You’re right, I’m wr- left

In my previous blog post I discussed my continuing emotional turmoil towards the Conservatives.

And as part of that post I questioned a quote by a former local Councillor, and they have taken the time to respond to the question about Leftist Mass-Murders.

Now the knee jerk reaction was to challenge again what they had said, but a little time has passed and its enabled me to reconsider, and to question,  he pointed out my ignorance, and what if he was right?

(Well you assume he was calling you ignorant, he could have been calling you evil. Ed)

(That’s true, he doesn’t even question the use of the word evil)

(That’s why they win, no self doubt, tough on ignorant left bloggers, and tough on the causes of ignorant left bloggers Ed)

Before we go any further, I think it is essential that we discuss what do we mean by Left and Right wing.

Cue West Wing Clip…

The reason this is essential is that I just naturally assumed all Dictators were right wing and also the aforementioned blogger previous argued that the BNP were left wing!

His argument was backed up by this image from the political compass.

Okay, firstly what is Political Compass?

Our friend Wikipedia says;

‘The political compass is a multi-axis model, used by the website of the same name, to label or organize political thought on two dimensions.’

So Left or Right. Authoritarian or Libertarian.

Sorry that was a distraction, what DO  we mean by Right and Left Wing?

The original idea of Left and Right wing, actually comes from the pre-revolutionary French assembly, where the Conservatives sat on the right and the Liberals on the left.

(Also Right means correct and Left actually has a Latin translation meaning Sinister. Ed)

(Thanks for that)

Which actually highlights an issue with the Political compass, but we shall return to that in a second.  Let us address the above image which shows us a left wing BNP.

Well if we refer to the Political Compass for UK Compass for UK  Political Parties in 2010 you will see something different.

The BNP are firmly on the right!. Left of Labour and the Conservatives sure, but still on the right.

(Which does mean Conservatives ARE more right wing than the BNP Ed)

This article in the New Statesman, looks further at whether the BNP is on the left.

However this is because Left and Right as referenced to in this diagram is based on an economic approach.  With Communism on the far left and Neo-Liberalism on the far right.

(Are you know or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? Ed)

Whereas I would argue, ignorantly and wrongly, that the general understanding of left and right is still based on that historical French model. And in the political compass would be understood by the Up and Down axis of Libertarian and Authoritarian.

If we were to flip the compass so that that axis was Left and Right then we would see that the BNP were now far to the right and the Lib Dems were back on the Left.

(This is pre-coalition obviously Ed)

However,

Who knows what unforeseen effects could occur from moving the Axis so…

So let us accept the Left and Right economic Axis.

Which would mean that historically there have been Dictators, Mass-Murders, who were on the left…

Now I feebly inquired of the blogger whether their could be accidental mass-murder and they clarified that if mass death wasn’t caused by the Left Wing then it was by

instances of unintentional plagues by release of stored diseases or other “exceptions”

So not only have  I learned that there was only Left Wing Mass Murderers but that there were no Right Wing Dictators who  committed Mass Murder.

(Perhaps they are the ‘exception’ Ed)

(No because it is clearly specified as Left Only)

Here is an interesting article about why Left Wing Dictators are More Popular than Right Wing.

Where does this leave; Hitler, Franco and Thatcher’s friend Pinochet?

Are we to say that they were Left Wing?

Whilst Franco and Pinochet killed a small amount compared to icons of the T-Shirt wearing Left, Stalin and Mao, they did still kill. Or commit an ‘Exception’

Can we for the sake of clarity at least no longer refer to it as left or right, but Communism and Neo-Liberalism. We do not refer to Libertarians and Authoritarianism as Up and Down.

Something that is worth celebrating is the continued success of the Conservative Party, the Political underdog, in light of a left wing conspiracy of Teachers and Media. Whose Leftist agenda makes our Nations children ignorant.

If only they had the support of a multi-national ultra conservative neo-liberal press baron… Cest La Vie.

Though read this interesting article which argues that the BBC far from having a leftist agenda is actually Conservative at its core.

Okay let us wrap up with a run down of other gems from the blog post;

their (Brown and Blair) “New Labour’ party is also highly involved with those shadowy organisations (e.g. Bilderberg)

Thanks for clarification that the Conservative Party are in no way linked to the Bilderberg Group.

And that this Wikipedia entry, saying that it was attended by Prime Minister Thatcher as well as Chancellors Kenneth Clarke and Osbourne respectively is obviously wrong.

The State is everything and the individual is nothing

I’ve looked through the Green Party Manifesto and that really isn’t covered, I’m hoping that it will be updated soon.

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/policies.html

It does however say

We are demanding the introduction of a ‘Living Wage’. This will help ensure low paid workers earn enough to provide for themselves and their families and eradicate poverty in Britain for good. The Green Party will fight for a National Minimum Wage of 60% of net national average earnings (currently this would mean a minimum wage of £8.10 per hour).

Which I’m assuming is a typo.

The usual three-prong Lefty approach: theft (ever higher taxes, property theft, losses of liberties and rights)

(Presumably Property should be left in the ownership of the Church, Monarchy and other overlords Ed)

Loss of Liberty, again is an interesting one, I’m against National ID cards and detention longer than 48 hours without charge. I’m also against rendition and the torture of suspects.

I will have to check if I am in conflict here with others on the Left, if I am, this could be awkward.

I must end my post there and read no more, as according to the Blog post I only have three options;

1) Live in Ignorance.

2) Become Evil.

3) Become Right Wing.

Feel free to let me know which option you think I should go with.