AIBU to feel so weary of labour voters going on

[livingonstrawbs]

I think if people in real life knew I was saying this, they would be shocked or maybe not.

Reform are not my politics but I'm honestly so fed up of labour voting friends lamenting the rise of reform and blaming it all the greens and declaring everyone voting reform to be racist, stupid, ignorant.

Reform absolutely have some racist nutters but I do not believe that councils that were labour for more than 50 years turned reform because everyone became a racist overnight or is ok about racism.

Even saying yesterday that the rise of reform was down to failure of lab/conservative to do do anything other than maintain the status quo for many working class communities, let alone others, and the media to properly question, inform and hold to account farage was met with a barrage of hostility and false accusations. one person genuinely thinks this is all down to zack polanski and that farage has been questioned as hard as he has. Really?!?!

I should say by the way that I am a person of colour, was on free school meals, ended up going to Oxbridge and doing professionally well even if it's not lucrative. that's fine - those are all my choices. I'm miles better off than many other people and I know that. But i'm still very connected to the community i grew up in and see how working class people of all races etc without the same chances are living in immense poverty and the grind that is going on for them. Meanwhile, my very affluent labour voting friends seem to repeat 'labour is the best of a bad bunch.' for who, i say?? maybe for you. but honestly, when life is continualy shit, people do vote for change and will vote for reform or greens.

i'm just sick of being patronised and told i'm stupid, ignorant etc etc.

Labour doing the rounds today don’t seem to be saying this.

Oxbridge means Oxford or Cambridge, not just Oxford.

The leader of Reform is a racist.

Reform voters are not necessarily racist, but they don't mind voting for a party whose leader is a racist.

I know that @Twiglets1! She said I ended up at Oxbridge. So I asked which one? Maybe she’s so clever she went to both Oxford and Cambridge!

I think you're probably right that "there is a much larger percentage of racist reform voters than there is of antisemitic Green voters" (because many Green voters are idealists and not motivated by race issues) but I disagree that there is a "sliding scale of atrociousness" when it comes to racism.

It's as bad to be antisemitic as it is to be anti Muslim or anti Black people or any other form of racism. It's disgusting that Polanski is allowing the Green party to be represented by some people who have expressed openly antisemitic views.

And it's equally disgusting that Farage allows Reform to be represented by certain people such as the man mentioned above who is openly racist.

Maybe she doesn't want to say as a lot of people don't like to give away private information on MN.

One would like to hope that they do. It would be very short sighted not to.

And the leader of the Green party allowed racist candidates to represent the party, thus endorsing antisemitism. Do you want me to list all the awful things that have been said by various Green party candidates or by those already in post because I could?

It's disgusting that Farage allows Reform to be represented by racists?

It's kind of baked in!

How does the fact that some Green Party members have been revealed as racists affect the fact that Farage, the leader of Reform, is a massive racist?

I think that's too simplistic to say that every Reform candidate is racist. It would follow that every Reform voter is racist and that's a very intolerant position to take towards people who hold a different view to yourself re immigration.

My brother votes Reform. He's lived on benefits for decades. He relies on the NHS for medication that is delivered in a bag to his door each month.

The area he lives in is 95% white British. Also awash with flags.

The local pub has 'No Labour MPs Welcome Here' signs in the window. It's a former mining area. Both our grandfathers were miners. They were staunch union and Labour voting.

The area was in receipt of millions of European funding. They voted Brexit.

My brother lives like an almost recluse. Only going out to hospital appointments where he is often treated by immigrants. Possibly the only time he will meet an immigrant unless they are delivering to his door.

His entire life is on line. He wonders how I can safely go about the streets and worries about me constantly - crime/immigrants/scams/Chinese viruses etc. Every single day he sends me pro Reform/anti-Starmer posts and memes.

He is a clever man. Successful at school. Not thick. Almost certainly racist although he would say not.

He might not be typical, but he is the person you are talking about.

Isn't this proving exactly OP's point. You are one of them so you are contradicting yourself by saying YABU

I didn't say every Reform candidate is racist.

I said the leader of Reform is racist.

But every Reform candidate clearly doesn't mind being part of a party whose leader is a racist.

It doesn't.

The point I was making in that post was that the leader of the Green party allowed racist candidates to represent the party, thus endorsing antisemitism.

In response to your post that Reform voters are not necessarily racist, but they don't mind voting for a party whose leader is a racist... you could say that Green voters are not necessarily antisemitic, but they don't mind voting for a leader who endorses antisemitism within his party.

Is Nigel Farage racist? Yeah kinda.
Is it likely a party that’s never had any real power would prove to be super competent? Probably not

It’s not great. I’m just hoping it’s tactical voting rather than genuine support.

You implied that you see every Reform candidate as racist by you saying that it's "baked in" that Reform is represented by racists.

Try being in Wales, sore Reform losers going on and on about “Plaidiots” getting into bed with “Liebour” (they aren’t) and about Rhun ap Iorwerth’s real name being Ron Jones (it isn’t) and saying God Help Wales. It’s getting very tiresome!

Yes, you could say that.

Personally, I think it's a bit harder to argue that the Jewish leader of the Greens endorses anti-Semitism than it is to say that the racist leader of Reform is a racist.

No, I said it was baked in that Farage - a racist - would allow Reform to be represented by (some) racists.

That doesn't mean every Reform candidate has to be a racist, they just have to not care that their leader is a racist.

It's not a competition. It's clear that both Polanski and Farage allow their parties to be represented by racists (anti Jewish in the case of Polanski, more general racism including anti Muslim in the case of Farage).

They don't care that he supports the hunt and that Reform would also repeal the hunting ban.

This. Even if they are not racists they are clearly happy to pander to them.

And it's clear that Farage is himself a massive racist. Why are you trying to skate over that fact in a thread about Reform?