Quentin Langley on how the right understands the left better than vice versa
Quentin Langley, an old friend from my University days who was studying at what was then called Plymouth Poly while I was at Bristol, has written an excellent article on Conservative Home called
"A secret of our recent success: We understand the Left better than it understands us."
He assesses what he calls
"the Left’s biggest failing and its biggest success. The failing is that people on the left generally misunderstand conservatives. The success is that a great many people – and not just left-wing voters – have swallowed a key element of left-wing propaganda."
(e.g. that people vote for right wing purposes for selfish reasons.)
He goes on that the left's weakness is that
"On the whole, conservatives believe that their opponents are well-meaning, but naive or just mistaken. To far too many on the left, conservatives are simply evil. The Left does not concede that conservatives have a different idea of what is fair or just. It maintains instead that conservatives do not care about fairness or justice. For all the claims of being well-educated, rational, and broad-minded, there are many on the left who simply cannot imagine the concept of good faith disagreement with their position."
And hence their failure to understand why many people do not vote for them or to communicate effectively with anyone who might consider voting Conservative.
"A secret of our recent success: We understand the Left better than it understands us."
He assesses what he calls
"the Left’s biggest failing and its biggest success. The failing is that people on the left generally misunderstand conservatives. The success is that a great many people – and not just left-wing voters – have swallowed a key element of left-wing propaganda."
(e.g. that people vote for right wing purposes for selfish reasons.)
He goes on that the left's weakness is that
"On the whole, conservatives believe that their opponents are well-meaning, but naive or just mistaken. To far too many on the left, conservatives are simply evil. The Left does not concede that conservatives have a different idea of what is fair or just. It maintains instead that conservatives do not care about fairness or justice. For all the claims of being well-educated, rational, and broad-minded, there are many on the left who simply cannot imagine the concept of good faith disagreement with their position."
And hence their failure to understand why many people do not vote for them or to communicate effectively with anyone who might consider voting Conservative.
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