Personal Political Beliefs : Has the pandemic made you move further left or right?

[hst43102]

I had a go:

Which is quite funny, because many of my friends would consider me to be a raving right-wing racist...

That looks exactly the same as mine, and what you say about your friend is also true fore me

 

[brad465]

I had a go:
View attachment 89243
Which is quite funny, because many of my friends would consider me to be a raving right-wing racist...

Our society has become so deeply divided between far left and far right that there are those on one of those extremes who think someone who is centre-left is a right winger, or thinks a centre-right person is left wing. A load of people so obsessed with Corbyn think Starmer is "Tory-lite" for this reason, even though many of his policies are centre-left, or at least somewhere between left Corbyn and centrist Blair.

 

[ABB125]

Our society has become so deeply divided between far left and far right that there are those on one of those extremes who think someone who is centre-left is a right winger, or thinks a centre-right person is left wing. A load of people so obsessed with Corbyn think Starmer is "Tory-lite" for this reason, even though many of his policies are centre-left, or at least somewhere between left Corbyn and centrist Blair.

Quite. That's the problem with extremism!

I think it would be fair to say that I (along with most people) have views from across the political spectrum: mostly towards the middle, but one or two from the more extreme ends (both of them!).

 

[WelshBluebird]

Our society has become so deeply divided between far left and far right that there are those on one of those extremes who think someone who is centre-left is a right winger, or thinks a centre-right person is left wing. A load of people so obsessed with Corbyn think Starmer is "Tory-lite" for this reason, even though many of his policies are centre-left, or at least somewhere between left Corbyn and centrist Blair.

The same is true for those of us who supported Corbyn though. We were accused of supporting a communist, even by people on this forum, despite the fact the policies that he stood on were basically no more centre left than many other Western European countries.

 

[typefish]

When this crisis started, I was already rather left-libertarian to begin with.

This included having rather a dislike of authorities such as the police - mostly as I felt that a lot of the views and opinions that the police would like to promote aren't views that the police themselves share.

Anyhow I had a fear that a sizeable proportion of the police would go to town with misusing the new powers that they been granted, and I'm glad to announce that's definitely happened.

For reasons I won't go into, I'd class myself somewhat as a "locktivist" given the horrific situation that the nation has found itself in but even now I'm beginning to grow wary of what's happening.

Unlawful* applications of drone surveillance of hill walkers exercising out in the open, random stops of vehicles to determine whether someone who was out shopping was doing so legally (manners gone the way of New Bridge Street station) and even reports of buses being searched by police to check that everyone's all out for a lawful reason.

All the while whilst the police themselves are mostly exempt from most coronavirus legislation.

It's gone too far.

And I understand that the police's role is to enforce legislation put forward by the Executive, but as a result of everything I've come across, it has definitely shoved me even further libertarian. Perhaps I should just buy a log cabin in the woods and become a librarian instead?

* Derbyshire Police more than likely contravened aviation legislation for a couple of days at the onset of the pandemic until someone discovered what was being done was unlawful and new legislation was promptly issued allowing drones to be used in this way.

 

[mikeg]

I'm still centre left and I'm not sure it's changed me on the traditional left-right scale, however it's made me a tad more Liberal in social respects, yet more communitarian economically. These changes are however not to be overstated.

 

[52290]

I'm still centre left and I'm not sure it's changed me on the traditional left-right scale, however it's made me a tad more Liberal in social respects, yet more communitarian economically. These changes are however not to be overstated.

When I was young I was a Marxist and now I am old I'm still a Marxist. It's just that I've changed from Karl to Groucho.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

The pandemic has only deepened my resentment of the Tories. I think Matt Hancock has done plenty of that. I'm seeing people I know here in the southeast - who have always been pro-Tory - swing markedly leftwards during lockdown. It's because of how severely this has all been mismanaged.

Still very much on the left myself. I'm somewhere between Starmer and Corbyn, I suppose.

I'd vote Labour in an election, because - as massive is the pandemic has been - the most important issue is still the climate emergency and Labour are best-placed to actually do something meaningful about it (plus the Greens have become hopelessly derailed after throwing all their messaging into the People's Vote instead of climate action). I don't expect this forum to be tolerant of that message, but I absolutely stand by it: it is the defining issue from now on. To deny this is to deny the scale of the problem - to deny the climate crisis via minimisation. And, yeah, the Tories aren't anywhere near Labour on that front. Starmer seems fairly keen on retaining Corbyn's climate commitments; that's absolutely the right move. It's the only plan that comes close to sufficing.

I do not support Labour and would continue to stand by my Conservative membership but I must agree that this current government has left me feeling embarrassed, Matt Hancock and Therese Coffey are two ministers I particularly dislike and believe to have been incompetent, and have been arrogant and petty to my eye when questioned about this incompetence by journalists.

 

[Peter0124]

Tried that Political Compass thing and it told me I was centre-left and slightly libertarian, which I'd agree with.