone is so naive as to actually think that expressing racist views is a guarantee of arrest and detention because that's just a load of nonsense.

In 2013, Farage said Muslim immigrants are “coming here to take us over”.

In 2014, he said that he agreed the “basic principle” of Enoch Powell’s infamously vile and racist Rivers of Blood speech.

In 2014 he said he felt "uncomfortable" when he heard people speaking other languages on London transport.

In the same year he said he would feel "concerned" if Romanian immigrants moved in next door to him and also blamed being 2 hours late to an event on immigrants causing traffic. When asked why he objects to Romanian migrants but not Germans – like his wife – Farage's response to the interviewer was ‘You know the difference.’

In 2015 he complained about migrants with HIV being a drain on NHS resources, said people with HIV should be prevented from coming to the UK and that money would be better spent treating "taxpayers" for other conditions.

Let's not forget his hideous "breaking point" poster which even George Osborne (hardly a man known for his compassion) described as echoing nazi propaganda.

In 2017, in an LBC interview he described the so-called US “Jewish lobby” as a concern of his.
He has spoken of a "new world order" and the threat of a "globalist" government, often singling out Goldman Sachs and George Soros.

He described Barack Obama as a loathsome "creature" in an interview whereas he thinks Trump is marvellous and has claimed he should win a Nobel Peace Prize!

That's without getting into all the misogynistic bullshit he's spouted over the years.

But I could spend all day talking about why Farage is a vile bigot as well as an opportunist grifter, it won't change your mind or anyone else's who has been taken in by him since it's too easy and convenient to accuse anyone who doesn't agree with him of spouting mistruths.

I really don't get why people get annoyed by this?! Everyone has the right to vote for whoever they want. It wouldn't change my opinion on someone. I don't know who any of my friends vote for because we're not boring enough to bring it up in conversation 🤣🤣

For me I respect each persons choice to vote for who they want too. How can you define someone by their vote? It does not make them a bad person

Of course, he's just misunderstood, his remarks have been taken out of context, he's a victim really.

It doesn't matter what I say, or anyone else says, you've made up your mind. Repeatedly calling me and others who disagree with you "intolerant" might make you feel better about defending the likes of Farage but I'm not obliged to provide you with "evidence", we all have access to the same information. I (and many others) have decided based on the information available that Reform are a racist party. Others will come to a different conclusion depending on their own morals, values and experiences. I still maintain that OP can choose her own friends and no one is obliged to spend time with people who's views they find morally objectionable.

I know this is popular but this is such a weird notion to me. Your beliefs (both religious and political) are so at the heart of who you are as a person... why would you not discuss them with those closest to you? Aligning beliefs is one of the ways I know how compatible I am with someone and this how much time amd effort I shpuld put into the relationship. I would really struggle to be friends with someone who voted Reform, or who believed in homeopathy, or any number of other things. That's OK!

politics aren’t boring. Right here in the US the opposite political party to mine wants to see people like me dead. I find that quite exciting!

Right, and who exactly wants you dead? Why do they want you dead? How have they expressed this?

This sort of bonkers hyperbole is why no one can have a sensible discussion any more.

Each person has the choice who they vote for. I wouldn't judge anyone on the basis of who they voted for. I also wouldn't like to be judged on this either.

Ah! This is the part if the political discussion in which the actual policies of the far right are found to be so horrendous that ordinary people just refuse to believe them.

I don't know what you're referring to, so I cannot believe or disbelieve them. Please indulge me.

I am absolutely willing to be judged by the company i keep or who I vote for. I’m proud of my choices. I wouldn’t vote for a party I was ashamed to be associated with.

No thats fine. I’m just not interested in revisiting the policies of the Trump party for your edification.

Don't call me ridiculously naive. Who are you to label me as such?? I don't talk about voting at work but others do and they have clearly said openly their views on any party other than Labour. Where do you get off on telling others their own personal experience is naive?

I voted Labour to boot out the tories. I didnt vote to take money off the old. So I cant say how I would vote if I had known that they would do that. Lib Dem/Green?

Why are people ashamed? Maybe they wish to avoid aggression or intolerance

It doesn’t mean you know they feel ashamed

Voting is a private activity. Many people would never even tell you who they voted for.

I think Labour deliberately kept their plans under wraps. I think that was just the first of attacks on the elderly. I think free prescriptions over 60 will be put up to 67 next, then take away their £10 Xmas bonus.

@AvrielFinch I think you are naive that you actually think people who vote reform are just racist English people. I am Eastern European and I know some who agree with reform because they see the issue with uncontrolled immigration. Separating people who come the right way vs uncontrolled immigration illegally on boats is the issue. Those of us who came the right way believe that's how it should be done and the governments are not doing enough to control the ones who aren't. We're not all the same you know. But hey...I'm naive apparently.

@bombastix I get that. I am a bit suspicious of your more well to do Reform voter because truthfully not sure what’s in it for them.

Maybe the ultra regressive tax policies that benefit the richest most?

Scrapping raising the cap on care fees is also disgusting and a good indicator of how little consideration they have really vulnerable people.