You're right, of course - either side of the line and you're going to see the centre as being too far the other way. I was concentrating on the current right-wing government's attack on anyone they see as further to the left than they. As most of the long-established media have traditionally been on their side, they will focus on those that aren't.
I'm so glad politics plays a minuscule part in my life. It took a toll on my childhood which is why I leave it alone as much as possible. Seeing people calling each other names, many of which are quite nasty and undeserved, makes me really sad.
I call myself socialist because it's a useful shorthand to convey my beliefs. However, I believe in social inclusiveness, fairness, justice and equality for all - I don't consider that a political stance, just common human decency.
this left and right stuff is so pointless. A tory is not right wing, just a branch of the tories are rabid racists. They are mostly just in it for the money and what they can get. the labour party are not left wing, just a branch are still rampant union supporters and want to take and redistribute the wealth from the rich to the proletariat. they are mostly just in it for the money and what they can get Liberals not all free forall anarchists, just some are. the rest? well... guess what? leaving politicians aside there isn't all that much that separates the middle ground people of the uk form each other. Most want some fairness and most want security and most want good opportunities. Its just some folk are selfish and only care about themselves so believe voting tory gets that. (they don't want to pay for servies other people will benefit from) I'd say the average yank now... the difference between a blue and a red there might be massive and even within their parties there's massive difference. Both would be considered far more capitalist than the tories but in reality the tories just can't get away with what they want to just yet (privatise the NHS)
Yet when I have said exactly the same thing (apart from calling myself a socialist) I've had labels attached to me. That's the bit I don't like. I live outside of calling myself anything. I view a situation as a human being using common sense and have found that expressing an opinion based on that is labelled because it happens to fall into one particular political ideology or other. I haven't set foot back in the pub thread for this very reason. We need to be kinder to each other.
I find it difficult to assign myself left or right of the political divide. Some of my beliefs are incredibly right wing I think. I'd reintroduce the death penalty in a heart beat, but Im Quite keen on social housing. The split in the political spectrum is an absolute Ballache. Edit: in fact a while ago I was on a political page ant called a gammon and a left wing snowflake all in the space of 5 minutes. Made me laugh.
Can we get back to the football please. I keep getting alerts, expecting to find someone posting about how Casemiro is a **** cry baby, only to be disappointed by finding yet more politics.
It has been a deliberate ploy by the Tory party to attack the BBC. Dominic Cummins wrote a strategy before they came to power with a call to “end of the BBC in its current form” and that "rightwingers should work to undermine the credibility of the broadcaster, branding it the “mortal enemy” of the Conservative party."
I noticed it when moving to the US, but I think UK is almost as bad these days. Maybe it was always bad in the UK but I just was blind to it... Certainly jarred for me when I came here. Just like football, politics is a team sport and people will decide what they believe based on what their team does. Take tariffs for one example in the US. Republicans policy used to be laissez faire economics and lowering of tariffs. Tariffs were a leftist ideal. Along came Trump placing tariffs on everything and all the Republicans are now saying we need tariffs to protect business and now Democrats are against tariffs. There's no individual thought. People just follow what their favourite party tells them even if a year prior they believed the exact opposite. It feels a lot like football. Whether a tackle is a penalty or not for many people depends on which team is getting the penalty. Whether a player is good or not depends on whether they play for you or not. People change their mind whether they are on the left or right side of the stadium. When the penalty call comes up for the other team in an identical scenario people reverse their call. Not everyone is as extreme as everyone else, but yes... Both Football and Politics are as tribal as each other.
I forgot that, it's true lol I think the difference with football is as you get older you've seen it all before, you learn to laugh at misfortunes and take a balanced view. In politics the older you get the more set in your ways and less reluctant to change you become.
