Serious question. Do the tories over there have a cult like thing going on like our MAGA types here?
ETA: I'm in the US.
this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
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Not as such
We just have a lot of selfish, stupid old people.
You just described most of the MAGA crowd.
No, our lot are significantly more boring. Think Hot Fuzz, seriously. It's that type of "ooo-er not in our village!!!" NIMBY stuck in their way type of folk.
Exactly. I'm a dual national. The problem here in the UK is Middle England and other fuddy-duddies. They're myopic more than conspiratorial, although immigration is an area where they can sometimes venture into fantasy. The MAGA cult in the US is thoroughly unhinged.
Boris was trying to do that. However getting caught partying while people weren't allowed out of their homes and funerals were restricted to about 4 people made a lot of people realise how much of cunt he was.
The two prime ministers since, very much no.
It's not really equivalent. The USA has a significantly higher level of religious indoctrination/followers than the rest of the developed world, so it was easy for conservatism to wrap itself around the cross and achieve the devoted, religious cult-like brainwashing of MAGA. That level of political sports team fandom doesn't win elections in other developed economies, where the buying and wearing of political merch is ridiculous to the vast majority of voters, and even the most diehard supporters really only wear it to political events or in the weeks immediately surrounding a vote.
With that said, the mental illness of conservatism is very strong in the UK – they've held a majority in federal government for well over a decade, have similar regressive economic policies, have spearheaded a relatively similar level of damage to quality of life and standard of living, and use very similar psychological warfare tactics (blaming all the nations problems on the weakest and most vulnerable of society, political opposition, etc)... They just walk a much finer line in what what they can publicly get away with.
Boris Johnson did. The party got rid of him when the casual Tory enjoyers turned against him after he held drunked piss-ups during COVID lockdown when people couldn't even see their dying relatives in hospital.
Since then their ratings have gone from bad to worse. Johnson was a clown but popular because he'd been on telly and people saw him as a harmless buffoon.
The next election will be a massacre and I can't wait.
there's a lot of culture war stuff, they generally don't vocally support the Tories but maga don't really support the gop only trump and anything that isn't 'woke' - this sort of move is i presume designed as a nod to those alex jones types that think climate change is just an excuse to install a one world government, exactly the people who voted us out of the EU because of some vague notion of sovereignty.
One bi-election where they won on a local issue by about 500 votes, and they think they'll get a polling boost by ditching climate policies.
Bold strategy, let's see how that plays out.
They would have lost ULIZ if Labour had bothered to actually correct the record. But they just decided to throw Sadiq Khan under a bus because they were scared of coming out in support of him. They were worried they'd lose the brainless shit head vote.
What everyone needs to do now is yell very loudly at the Tories for having no green policys, and then hopefully Labour will pick up on that and decide that this pussy footing around the problem approach isn't actually a good idea.
Polling is currently a Labour landslide, so they need bold policies to stay relevant and this is a topic Labour might actually use some points in.
It's a massive gamble. Polling over the past few years has been constantly calling for action on climate change. They're clearly hoping that there's been a shift on this.
They have a year, Rupert Murdoch and fossil fuel money to create that change. Still a hard sell considering the situation.
must not be in line with his goals as a very, very wealthy man
"Abaaaht time I'm sick of hearing about this woke-vironment rubbish!"
That's what Rishi Sunak thinks of the electorate.
I think the electorate know what to expect every time they vote his party into power.
You'd think so, but I saw some poverty article in which some guy was being interviewed.
He was disabled, his 12 year old daughter was collecting from the food bank every day so they could eat, they had no heating, and kept having to fight for his benefits to not be cut.
Who do you reckon he was voting for next time? They've got the best plan for the economy, don't you know? Plus Corbyn wore the wrong tie for the queen or something.
That’s a good point. I don’t know if I can blame them - there are powerful forces in the battles for hearts and minds. The Murdoch press is one example.
Disclaimer: I’m not from Britain though.
However the thing about the battle for hearts and minds is it's much easier to win if the people you're trying to win over are not used to using them minds.
At some point being politically ignorant is not an excuse.