On political insults
A couple of days ago I put up Mrs Thatcher's response to personal attacks - that people only resort to them if they have no good political arguments as my quote of the day. I did that partly because an anonymous troll had been posting some childish insults about me on this blog. This was the quote:
It turned out, however, to be far more relevant to comments reported at the weekend which are supposed to have been made by anonymous MPs about the Prime Minister.
I spent today at a Conservative meeting at which a wide variety of views were expressed about Brexit but one thing which united all the people present regardless of their views about Remain or Leave was that some of the language which had allegedly been used about the PM was not an appropriate way to talk about any other human being, let alone the leader of one's own party who is also our country's Prime Minister.
If the comments concerned really were made by an MP rather than an over-imaginative journalist, they have not added to the reputation of their profession.
When one is cross with someone who has done or said something you strongly disagree with or think has made an egregious mistake, there is often a temptation to be very rude about them. This seems to particularly apply to political or religious disagreements (including where the person disagreeing is an atheist.)
I understand that temptation I've felt it often enough. Nor am I suggesting that giving in to that temptation, provided you fall short of incitement to violence or other criminal activity, should be illegal, although you're expecting a bit much if you expect the people you attack to provide you with a platform for those insults.
(I wouldn't expect Labour or Corbyn supporters to let me post a vicious personal attack on themselves or their leader on their websites and anyone who thinks I'm going to allow such attacks against anyone on this blog, least of all myself or anyone I like or support, is not playing with a full deck.)
But however strongly you may disagree with someone, giving in to the temptation to abuse them rarely if ever helps your case. I've never had the same respect for George Osborne as I had before his egregious remarks about the present PM and his fridge. Some of the remarks quoted in the papers this weekend are in the same category.
It turned out, however, to be far more relevant to comments reported at the weekend which are supposed to have been made by anonymous MPs about the Prime Minister.
I spent today at a Conservative meeting at which a wide variety of views were expressed about Brexit but one thing which united all the people present regardless of their views about Remain or Leave was that some of the language which had allegedly been used about the PM was not an appropriate way to talk about any other human being, let alone the leader of one's own party who is also our country's Prime Minister.
If the comments concerned really were made by an MP rather than an over-imaginative journalist, they have not added to the reputation of their profession.
When one is cross with someone who has done or said something you strongly disagree with or think has made an egregious mistake, there is often a temptation to be very rude about them. This seems to particularly apply to political or religious disagreements (including where the person disagreeing is an atheist.)
I understand that temptation I've felt it often enough. Nor am I suggesting that giving in to that temptation, provided you fall short of incitement to violence or other criminal activity, should be illegal, although you're expecting a bit much if you expect the people you attack to provide you with a platform for those insults.
(I wouldn't expect Labour or Corbyn supporters to let me post a vicious personal attack on themselves or their leader on their websites and anyone who thinks I'm going to allow such attacks against anyone on this blog, least of all myself or anyone I like or support, is not playing with a full deck.)
But however strongly you may disagree with someone, giving in to the temptation to abuse them rarely if ever helps your case. I've never had the same respect for George Osborne as I had before his egregious remarks about the present PM and his fridge. Some of the remarks quoted in the papers this weekend are in the same category.
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