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Politics

Do the left hate the right more than the right hate the left?

159 replies

Eve · 11/05/2010 20:52

Comment I came across..on twitter I think somewhere.

I thought there was a large element of truth in it?

Views?

OP posts:
ooojimaflip · 12/05/2010 10:59

People don't believe in democracy - they believe in getting their own way - democracy just tries to stop people getting to 'fisty' about it ;)

Cartoose · 12/05/2010 11:00

Sorry Claig, the DM really is rubbish.

Sit on it Fonz

mistletoekisses · 12/05/2010 11:11

Not sure about the level of hatred and who 'hates' more than the other. But I would definitely say that there has been a lot of 'Tory bashing' on MN. I havent seen anywhere near the same level of 'Labour bashing' at all. But then I think the majority of mnetters are Labour supporters..either that or there a lot of closet Tories...

I think admitting you vote Tory is akin to admitting you feed your child fruit shoots...bound to result in you being shot to pieces...

ZephirineDrouhin · 12/05/2010 11:20

People generally hate when they are under attack and faced with a threat to their existence. The Right is obviously not facing anything like this at the moment so has little reason for hatred. It would be surprising to say the least if those on the right were spewing venom in the midst of their rise to power.

VicToryA · 12/05/2010 11:23

LOL, Mistletoe. Got it in one re. fruit shoooots!

AndieWalsh · 12/05/2010 11:29

The Right wing press is viciously hateful.

ZephirineDrouhin · 12/05/2010 11:32

That is certainly true AndieWalsh. Has been pretty shocking during this election.

ZephirineDrouhin · 12/05/2010 11:37

In fact scratch my first post. We are pretty much saturated with right-wing venom.

claig · 12/05/2010 11:38

I might have to reconsider my choice of the Daily Mail in light of so many contrary opinions, but I'm not sure I'm prepared to quite become a progressive yet.

We saw the progressives last night out on the streets, like a gaggle of geese and ganders, booing, jeering, hissing, growling, grunting, it wasn't a pleasant sight, all they seemed to do was whine and wail, oh for the comfort of a biccy, a cup of tea and a copy of the Mail, maybe they could start by cooling some of those aggressives off in jail.

animula · 12/05/2010 11:40

What I find bizarre is the free-roaming, amorphous, and dispersed hatred and resentment of the ... right. I hesitate to call them right-wing, because their political allegiance seems rarely to be based on classic political lines. Though they are "classic" political motivations of modern British democracy.

I suppose I am, indeed, referring to that strange class, the Daily Mail voter. They hate, yes they really do hate, and fear, a whole range of figures. But those figures aren't so much the Left, but rather those they perceive as being unjustly enabled by the Left.

They hate the wealthy, whilst simultaneously desiring that wealth, and admiring it, they hate the poor (particularly those just below them, I suppose out of fear), they perform mental gymnastics to differentiate between the obscure objects of their imaginings, and the people they have met who fall into these categories ("Oh, I don't mean you, you're different.").

And their political allegiance seems to spring from this psychological terrain of fear and misidentification. Often voting, altruistically (!) against their own interests, and indeed in a politics of resentment (which is the charge they mount against those voting Left-ishly).

It's not a pretty sound, as they squeal indignantly and froth. But it isn't, particularly "The Left" they hate.

Hate is a very strong word. It points to emotional and visceral reactions, rather than political rationality. I think I associate it with what happens when figures get abjected, and when there are attempts on our emotional responses. I've seen a lot of abjection in the media towards GB - which has not been nice. And the DM is not squeamish about evoking those emotions.

Of course, I don't mean anyone on mn. I'm sure none of us fall into that category.

skihorse · 12/05/2010 11:43

animula I think you'll find it's the Left which hate the "wealthy" (or perceived to be) - after all, is it not the left (as in evidence on mn) desperately clinging to their tax credits and demanding services which in this unfair world - are, and always have been, only available to the very wealthy? Now, if that isn't an "it's not fair, I haven't got what they've got, give me it" rhetoric then I couldn't begin to imagine what is.

The rest of your diatribe I cannot be bothered to deal with.

TheHeathenOfSuburbia · 12/05/2010 11:46

Yes, what animula said.

claig · 12/05/2010 11:48

but TheHeathenOfSuburbia, your mum reads the Mail

TheHeathenOfSuburbia · 12/05/2010 11:48

skihorse, if you point me in the direction of someone saying 'I voted tory because I get tax credits but don't want them', and give me a couple of examples of these services for the wealthy that 'the left' demand, your post might make a tad more sense.

TheHeathenOfSuburbia · 12/05/2010 11:49

actually, claig, I read animula's post and thought, wow, you have my mum down to a tee there

GetOrfMoiLand · 12/05/2010 11:50

I certainly dislike the tory party, as I see them as a rancid old whore who has been peddling the same ideals for over 300 years. However it is an enjoyable dislike which I take pleasure in. They are a good opponent to have.

I reserve my real vitriol and visceral hatred for the liberal democrats.

claig · 12/05/2010 11:54

TheHeathenOfSuburbia
what your mum has to put up with, she's a veritable saint. She knows what's what and who's who. Same as GetOrfMoiLand's mum, who also reads the Mail, if I remember rightly. All the sensible people people do

ZephirineDrouhin · 12/05/2010 11:57

Well, Claig's caricature of the protest outside Downing Street is a pretty good example of the Right's expression of hatred for the Left.

But I agree with animula actually. The right wing press is full of daily incitements to hatred, but generally it's not towards the Left specifically, but rather to whatever scapegoat they can conveniently point to as a threat to the fibre of Middle England.

lemonmuffin · 12/05/2010 11:57

Of course it's the left who hate more, you see it on here over and over again, some sickening posts which tbh have slowly made me become a lot more tribal in my support for the Tories.

GetOrfMoiLand · 12/05/2010 11:58

Lol!

My mum absolutely loves the Mail. She is working class lesbian barmaid who had a child conceived with donor sperm and was a single mother on Income Support for a time.

She won't hear word said against the mail. She just calls me 'left wing and shrill'.

I think tha Daily Mail is a brilliantly successful paper. I emphatically do not agree with anything which is written in it (and I loathed its disrorion of the election campaign, along with the NI press), but it has a distinct, evil and twisted personality.

claig · 12/05/2010 12:00

ZephirineDrouhin, my accurate description of the progressives outside Downing Street was humour not hatred. I don't take it seriously, it's just part of life's rich tapestry.

sethstarkaddersmum · 12/05/2010 12:02

The left hating the right and not vice versa is a British thing though - look at how the American right slag off liberals.

claig · 12/05/2010 12:03

GetOrfMoiLand, me, your mum and TheHeathenOfSuburbia's mum would get on like a house on fire

GetOrfMoiLand · 12/05/2010 12:05

Does you mouth disappear cats bum like when you mention immigrants?

My mum also loves those articles which are syndicated from Closer magazine or whatever, where people are raising 6 kids on benefits but have flat screen tellies etc. 'Look at this' she says, waving it in my face, blaming me becasue I am a labour voter.

claig · 12/05/2010 12:08

no I'm not like that. She's just trying to convert you, make you see some sense

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