Are the left wing less tolerant of the views of others?

[anonymous-user]

[redacted]

[Lucas CAV]

You're a day or two late with the st stirring. The migrant thread has been deleted....

[Twilkes]

A few other forums that I read have more representation from left-type people, and there seems to be a subtext of claiming the moral superiority, of arguing from passion rather than pragmatism, and of less solid, more easily take-apartable arguments compared to right-type people. So maybe left-type people invest more of their personal soul into their politics than right-type people who are more objective, and interpret this as right-type people having no personal soul, hence being unable to countenance having them as friends, and hence 'evil Tories who want to dismantle the country into the ground and kill all disabled people'.

[radambc]

It's often observed that people tend to start out more left wing and then become more right wing as they get older.

I think leftwingers are characterised by idealism (we should all be equal, all asylum seekers are genuine, nuclear weapons are evil and we should get rid of them etc.) and rightwing people are characterised by realism (it would be nice if we were all equal, but we're not, not all asylum seekers are genuine, nuclear weapons are a necessary evil in this world etc.)

That's how I see it.
Left = idealism
Right = realism

Maybe this explains the difference in tolerance levels.

[s2art]

Many people have made similar observations about lefties.

Dan Hannan wrote;

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100...

[creampuff]

Yeah I have a number of Australian left wing friends on Facebook. They are always posting stuff like Abbot (the Aust. PM who is using the Navy and Customs Service to forcibly return refugee/immigrant boats) "Abbot doesn't represent Australians". Ummm, yes he does because Australians voted him in and they voted him in with a turn-back-boats policy.

Really they are all chardonnay socialists.

[Randy Winkman]

s2art said:

Many people have made similar observations about lefties.

Dan Hannan wrote;

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100...

Er .... that's the Telegraph.

[Otispunkmeyer]

I have a number of left leaning friends on FB (many teachers and fellow PhD'ers, so not stupid people). Some are vegan as well. I see posts all the time from broccolli having more protein that steak, vegan body builders being better than normal body builders, lots angry rants against something the tories have done, stuff about pensions and not getting their annual payrise (for simply turning up to work).

To be honest I never comment on them, 5 minutes on google easily sorts out the cobblers from the kinda-sorta-true-if-you-look-at-it-upside-down stuff. Why they do it when stuff is easily fact checkable I have no idea, but I don't comment because it will only start a fight. They have blinkers for certain things, especially things they are passionate about. As has been mentioned they are idealists in the round but unfortunately the world just isn't ideal and it never will be.

[creampuff]

Otispunkmeyer said:

Why they do it when stuff is easily fact checkable I have no idea, but I don't comment because it will only start a fight.

I had some Facebook posts recently about how the Syrian refugees were fleeing from "western bombs" and how they didn't like getting bombed. Ahh OK. I thought they were fleeing from ISIS and from fighting between Assad and ISIS. Seems pretty strange to me that they could be fleeing from western bombs but then want to migrate straight to NATO countries.

[jogon]

It's all about appearances, not outcomes.

[Otispunkmeyer]

creampuff said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

Why they do it when stuff is easily fact checkable I have no idea, but I don't comment because it will only start a fight.

I had some Facebook posts recently about how the Syrian refugees were fleeing from "western bombs" and how they didn't like getting bombed. Ahh OK. I thought they were fleeing from ISIS and from fighting between Assad and ISIS. Seems pretty strange to me that they could be fleeing from western bombs but then want to migrate straight to NATO countries.

Exactly that kind of stuff. I mean you read that and it sounds absurd so you question it and go away to fact check to see if its right or not. But the people posting it and re-posting it do so seemingly without critique simply because it suits their beliefs. I find that quite bad really, especially as some of these people are scientific PhDs and as such I would have thought would be questioning and checking sources on just about anything.

Granted I also have some right wingers on there who post the "down with the immigrants" crap. There doesnt seem to be many who see the problem from both sides, its either; we must take them all in and give them homes and benefits or we should be shooting them as they wash up on the beaches (I kid you not). Black or white. Nothing in between.

[Derek Smith]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

You do know that irony doesn't mean like iron, don't you.

[jjlynn27]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Do they call you 'rightie'?

[Puggit]

I could write an essay, but of course it all boils down to lefties being wrong, and not understanding basic economics. The coping mechanism is to shout abuse.

[RobinBanks]

Derek Smith said:

You do know that irony doesn't mean like iron, don't you.

Stalin almost means that though.

And he was on the left side of things in theory

(Not that this is in any way relevant)

[dudleybloke]

Puggit said:

I could write an essay, but of course it all boils down to lefties being wrong, and not understanding basic economics. The coping mechanism is to shout abuse.

Logic and reason seems to offend lefties.

This country is at risk of failure because of the "feelings" of morons.

[davepoth]

jjlynn27 said:

Do they call you 'rightie'?

I had one call me a "Tory " once. I think that's the equivalent.

[MrBarry123]

Neither the right or the left are particularly tolerant of each other.

The left are able to be very vocal without provoking outrage because they justify their opinions on the basis that everything they recommend is for the "public good" and benefit those who are taken advantage of by the rich; as if they are all a modern-day Robin Hood. In reality, as I said, this makes them appear less tolerant because their vocalness means we hear a lot from them, and what we do hear is often quite extreme. The right can't [aren't able to] be as vocal because of the association of right-wing views in history and as such, they appear more tolerant than the left when they're actually just quieter.

I've become more left-wing as I've got older however only in a way which has moved my views from centre-right to near radical-centre for the most part.

[anonymous-user]

Derek Smith said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

You do know that irony doesn't mean like iron, don't you.

Very good Dereck !

[Lucas CAV]

I'm not necessarily going to call someone racist for liking or supporting Britain First.

Thick would be more accurate.