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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to have voted for the BNP today

694 replies

AnonymousAnnie · 04/06/2009 16:23

and feel that I should keep it a secret (have name changed obviously) for fear of being lynched!!

It is a perfectly legal party that has been totally demonised in the media. I was even worried that I may be able to be traced from my ballot paper but I took the risk and voted for them because all the other parties are the bloody same and none of them have the guts to sort this country out. Suppose I'll never get to heaven now .

OP posts:
clemette · 05/06/2009 12:05

As I am a history teacher it is an interesting analogy to compare the manifestoes of both the Nazis and the BNP.

What makes this an interesting way of teaching it is that the Nazis deliberately called themselves the National Socialists to attract people on both sides of the political spectrum despite having no intention of pursuing socialism. The BNP play on issues such as litter to do exactly the same thing. I don't need to foist my views on them, they are intelligent sixteen year olds who can make up their own minds. THEY can spot the analogies between Kinder, Kuche, Kirche and the BNP's statements on women.

The reason the Holocaust is now only one of the two compulsory topics on the history National Curriculum is so we, as educators, can help prevent it from happening again. If I then have to break the law by pointing out the analogies then so be it.

clemette · 05/06/2009 12:09

On a point of historical fact, the Nazis were also a minority party (2.6% in 1928). They never got a majority in German elections. Hitler was promoted to power because the German President could not believe that he was as extreme as his speeches and writing.

londonone - where should children get their political education from if not from the classroom? I would agree that my attitude would be appalling if I actually told the students who I voted for yesterday (although, as one of them is my paper boy he might be able to guess). Would you prefer the media did it for them?

londonone · 05/06/2009 12:14

clemette - political education would be fine if it was done impartially (I feel the same about RE) but the problem is that you have said yourself that you are not impartial. The danger is that teachers use it as an opportunity to propgandise as you yourself do.

clemette · 05/06/2009 12:23

We are in loco parentis. It is our job to tell them the truth. Is it not the truth that there are analogies between the BNP and the views of the Nazis? Is it actually propaganda if it is fact? If a key member of the BNP says that Mein Kampf is his bible then I don't hink it is my behaviour that is appalling.

titchy · 05/06/2009 12:31

Points of corrections:

  1. Yesterday's elections were not about who should run the coountry - they were about who should be our county (or unitary council) councillors, and who should represent Britain's interests inthe European Parliament. It was not a general election.
  1. If you wish to exercise your democratic right to vote, and I believe everyone should, and you don't like the mainstream parties, you make the point by spoiling your ballot paper, not by voting for an extremist party, unless you genuinely support ALL the policies of that party. As is your right to do so.
londonone · 05/06/2009 12:32

Yes but from your posts it certainly doesn't sound as if you are presenting information in an objective way i.e you saying that you refer to them as the British Nazi Party. I am assuming that when you study Stalin for example you also reference the SWP etc

londonone · 05/06/2009 12:34

titchy - Point of correction

It's not actually up to you in any way shape or form to tell people how to express their displeasure with mainstream parties! You may choose to spoil your paper, others may make other choices, that's democracy!

titchy · 05/06/2009 12:48

Londonone - true! But it does seem a bit daft to vote for the BNP on the basis that the others are all crap!

londonone · 05/06/2009 12:50

I agree I wouldn't do it but people are strange!

titchy · 05/06/2009 12:52

'Nowt so queer as folk' as my long-since deceased grandmother would have said!

mrswoolf · 05/06/2009 12:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

clemette · 05/06/2009 13:02

They are the British equivalent of the Nazi party (they are nationalist and claim to be socialist on some issues) so I am being entirely objective in calling them the British Nazi Party.
We don't study Stalin, but we do draw out the parallels between Lenin and Blair, and Trotsky and Michael Foot.

At school yesterday every single one of our 18 year olds went out to vote. That is what citizenship education does. Hopefully, the fact that they see the benefits of multiculturalism on a daily basis in their school community, and the fact that they have teachers willing to tell them the truth, will mean that even if they chose to vote BNP, they did so fully understanding the consequences - unlike our "well educated" OP.

On a tangent, if we are to be objective in religious teaching shall we not teach evolution...?

londonone · 05/06/2009 13:02

Mrswoolf - would you say the same of teachers who promoted the BNP?

spicemonster · 05/06/2009 13:03

Well, they've won their first seat, thanks to the votes of stupid ignorant people like the OP. Thanks

londonone · 05/06/2009 13:06

clemette - You are not being objective or accurate in naming them the British Nazi Party and I find your attitude deeply worrying tbh.

Not sure what your point is re evolution. As far as I am aware evolution isn't taught as part of RE.

mrswoolf · 05/06/2009 13:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

clemette · 05/06/2009 13:10

Here it is - we teach the different views of the creation of man.
You keep telling me that my view is wrrying, but keep ignoring the arguments I give for why I hold it. Can you explain why the BNP are not the equivalent of the British Nazi Party?

I do have an ex-student whose father is a Nazi (as in part of a European neo-Nazi organisation). We had an interesting discussion where he told me that the Nazi programme of 1921 was one of the foundations used for the current BNP manifesto.

daftpunk · 05/06/2009 13:12

spicemonster.....

can't say i'm shocked....they have alot of support in certain parts of the country

spicemonster · 05/06/2009 13:13

I know daftpunk. Doesn't make it any less depressing that there are so many stupid short-sighted people around

daftpunk · 05/06/2009 13:16

yep..half of their voters haven't got a clue what their voting for....hopefully they'll never find out.

londonone · 05/06/2009 13:18

clemette - I have no problem with you personally believing that the BNP are the equivalent of the Nazis. I happen to believe that all religions are a variety of fairy stories but I would never impose that view upon the children I teach. Religion and Politics are a matter of opinions and IMO teachers should not be teaching their opinions as fact. By all means illustrate some similarities in the manifestos and then let the pupils make up their own minds. By calling them the British Nazi Party you are going too far. As I said how would you feel about a teacher who took streps to highlight all the mainstream aspects ofthe BNP in order to garner support for them?

mrswoolf - that is exactly what clemette says she does except rather than promoting a party she is negative about a party.

londonone · 05/06/2009 13:20

daftpunk - education is the way forward, however I would see people who voted for your party of choice as also out of touch and worrying!

dollius · 05/06/2009 13:26

I think you are wrong londonone. If Clemette was neutral about the BNP in the classroom, and represented them as just another political party, then that would be dangerous. It would help to "normalise" them in the minds of young people.

They are not a normal political party. They are a group of thuggish morons - many of them with criminal convictions for violence against women and ethnic minorities - who promote hatred and social division. They should not be tolerated by anyone, let alone our teachers.

When it comes to extremist groups like the BNP, it doesn't wash to say that their politics are merely a matter of opinion.

georgiemum · 05/06/2009 13:27

don't worry. but we know who you are...

JeanPoole · 05/06/2009 13:28

people that don't look at the manifestos or understand what they are voting for.

should not vote.

how anyone can support these racist, sexist, homophobic thugs is beyond me.
i can only conclude they have no idea who they are voting for.

fucking disgraceful.