It just seems too convenient to call them all these personally demeaning terms just because they switched party loyalties. Perhaps they were always “stupid or pathetic,” but left-wingers were content to exploit them for their votes and keep quiet about their prejudices. And now maybe they’re sad that they’ve lost that ability? It’s all just too convenient for historically Labour constituencies to swap sides and immediately swap moral standing.
I tend to believe @caractacus cultural note, or Labour Party internal faction issues preventing a robust opposition party role, or the bill bishop and David Goodhart realignment/sorting. Or some sharing between all three.
And frankly the “How dare they swap Tory after 10 years of their misery and failure, what are they doing??” speaks more towards accepting their permanent loss. Like these aren’t 40-year Labour voters that might come back, and weren’t gone until 0-3 years ago, so there’s no reason to hide the base criticism of them as people because of their voting choices. But perhaps there’s more explanatory opinions not stated yet.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time." "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
The story of how Labour became electorally non viable is as follows:
Blair realised that he didn't need to court votes in the North or in Wales because they were solidly red, moves the party to the centre right to pick up swing voters down south. It works, he wins big and then focuses all economic development on London, leaves great swaths of the UK to continue their atrophy. Also of note is that during the New Labour years we get Devolution in Scotland and Wales.
2008 rolls round, New Labour gets the blame for causing a world wide economic recession that began in the USA. The SNP begin to take near enough every seat in Scotland.
Cameron sanitises the Conservative image, they aren't outright nasty to the working class anymore.
Cameron wins power, begins "Austerity lol",Labour get the blame.
Ed Milliband fails to eat a bacon sandwich correctly, loses an election.
Jeremy Corbyn becomes Labour leader. Thus begins JEREMY CORBYN WILL RUIN THE ECONOMY! (I can't put enough exclamation marks down here, word limit doesn't go to infinity).
Cameron decides he wants his peers to see how clever he is so he tries to settle the EU issue with a referendum, it goes horrifically wrong. Cameron resigns, fixing the damage you've done is hard and lobbying is far more profitable. In comes May.
May finds organising her party post Brexit is like herding cats. She sets about providing the most strong and stable government the UK has or will ever see, she tells us all this endlessly. She's so strong and stable she calls a GE and writes a suicide note for a manifesto where she tells people they will have to give up any their inheritance to pay for mom and pops care once they can't look after themselves.
Jeremy Corbyn comes within touching distance of winning the GE despite everyone coming out to bat against him, including his own party. He then gets horrifically injured trying to ride 2 horses whilst Parliament behaves like some kind of democracy where parties have to cooperate and compromise to get something done...only this is completely alien to the mother of all parliament's and no cooperation or compromise materialises.
BoJo comes in. Get Brexit done he says! He slays the hated Jeremy Corbyn who was going to ruin the economy with all his socialism and economic handouts.
BoJo gets Brexit done!...by changing his opinion on Northern Ireland and him and his fellow Brexiteers realise that all the issues that were a BETRAYAL under May suddenly aren't an issue anymore.
OMG Covid! BoJo fucks about, kills people and then begins massive socialism that would have RUINED THE ECONOMY if Jeremy Corbyn had done it.
Did I mention Sir Keir Starmer became leader of the Labour party? He promises to continue Corbyn's legacy and hold BoJo to account. He immediately begins to purge the Labour party of Corbynism and lends BoJo his unmitigated support.
Covid goes really badly...twice. But thanks to greed and capitalism we get the vaccine! The NHS are heralded as heroes through it all so BoJo offers them an effective pay cut. BUT WE HAVE THE VACCINE NURR NURR NURR NA NURR NURR!
Local elections loom, Cummings tells the media that BoJo got donors to pay for his flat and he would happily see his people dead so long as his mates can make money. However no one cares apparently, this is what we now expect of our PM and he's really good at telling us all how great everything is going and will continue to go and he's getting Brexit done so all is forgiven.
Blairites complain that it's Corbyn's fault they just lost big in the local elections, the left says it's because Labour isn't socialist enough, neither is right.
All hail BoJo the clown, may he reign eternal.
You aren’t trying to explain their switching of sides based on them being horrible people. It isn’t explanatory, no matter what your political ideology informs you on whether or not they made the right choice. “Why did they swap?” is different than “Why I think they made the wrong choice.”
"I wish it need not have happened in my time." "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
On MMO-C we learn that Anti-Fascism is locking arms with corporations, the State Department and agreeing with the CIA, But opposing the CIA and corporate America, and thinking Jews have a right to buy land and can expect tenants to pay rent THAT is ultra-Fash Nazism. Bellingcat is an MI6/CIA cut out. Clyburn Truther.
The numbers I saw was loss in Labour support going to Tories in excess of going towards third parties. You may correct me if I’m wrong.
Also, same problem, explaining the Labour loss as a defect in the voters. Unless you have evidence that Labour was much more racist recently and it was key to their prior performances, this sounds like more non-explanation of why it happened. Win, it’s because the policies are great, lose, it’s because the voters became racist.
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Is this still an issue post-Corbyn? Like an issue that matters to UK voters?
"I wish it need not have happened in my time." "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
I'll believe that Brits actually care about anti-semitism when they torch the Cathedral of Lincoln to the ground and not a moment sooner.
Also, this tweet is WAY more anti-semitic than anything they accused Corbyn of.
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I think the fact that Brits consider Boris's "let the bodies pile high" comment to be "reasonable" shows that the biggest problem the left faces in the UK is that British culture is diseased.
Election results don't track who a person previously voted for
I don't really care about how racist labour was seen/is seen, the point remains that people who vote tory either benefit from its economic policies/think they will or are racist as fuck.Also, same problem, explaining the Labour loss as a defect in the voters. Unless you have evidence that Labour was much more racist recently and it was key to their prior performances, this sounds like more non-explanation of why it happened. Win, it’s because the policies are great, lose, it’s because the voters became racist.
Whether they became more racist over time or not is not something I give a fuck about.
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I mean, we already know that the shit they made up about Cobyn turned out to be bullshit.
But hey, good job, with all those fake reports any real reports will now be less believable! A true victory.
No, actually they don't bot account. You BARELY got the vote passed with a simple majority, and that was with Russia helping the gullible people of your country like they did with the gullible people of mine in 2016 to elect Trump.
So far, you calling people mongrels, is rather fucking hilarious. And so far, I haven't seen you speak any truth, but you are violating the platform's rules by ban evading. I will wait for your new account for you to respond to me, because I KNOW you can't help being wrong.
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His 3rd or 4th account in 4 pages lol.
Last edited by Rozz; 2021-05-08 at 12:33 PM.