Looking outside the bubble

One of the major problems that all parties have to watch - and having just won the election we Conservatives may now have to be much more careful of this - is the lethal temptation to listen only to those who agree with you.

Of course, the extreme conviction of some left wingers, like the garden shop owner in Lewes who put a note outside his shop asking Conservatives to identify themselves so he can charge them 10% extra and asking UKIP voters to shop elsewhere, or the coffee shop owner in Hackney who did something similar, that people who are on their side of the argument have a monopoly of virtue and anyone who disagrees with their "progressive" views is evil or stupid, does at least make it that much harder for us to ignore the fact that not everyone agrees with us.

But it also guarantees that the individuals who do this sort of thing will get a very skewed idea of what people think.

About 49% of those who voted in Lewes went Tory or UKIP. So nearly half the potential customers of that garden centre will either stay away - in which case the owner may have damaged his business - or will keep quiet about their opinions. As Hackney is a very Labour area the coffee shop owner is less likely to have damaged her income, but it's a pretty safe bet that she will reduce the extent to which she comes into contact with opposing points of view.

The Guardian seems to get this, though not everyone on the left has wised up yet.

Lionel Shriver and Rupert Myers have written on the subject of "shy tories" in that paper and both have concluded that many left wingers' behaviour is insulating them from contact with Conservative ideas and losing them both the opportunity to hear what other people think and to try to persuade people of their own ideas. Shriver argues that

"Public discourse in this country would be more civilised, productive, and robust if the left were less sanctimonious, less smugly certain of the righteousness of their cause, and more sensitive to the fact that everyone doesn’t see things their way – in which case results like last Friday’s might seem a measure less surprising.

"Conservative supporters might either have the courage of their convictions or, if truly ashamed, revise them, but they should at least refute the proposition that defending your own interests is only acceptable if you’re broke. This election was largely swung by the middle class of middle England, who determined that the economy was in safer hands with the Tories. Others may not agree, but that’s still a reputable position; it shouldn’t be a sordid little secret."

Links:
http://www.theguardian.com/…/polls-shy-tories-left-conserva…
http://www.theguardian.com/…/kissed-shy-tory-polls-labour-l…

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