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I might vote Tory but that doesn't make me a bad person

(442 Posts)
kittylester Fri 08-May-15 16:08:54

and I'm am really fed up of all the vitriol aimed at people like me. When did the country become so intolerant and judgmental? Why are we not allowed to hold different opinions? Debate is good and can achieve progress but insults just cause division confused

rosesarered Sun 10-May-15 10:51:28

if Labour had won the election, albeit with the help of the SNP, we Lib Dem and Conservative voters(we very very many!)would not be on here saying vitriolic daft things about Labour voters, yes, we would have been worried about the direction our country would have been taken in, just as you Labour voters are, because we have different ideas, but really GracesGranthe things you say are REALLY the things UKIP was saying, so ironic smiles doesn't cut it. We are all entitled to say why we don't like the outcome, but what you have just said illustrates why the OP started this thread.

trisher Sun 10-May-15 10:52:11

Oh I believe in democracy, what I don't believe is that a party that was voted for by just over 36% of the population should be able to introduce policies which just over 30% were opposed to and the rest had varied opinions about. Effectively the present system disenfranchised a lot of the population. Figures-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results

mollie65 Sun 10-May-15 11:27:39

trisher this has always been the case with FPTP as I tried to explain shock on another thread
nulabour when in power did not represent majority of the voters even though they won the most seats - nothing has changed and will not unless you have proportional representation.
why is this so difficult to get your heads round - it is not some dastardly Conservative trick introduced in this election.
and I was appalled at the 'rentamob' defacing statues and using the 60% jibe as one of their slogans. Do you know, Conservatives would not have done such a thing in the 1997, 2001, 2005 defeats however disappointed they felt at losing.

POGS Sun 10-May-15 11:28:43

You ruddy would if Labour had won though!

Percentages are interesting. To those who are scornful of the Conservative win using the percentage of votes to try and tarnish the result, there is one thing I will agree with you if using your methodology is legitimate UKIP should hold more seats than the SNP, Plaid etc.

rosesarered Sun 10-May-15 11:41:03

Agreed!

mollie65 Sun 10-May-15 11:43:29

no POGS I wouldn't much as I dislike labour
in 1997 I remember the gloating by the blairites but no-one went on an uncivilised rampage at the result. If I was a labour supporter I would not want to associate my cause with the 'rentamob' defacers.

Gracesgran Sun 10-May-15 12:23:23

Rosesarered I am quite prepared to believe that you, as a Tory voter (?) of the title, did not read and feed the coffers of the papers that created these cartoon views of groups of our population. I am also prepared to believe that you would never have made such sweeping generalisations yourself.

They are probably, as I said, just a small number of those voting Tory in just the same way that the press uses a small number of other groups to define them. You say this was just UKIP voters but many who espoused UKIPs more extreme view ended up voting Tory and the, what you might call the UKIP view, is embraced by far right or just unthinking (and they are in every party) Tory voter.

What I said was that the question seemed to be, to rephrase the title of the thread "why do you see me a bad person just because I voted Tory?" my answer was nothing to do with who lost or won the election, Labour voters could equally ask - "why do you see as wanting to spend, spend, spend?" It is because the press is lazy and many of the voters - of different shades - buy into that press.

GrannyTwice Sun 10-May-15 12:26:58

What happened last night was unacceptable. Which Labour supporters are associating themselves with this? and I lovevthe pejorative use of language 'gloating' 'vitriolic' - I think there are sme poor winners on GN who can't accept others right to criticise and not either keep quiet or admit they are wrong, as last night's behaviour showed. GG your post was brilliant - everything you said has been in the DM/ Sun whom I seem to recall support the Conservatives. UKIP my foot

GrannyTwice Sun 10-May-15 12:30:10

Realise there is a confusion above - my first reference to last night was about the demo , my second was to the childish attempt to derail certsin threads. Well, well done, there's even more threads today. And you know what you can do if you don't like it ( go to SK and have a moan)

thatbags Sun 10-May-15 12:33:42

many who espoused UKIPs more extreme view ended up voting Tory

How do you know this, gracesgran? UKIP actually got quite a lot of votes, which doesn't suggest to me that those voting UKIP changed their decision. Their having only one seat is because we don't have proportional representation. It's a similat thing to what hapoened in Scotland. Have the votes cast in Scotland were not for the SNP. Most of those voters are not now represented by the people they voted for.

thatbags Sun 10-May-15 12:34:34

Half the votes in Scotland...

Just checked and UKIP got 13% of votes cast.

thatbags Sun 10-May-15 12:35:21

SK?

Riverwalk Sun 10-May-15 12:39:01

Last night's rent-a-mob has nothing to do with Labour - that's like blaming the Tories for EDL-type violence.

harrigran Sun 10-May-15 12:41:37

Soop's kitchen, I am assuming. Those that don't agree with GT should go and have a virtual cup of tea.

thatbags Sun 10-May-15 12:42:00

Yes, absent and soutra, re comments yesterday about supposedly intelligent people liking Russell Brand. I still find it odd that they do though.

thatbags Sun 10-May-15 12:42:26

Ah! Thank you, harri. smile

Gracesgran Sun 10-May-15 12:45:07

How do you know this, gracesgran?

This isn't the only forum I visit thatbags I also belong to one which the far right would love and almost all of the shouty Ukippers on there have said they ended up voting Tory.

thatbags Sun 10-May-15 12:46:57

And how many is that? Not thousands, presumably? More like a few dozen at most?

Gracesgran Sun 10-May-15 13:52:22

It is really irrelevant thatbags. Why do you feel the need to pick that pip out of the orange. I was trying to answer the original premise that "you see me a bad person just because I voted Tory."

I did not address it as a political question but one relating to a lazy press and lazy readers/watchers who were happy to buy in to these simplistic descriptions drawn from very few in the groups.

As I said in a previous post the right wing press set up the caricatures and this one, if it exists, has rebounded on those who feel that some see Tory voters as "bad" people.

Eloethan Sun 10-May-15 14:07:39

The Conservative strategy of whipping up hysteria about the dangers posed by an imaginary alliance between Labour and the SNP was interpreted by many political commentators as a way of frightening UKIP voters back into the fold.

According to a YouGov poll released just before election day, one in three UKIP voters feared Ed Miliband would share power with the SNP after the election.

It was obviously in Nicola Sturgeon's interest to intimate that a deal between Labour and the SNP would be on the cards if Labour got the most votes. Miliband's categorical denial of this - even to the extent of saying he would rather not gain power if it required the backing of the SNP - is likely to have been perceived as deeply insulting to the Scottish people. It created the impression that Labour, like the Conservatives, saw the SNP as some sort of devious, malign force, rather than as a political movement that represented a large number of Scottish people - some of whom wished to split from the UK all together but others who just wanted more say in decision making.

This suited the SNP agenda brilliantly as it ensured that after this election, many more Scottish people would, in the light of Miliband's perceived distaste for them, see an independent Scotland as the only way forward.

David Cameron is said to be a committed unionist but he took a risk in exacerbating the tensions between Scottish and English voters. Others in his party, it has been suggested, would be quite happy to see Scotland leave the UK - thus greatly enhancing the chances of a right-of-centre party being elected to office in England on a regular basis.

Anya Sun 10-May-15 14:11:42

Exactly

TerriBull Sun 10-May-15 14:20:17

I'm not on Twitter but if I were I'd tweet Rod Liddle's comments in the Sunday Times to vacuous Lily Allen who expressed the sentiments "just thinking what other fascist regime, I could live under now." Perhaps she'd like to consider Burundi - Rod Liddle writes - "if you think our election was dire - in Burundi, during their recent elections - people were set on fire in the street, opposition supporters detained and tortured and there are 50,000 fleeing the country. The European Union have given Burundi £6 million to fund "genuine, credible and inclusive elections, where all the parties are comfortable to participate and respect civil liberties and political rights and freedom of expression should be part of the political solution" - well that went well then! Strangely opposition leaders want this funding withdrawn.

Whilst I understand disappointment when their party of choice is defeated, It pisses me off to read flippant remarks that Britain under a Tory government is somehow tantamount to living in a fascist state.

TerriBull Sun 10-May-15 14:54:39

Just watched a snippet on The Sunday Politics show of Peterborough's MP, Stuart Jackson - Conservative, during his acceptance speech he is heckled and booed by Labour activists, similar to those at Whitehall last night, almost certainly not representative of the majority of Labour supporters. Completely unacceptable behaviour from very poor losers.

rosequartz Sun 10-May-15 15:03:39

Gracesgran your post Sun 10-May-15 10:21:46

Lumping people together and trying to make out that they all subscribe to the points of view that you have posted is - what's the word - I will say ludicrous as what I would like to say would be deleted.

Your post comes across as rude, bigoted and very narrow-minded. Which is what you are accusing Tory voters of being.

Extremists belong to extreme groups (left and right), and as far as I know Tories would not come into that category, although you are trying to imply that they do.

POGS Sun 10-May-15 15:05:17

You only have to look at the graffiti on the WW11 monument to see the word 'scum' written, I know to whom I would attribute the word to. It wasn't anybody right of politics was it!

VE Day veterans must be wondering what the hell they faught for. They sacrificed for freedom and democracy , look what is happening, makes you bloody weep.

Why the hell can't people accept a democratic election took place and the people gave a mandate for government.