Been thinking about this so much in the last couple of days, partly because my own political alignment seems to be all over the place like a geiger counter on acid, and partly because my wife just gave birth to my second child and I am not sleeping so well, so have had lots of time to mull this over......
Let me start by telling you a little about my political background (or lack thereof, until a couple of years ago).
My mums family is full of UKIP supporters, and my dad was a sweetheart, one of the kindest men you would ever meet. He was also a supporter of the BNP.
Now straight away that has ****ed with some of your brainwaves "BNP?, kindest man you will ever meet?....barrgggghhhh".
I was deeply disappointed when I found this out about my father, he was definitely not racist, at least not to my knowledge, he had black and Greek friends, he ran a pub and I never saw him refuse entry to anyone, look down on anyone or be horrible to anybody in that way....so naturally my thought process was something akin to yours right now reading this....."Da fuq?!"
At this point, this was my early 20's, I couldn't have given a rats ass about politics. Blair, Brown etc, these were all just people on my TV. Nothing they said or did ever had any effect on me.......I was nothing to them and they were nothing to me.....
Then something changed.
My first daughter was born. Around this time I started to become alarmed with the amount of footage released on the internet of US cops shooting and killing unarmed minorities, and through investigation of these incidents I found a Youtube channel called "The Young Turks".
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks
Essentially a left wing, progressive Internet news network, covering global issues from the liberal perspective.
And I was sucked in.....I bought it wholesale. I argued with family members over all kinds of ****. Pensions, racism, socialist issues, Social, financial and gender equality.
I felt righteous. And I felt angry when I saw what I perceived as injustice, wherever I may find it. And I took to doing what they do on the Young Turks and in fact what a lot of left wing libs do these days......I attacked the Right Wing. After all, they were Right Wing....they must all be Pro Gun, Anti Abortion, homophobic and against Gender Equality etc.
If there is anything the last 6 months has taught me it's this....The Left can be worse.
They come from a place of goodness, and of well meaning, but then in their zeal to promote equality, some of them can border of fascism.
"That's not right.....you WILL see things our way. It's the only way to go".
A lot of what I feel is covered in the video I posted earlier, and in some of the posts I put on the EU debate thread, but I will repeat myself here.
Its gone too far. We have outlawed racism and homophobia! Now again, your first thought is "Good!!", but no, in my opinion, not good at all.
Basically what you are doing is telling someone that what they feel, or what they believe in, is inherently evil and against the law, and because they think this, they must be punished. Not educated, but insulted, labeled and punished.
Take the example I set the other day.
I punch someone because he is fat, with no prior record, I get charged with assault and given 6 months probation.
I punch someone because he is black, with no prior record, I get charged with "Racially aggravated assault" and given 2 years in prison.
I punch someone because he is gay, with no prior record, I get charged with a "Hate crime" and sentenced to 2 years in prison.
See what's happened there? Same crime, but because the initial motivating factor behind the assault was different, the punishment changes.
And this isn't the fault of minorities, or black people, or Right Wingers.
It's left wingers, hard lefties that have done this.
Now, given what I have just said, do you think a racist, if he is charged with racial assault and sentenced to two years in prison, will see the light and become unracist?
Or see for himself that because the victim was blacked, his sentence was increased, confirming, in his mind, his racist rhetoric, that they are given special treatment and exalted above the majority and become angry, hateful, resentful, and double down on his current beliefs...
Which do you think is most likely?
When Right wing minded folk speak up they are shot down.
Because the cultural war was won by us (The left), and it is no longer acceptable to be homophobic, racist or misogynistic (rightly so), we feel that gives us a license to secrete our views everywhere, as rigid, unbendable and uncompromising gospel. And anyone who does not agree is scum ,or racist etc. If someone speaks out with a view we do not like, they are immediately insulted, mocked and shunned. Where does this leave them? We have blocked them from ever coming left with our self righteousness, so where can they go....only place they can....to the Right.
Yes there is Right wing press (Mail etc), but as I mentioned earlier. You know who the only people are who read Right wing press? Right Wingers! Do you know who the only people who read left wing press are? Left Wingers.
In terms of converting or enlightening anyone, they are useless and serve no purpose, for both sides, except to push a narrative their readers have already swallowed, hook, line and sinker.
Also if we give Extreme Right wingers the means to get their point across on TV, they will expose their own follies, take Nick Griffin on Question time, showed the whole world what a **** he was, and it effectively ended his career. If we try to silence anyone with thoughts that differ from ours, then that just makes you fascist!
I think it is time the extreme left realised that fervour of that intensity does not help our cause, quite the opposite, it hinders it.
By all means be passionate, no one will argue against you for that, some will even admire you for it.
But the day we tell everyone that its our way, or the highway, and damn your ****ing soul if you do not agree, is the day the Left will truly lose.
With Trump as the next President, the Tories in charge here, and facing a forthcoming Brexit.....we need to be as united as ever, to debate, to talk, to get our views across in ways that enlighten and excite, not shun and insult.
Long post and its 2am, im gonna attempt to sleep.
Congrats.
