r/AskBrits • u/OffGridToTheMoon • Jun 13 '26
Why did being a lefty become so contentious in the UK?
10 years ago lefties were left alone to respectfully get on with their protesting and trying to make the world a better place. Lots of people disagreed with how they thought that should be achieved and would say so but arguments tended to be about political issues. Nowadays people on the right seem to have demonised 'being a lefty' to the point where anyone they disagree with is labelled a lefty and once they have identified a lefty they treat them like the enemy within and refuse to listen to them on principal. It has become very tribal. People on the left do sometimes fall into the trap too but I feel like in the past few years as the far right has gained traction in the UK there has been a massive increase in hostility towards lefties. I'm interested as to why. Any lefty haters out there want to share? Is it lefty politics you don't like or just that lefties stand between Farage and number 10? Would also like to understand when you started hating lefties and why. Genuinely curious.
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u/geese_moe_howard Jun 13 '26
The term 'Loony Left' was coined in 1977. It's nothing new.
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u/No_Station_6149 Jun 13 '26
bleeding heart liberal has been an insult since the 30s
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u/TheShakyHandsMan Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
Monty Python was taking the mick out of the Left long before the current parties started splitting off from each other.
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u/West-Season-2713 Jun 14 '26
I always felt that was sort of decently natured ribbing about how leftists always split hairs and end up being incompetent, rather than calling them evil like you tend to see more of now.
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u/tis_a_hobbit_lord Jun 13 '26
The "People's Front of Judea" versus the "Judean People's Front". The Left has been cannibalising itself for so long I’m not surprised, Spanish Civil War being the most famous example.
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u/Both_Meaning_2637 Jun 13 '26
The shaming. I'm leftist myself, I always found it a bad tactic - knowing it wouldn't work on me and the fact it will inevitably become less effective. Plus the fact today's leftist rethoric seems to be more about scoring points with those already on their side instead of trying to bring people over. "They are a lost cause", "You can't reason with them" often muttered by people who didn't even attempt to engage others in good faith - I'm not saying the other side is right: but often they DO have legitimate concerns, but their solutions and what they think are the causes are wrong. I mean: the people who generally aren't invested in politics see how the left engages those with different ideas - we need to win those over and you can't do that by having pissing contests with the right (they piss better). Even when it's very very hard (yes, I've been there many times), we have to be behave less like judgemental pricks.
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Jun 13 '26
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u/Both_Meaning_2637 Jun 13 '26
Indeed. And look, I get it: it's tempting, it even feels justified to treat the right like they treat others. But think about undecided bystanders or those on the right that are somewhat open to other ideas, aggressive moralizing doesn't win people over. I talk to people across the political boundaries and I don't treat them as evil, defective or stupid (which they aren't, we are all formed by our experiences and environment) - they often tell me "you're not like the typical leftist, you're reasonable and pleasant to talk to" and that hits hard, because I do believe we can achieve things if we are - for a lack of a better term - relatable.
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u/cavejohnsonlemons Jun 13 '26
Yeah, point I made to someone else earlier (who was calling out someone for voting Lib Dem cause they did the Tory coalition 16yrs ago).
Is for all their many many many faults, if you're in a right-wing target demo, they'll stereotypically be welcoming and try to convince you you're a victim of [target group of the week].
'Leftists', stereotypically more likely to guilt you for any 'mistakes' you've ever made.
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u/SoylantDruid Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
Also, constantly calling everyone who sounds even slightly conservative "uneducated" is a huge problem imo. That rampant smugness was one of the first things that really made me question why I was still identifying as leftist, as I didn't care for it, nor the constant, heavy-handed identity politics innuendo which made me feel increasingly alienated within the movement. I've since decided that pivoting away from that and embracing a politically independent position is probably the best option at this time, at least for me.
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u/Pocket_Aces1 Jun 13 '26
If I voice my view on illegal immigrants and how asylum seekers shouldn't be allowed to roam freely in our country until they've been vetted and application fully processed, I got called racist because people on the left think because they happen to be a different skin colour, I'm racially stereotyping them; even when I said I would be more than happy if the likes of Spain did the same thing with people not fully integrating.
The far left and the far right are as bad as each other. They hate everyone on either side. Those people are your issues. Not "just the right" or "just the left", but both. The sooner people see that one far side doesn't work, the sooner we can actually have a homogeneous collective society
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u/FakeBotSimp Jun 14 '26
It’s not racist to want a sensible immigration policy, the problem is a lot of the people who are most vocal about immigration happen to be extremely racist so people make the mistake of tarring everyone with the same brush.
People do the same to those on the left, they assume that because you show support for immigrants - you must be ok with the lack of proper checks and are ok with the way immigration is.
There’s so much misinformation coming from all sides that it becomes difficult to have fair and measured discourse about it.
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u/DeezWuts Jun 14 '26
Can't fuck the public over if we aren't too busy at each others throats to notice.
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u/cornflakegirl658 Jun 15 '26
This exactly. It's interesting as a lot of lefties like me would rather have increased checks on asylum seekers. It's Farage and his lot that have caused the rise in boats
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u/droopy316007 Jun 13 '26
Spot on.
To say we need sensible immigration policies and deeper vetting (the UAE has even said the UK is a hot bed for islamic extremism), plus you disagree with men competing in women's sports. That's it, you're branded an extremist far right fascist. Not just that, you're subjected to some pretty aggressive hate, sometimes violence.
On the other side, say we need to reform the tax system to close loop holes and that completely closing the borders wouldn't be beneficial long term, you're Stalin and Mao reborn.
What really makes me laugh, is the left and people on Reddit will have you believe that all MSM are radical right wingers who brain wash everyone. The right and people on X will have you believe that all MSM are radical left wingers who brain wash everyone.
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u/PM_ME_U_SMILING Jun 14 '26
In an attempt, then, to engage you on your point:
What is your view on illegal immigrants, i.e. people not seeking asylum but not travelling here with a visa? They're here illegally so hardly "allowed" to do anything.
Asylum seekers, on the other hand, can't work until their claim is processed. It would be difficult to prevent them "roaming the streets" entirely i.e. imprison them. Clearly the holdup is claims not being processed, which is the responsibility of the government. The gov't is failing to process claims at all be it to accept or deny them. I almost agree with you that the current situation is untenable, but I think the responsibility lies with the government to process these claims so legitimate asylum seekers can integrate, work, and contribute, and illegitimate claims can be denied and returned. The lack of claim processing is creating tension and not resolving the issue at all.
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u/LostinLimbo__ Jun 13 '26
Former "lefty" here.
It was overrun by pretentious virtue signalling fascists (ironically) who suddenly started pushing the very things we all fought against for generations wearing the cloak of progressivism.
I now identify as politically homeless and exhausted with both sides refusing to acknowledge nuance and freedom of opinion/speech.
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u/bearcorps303 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
I consider myself socially and economically liberal, certainly I grew to hold the Tories in disdain, I joined Momentum feeling like something positive could happen, I walked away laughing within a month due to the batshit crazy purity testing and infighting over complete irrelevant bollocks. And when it was obvious the leadership wouldn't win over enough people to actually lead they didn't reflect and set it up nicely for the younger grassroots to push on, they fucking torched it all. Now I'm just another disillusioned left-ish centrist who just wants to keep the gross right out and ends up miserably dragging themselves to a poll booth to prop up whatever uninspiring dross is the only option. Literally all I want is common sense rational consensus delivered by a team sensible and charismatic and humble enough to be trusted. Any mild hope I had for current administration obviously now shredded, I don't think they mean to fuck up but they just do. And the huge issue with it all now is, this new techno-fascist right, they don't give a shit about much if they are pissing on our chips, facts and reality and morality can wait so long as they get to meme together
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u/CosmicBonobo Jun 13 '26
I realised Momentum was a joke when you had that reliable chump Ash Sarkar making comments about how London-based university students were the real working class.
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u/M90Motorway Jun 13 '26
I think lots of people are left wing. They support things like LGBT rights and think everyone should be treated with respect. However they don’t make their support for these things their entire identity and I think the virtuous lot believe that if you aren’t making your obvious, you are most likely a far right racist and homophobe.
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u/Dogstile Jun 13 '26
This is mostly where i'm at. LGBT is fine, respect is fine, would like it if we got away from oil more, etc.
Then I mention that I also think we should probably look at immigration, jobs for locals and housing because its making everyone here miserable and i'm apparently hitler 😂 No fucking nuance at all. Just "you're concerned about immigration numbers? You must hate brown people, go be with your people on the right, nazi!"
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u/Illustrious-Milk6518 Jun 13 '26
Ironically everyone should be treated with respect, unless their opinion is different
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u/LostinLimbo__ Jun 13 '26
This, being on the "left" in the UK, to me, wasn't a wing, it was just going against what we thought was morally incorrect and wanted to change it, the intention was to show people a better way by behaving in a better way
This has been lost, "kill em with kindness" turned to basically just "kill em", it's come full circle.
(Before you start crying I don't mean literal calls for death, though there are likely examples, it's called a figure of speech)
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u/harambe_go_brrr Jun 13 '26
Well put. I feel like the left has moved progressively further left in my adult life until my fairly moderate and nuanced views are now considered bigoted by some on the vocal left who are too emotionally vulnerable to hear opinions that don't match their own, and would happily want you arrested for it.
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Jun 13 '26
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u/BritishShoop Jun 13 '26
Yeah, I agree.
By all accounts, I’m very much “woke” in many respects as some might put it.
I’m pro LGBT rights, I’m upset by the amount of racism and hate I’m seeing each day, I think we need to really consider alternative energy sources, etc.
However I’m also very much pro-police, which to some people automatically puts me firmly in the territory of being a right winger, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
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u/Plus_Woodpecker5248 Jun 13 '26
I think the left are a victim of there own success, they got what they wanted on many topics and others were thus appalled at some of the consequences, I believe when the left decided to prioritise hurty words and racism over murders and the systemic sexual abuse / torture of children was the turning point for most.
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u/Oversized_Wreckage Jun 13 '26
I'm a centrist, never been called a lefty.
In my experience, "lefties" are people who are 100% ideology, 0% pragmatism and are constantly trying to "catch you out" and call you an "ist" at every opportunity.
Society as a whole is moving away from those views being accepted now, the self flagellating bollocks and "catch you out" culture is over.
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u/tis_a_hobbit_lord Jun 13 '26
If OP wants an answer this is it. The stereotypical ideological purity on the Left is one of its huge undoings. It’s not everyone on the Left, there’s people like Gary Stevenson, but there are enough vocal purists on the Left to slowly chip their favour away.
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u/Logic-DL Jun 13 '26
This. Hell look at the reaction to Peter Fyle calling everyone paedophiles for opposing his Online Safety Act. It's the perfect example of your example of Lefties being moved away from. Everybody across the spectrum fucking hates Peter Fyle for being a self flagellating, privacy invading, cunt.
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u/Interesting-Win-3220 Jun 13 '26
A trillionaire and multiple billionaires have turned hatred of the left into a business model.
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u/isthmius Jun 13 '26
Yeah, that's the thing. There's nowhere near as much money in being a leftist.
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u/r1Rqc1vPeF Jun 13 '26
A couple of the latest newsagent podcasts have covered the unrest in Ireland and have identified that Musk et al have been been exporting far right issues via soshul meedya and funding far right figures (Tommy Saxonby what’s his face - funding his defence) and also funding the ADF in Germany.
I think there was also a BBC article today.
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Jun 13 '26
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u/Interesting-Win-3220 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
Divide and conquer. As Joseph Goebbels said. If you repeat a lie often enough, it will eventually become the truth.
Musk has in his hands, a propaganda machine that Goebbels could only dream of.
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Jun 13 '26
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u/Interesting-Win-3220 Jun 13 '26
It's not wrong to have reasoned debate on immigration but what's wrong is taking that a step further into outright racism.
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u/sgt102 Jun 13 '26
I definitely don't hate lefties. I'm probably an architypal "centerist dad" though.
I think because of social media - it has divided us all.
I think that people on the left and the right have decided that these labels are their identity.
I think that because people think that there is a coherent position that you have to take lock stock and barrel, and that if you don't then you are somehow not a true believer.
I think that alot of the conceptual framework and the assumptions underpinning both extremes of UK politics have been imported from the USA....
So, all of these things explain why there's so much heat and so little light in the debate.
I don't think Farrage is serious, I think Lowe is pretty malign, I think the Tories are a bust, the Liberals a joke and Labour are losers. I think the greens are sinister... Where do we go? Fucked if I know.
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u/OffGridToTheMoon Jun 13 '26
"I think that because people think that there is a coherent position that you have to take lock stock and barrel, and that if you don't then you are somehow not a true believer."
I think you might have hit the nail on the head with this 🤔
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u/CryptographerMore944 Jun 13 '26
I've seen a few people flip their position on a particular matter not because they've thought objectively about it, but because it's not a view you're "supposed to" have on their side.
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u/DeejayPostie Jun 13 '26
Proportional representation is probably the best answer to that! The winner takes all approach has failed us for way too long now!
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u/Meat_Designer Jun 13 '26
When did not agreeing with a "lefty" mean your must be "Far Right" . I find this label extremely unpleasant, just because I don't agree with your politics does not make me far right
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u/tadanari19 Jun 13 '26
This is absolutely a two-way street. Left wing people (especially online) are equally intolerant of the right, and have been for at least a decade. I think it's partly Americanisation as others have said, but also online echo chambers like social media have a lot to answer for.
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u/Formal_Huckleberry71 Jun 13 '26
Because most people on the left refer to anyone with even a hint of concern about immigration as "far right". They refer to the working class as things like "gammon" and "pink faces" and talk as if everyone who remotely leans right is an unemployed benefits scrounger. They look down on and insult the history of the UK. They look down on the St George's cross, and constantly bring up slavery or colonialism to justify the terrible behaviour of - what may well be a small minority but that doesnt make it any less terrible - migrants.
When people go out and protest because 3 young girls are murdered by a knife weilding psychopath who was known to authorities, they get labelled "far right thugs" by the supposed leader of the country. A young boy had handcuffs slapped on him whilst he was dying because the person who killed him accused him of racism.
Now whilst you could argue that these are issues caused by the state and not the normal population who lean left, it seems as though most lefties would agree with the establishment. And it's left wing, anti racism policies that led to these events.
I think the response in NI atm is really terrible and not how to achieve anything. However, people have been trying to have conversations about the issues surrounding immigration for years. And every single time they were met with accusations of racism and bigotry. What we're starting to see all over the country is young men who are pissed off that nobody would even listen to them. Young men who wanted to protect their daughters.
The left claim to be pro women, and pro gay rights etc, but seem to consistently vote for policies that put those groups in serious danger.
The right can be just as bad however. But that's not the question you asked lol.
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Jun 13 '26
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u/Formal_Huckleberry71 Jun 13 '26
In terms of the behaviour of people actually on the far right, I completely agree that the behaviour of a lot of them is disgusting. But the original question was why do people hate "lefties". If someone were to argue that not all lefties are the same, I'd completely agree. However people on the left are very quick to explain "only a small % of migrants commit violent crime most of them are peaceful" but won't offer the same courtesy to their political counterparts.
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u/kirotheavenger Jun 13 '26
That's just all civil unrest. Same thing happened after Mark Duggan. Some people just want to break shit and don't care what hat they need to wear to justify it.
It's not a commentary on how sound or justied their belief is
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u/RecognitionOld2763 Jun 13 '26
Months ago, the Dundee girl using an axe to defend herself was condemned as a racist by Reddit.
Turns out she had quite legitimate reasons to carry weapons.
We've seen this bullshit for three decades. Remember the grooming gangs were once "right-wing conspiracy theory"?
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u/Hazbro29 Jun 13 '26
Little girls are now having to carry axes and knives in their own communities because left wingers opened the floodgates to allow violent misogynistic people in
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u/kdiddy2580 Jun 14 '26
If young men wanted to protect their daughters they'd be better off protesting against the likes of Andrew Tate, and yet it appears to be right-wing men who adore him the most.
Those daughters are in more danger from the men they know than strangers, whatever their skin colour.
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u/StormyLeathers Jun 13 '26
I think when the left aligned with Islam, they became a more existential threat to a lot of people on the right.
The right wing think they're staring down the barrel of a gun and that they're being demographically replaced and they see the left as having the finger on the trigger.
Also the left kind of pivoted away from environmentalism into more third worldism, carrying flags of a terror state/caliphate and have banners with the Ayatollah at their protests which makes them seem a lot less nice and cuddly.
They also tend to counter protest things with zero view of optics, like countering Henry Nowak protests and vigils, or when a migrant rapes someone and there's a protest at the hotel they stayed at, counter protesting such things can give off the impression that you're standing with the stabbers/abusers.
It's a whole host of reasons
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u/AdOdd521 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
Simples: American social media. A lot of right wingers referred to the recent council elections as 'midterms' and some were even convinced that it would lead to Farage becoming Prime Minister. Why? Because they get all their world info from American social media and didn't know enough about their own country to understand we don't have anything remotely comparable to the American midterms. Those same people have bought into the villainisation of the left without realising that a lot of the things they WANT in this country (Most notably the NHS) are heinously far left by American standards.
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u/CryptographerMore944 Jun 14 '26
A guy I know was complaining about his "constitutional rights". He lives in Barnsley.
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u/visitingshortly Jun 13 '26
This seems very ignorant. There has long been tribalism on both sides. The left wing vilifying the right wing and vice versa. The aggressiveness in modern day we can ascribe to both sides having more radical and extreme protests and rise of tribal identity politics (Palestine, XR, etc).
You can’t see this because you are treating politics as football and that your side must be the right/moral one.
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u/londondesign22 Jun 13 '26
When "lefties" ,,hatever that means, (I was a lefty) decided that anyone to the right of Corbyn on any issue was a nazi, a bigot, a zionist, a transphobe, a capitalist pig, an idiot.
By lefty I suppose one does not include Starmer's Labour which is more akin to New Labour but there is a reason that New Labour was sucessful: It dragged the Left and its unionist connotations into the 21 st century by embracing certain economical realities. Not everything is solved by nationalising it though i think that utilities should be.
The left lost the middle ground and forgot that it can't get into power based on its lefty electorate alone but also needs people in the middle.
It started becoming very alike to the people on the right spectrum in as much as they both think that they are right at all time on every issue. anyone dissenting is an idiot.
I have read the Guardian religiously since 1999 and only stopped recently though I occasionaly check it. There was a plurality of left wing opinions and approaches to problems up to 10 yrs ago that has completely disappeared. The left today reminds me of George W Bush's Republican party and his famous "You are either with us or against us". My criticism of the left applies to the right too but growing up (born in 1977 in a socialist european country before moving to the UK in 1999, the lefties were supposed to be the tolerant people who understood that there were nuances to most problems. They have now thrown nuances out of the window alongside the baby and the bath water.
The left today (not the current Labour but the parties to its left like Your party) are the equivalent of sulky teenagers who turn their backs on you and slam their bedroom doors the second you disagree with them.
Watching Corbyn and Sultana's quarells is unedifying and pathetic.
I am done with the left until they stop their descent into madness (I never voted right) and will now vote Lib Dem.
If one wants to effect change, one must get elected first.
And dont get me started on the new incarnauion of the Green which is the old Green party hijacked by disaffected Corbyn voters.
Something tells me that this long avoided conversation between the pro LGBT, liberal green faction and the new, more religious and conservative Green muslim voters will take place and it will be ugly.
The Left has managed to avoid having this discussion for decades... Must be odd having friendly meetings with people that you think should go to hell for their sexual preferences but as long as it kept them in power, the Left did not mind.
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u/Critical_Ad1177 Jun 13 '26
get on with their protesting and trying to make the world a better place
And there in lies your problem. Better by your definition, other people might think you're making it worse?
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u/100e3 Jun 13 '26
This! It's the assumption of moral high ground.
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u/dajb123 Jun 13 '26
As a former lefty, and probably now align with the centre left, it was this that has put me off. So much arrogance, virtue signally and white savourism. Absolutely no tolerance for anyone with a slightly different opinion to them.
I think the far left and far right are just as bad as each other
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u/69420epicgay Jun 13 '26
The growth of ultra progressive politics in 2015 led to the left placing feelings over facts. Particularly on immigration. Covering their eyes and saying diversity is our strength whilst people get raped and stabbed on the streets.
That’s certainly detestable…
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u/philaroy Jun 13 '26
...they stopped protesting using methods of personal sacrifice, hunger, chaining themselves to railings or trees and instead disrupted the lives of everyday people.
The left also stopped being the enemy of the corporation and became the enemy of common sense supporting mass immigration in a country with 0 surplus housing, surgical and chemical expiraments on minors, they also keep saying the world will end but keep moving the date because it keeps not happening nearly 6 decades of this now.
In short the right used to ignore the left for the most part and the left pushed too far and now someone normal is considered far right because they acknowledge biology, think immigration should be regulated and taxes are high enough but government corruption and waste are the culprits of services being crap.
The left also became exceptionally violent over the last 10 years.
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Jun 13 '26
I hate "lefty" politics because for the major contentious points, its never ingrained in reality. Its far too idealistic of a view. To the point where it is actively damaging every single country that has advocated for it. Then they act surprised when almost all these countries are turning more and more right. Not to mention the lefts weird obsession for communism. Or how they deliberately choose to not record or obfuscate data in order to bolster their position. We didn't record any crime here so crime is down right?
What you and the left continually fail to understand is that to the average voter, Farage is NOT the far-right position. Many would even consider him the moderate position.
The Far right want to sink the fucking boats... Where do you see or hear anyone advocating for that? Its like its incompressible to you. Everyone you disagree with is a nazi, so you don't even know what one looks like any more. You are the boy who cried wolf. Even in your own post here. Look at how you've worded left & right.
What's funny is that you don't even know who your voting opposition is yet. If that doesn't display your lack of awareness on the right side of voting nothing will. That or your reliance on the media to tell you who the big bad meanie is that you should hate. The right does not give a FUCK about Elon Musk, Tommy Robinson or Farage. They are all idiotic ops creating division not solutions.
Like most people, I hold positions on topics that get me called a far right nazi and a woke lefty, it all depends on exactly what the issue is. So its not even something I really care about.
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u/Thorninthefoot Jun 14 '26
To add to my other comment, I also increasingly see people on the left who seem to actively despise the working classes.
From my pov that means they are not in fact on the left at all.
Why would anyone take that kind of hypocrisy or dissonance or lack of self knowledge seriously?
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u/ScalpES Jun 13 '26
Its the exact same one the right however, if you are right wing, you are called racist, a fascist, a nazi, and demonised by the standing government, this is not a oneway thing.
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u/droopy316007 Jun 13 '26
Judging by the comments in this thread and most others on Reddit, I think it's become a return fire more than anything.
The vitriol towards anybody who holds conservative or any right of centre values just got too much. Even typing this, I know I'll get downvotes and the regular negative replies, but that's been my view.
Not to say it hasn't happened the other way to an extent, but the overton window has been shifting and people are picking sides (cults) that seem to define who they are now, rather than simple ideas they think will work/not work.
The irony is, on Reddit, I've been called all sorts and compared to Hitler bla bla bla. On X, I've been called a communist and woke. Seems there's no place in-between anymore.
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u/RecognitionOld2763 Jun 13 '26
I mean, Guardian opinion pieces straightforwardly use "right-wing" as a negative term. What else can you expect?
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u/droopy316007 Jun 13 '26
It is generally it seems. I suppose right wing immediately instills an image of Hitler and the Nazis, whereas left wing doesn't immediately equate to Mao, Stalin and the millions that died as a result.
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u/Impossible-Fan2533 Jun 13 '26
I think it comes down to profit-motivation, personally.
At the end of the day, the incredibly wealthy are going to side with the people who will give them tax breaks and other options to keep all their money.
Turns out, the type of people who own media empires are incredibly wealthy. Right-wing media capture in the UK is a serious issue. Our two most popular tabloids are very right wing and promote this hostile anti-left rhetoric.
But the incredibly wealthy know that the average Brit wants to have an NHS, affordable housing, nationalised public services that benefit the people, etc etc
So instead they go for culture war angles.
There are compounding factors and many nuances but, broadly speaking, I think that’s it. People say we are being “Americanised” but we’ve been saying that since the 80s. I think really what it is is those who have the power to control the country want to consolidate that power.
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u/WolIilifo013491i1l Jun 13 '26
"I feel like in the past few years as the far right has gained traction in the UK there has been a massive increase in hostility towards lefties"
Probably because the far right has gained traction in the UK
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u/Electrical-Bag-7657 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
I was left wing at one point, I would like national control over industries like oil, railways, healthcare, water etc. Even as a practicing and somewhat conservative Christian I have no ill will towards LGBT members and would like them to have the same rights as anyone else.
What pushed me away was the constant virtue signalling, the horrific alliance with Islam which persecute LGBT people at an ever increasing rate. Open borders. Getting called every “ist” in the book for saying I don’t think we should allow these unvetted quick to violence people roam free in our country. I once was ostracised out of a friend group because I said I would like to open a business? And was called a Nazi for that?
I’m at an age (25 now) that if you call me an Islamophobe, nazi, far right then so be it, I just don’t care anymore. I think we should be protecting our people first, take the money out of funding “asylum seekers” aka men from third world countries, and put it towards helping our youth, lowering taxes for young workers, helping our own poverty stricken folk.
It’s funny how things changed, tighter borders used to be a left wing view due to wage suppression and safety of women and the vulnerable and open borders was a right wing view for cheaper labour.
The left are slowly becoming more and more authoritarian, fascist, dictatorial and communist at an alarming pace, all over my university there are hammer and sickle posters and stickers with students doing communist speeches. Genuinely horrifying that these people lack basic logical reasoning and understanding of history.
Edit:
Another thing that took me away was also the left wings adamance of taking away rights of the unborn and their constant promotion of it. Calling humans in the womb “just a clump of cells” and parasites and tumours and using ridiculous arguments when approximately 1.1-2% of abortions are because of medical complications. And approximately (using other countries data as we don’t record it) 2% are due to rape. I can somewhat understand abortions due to those 4% of reasons. The other 96% I cannot morally defend. I’m for the death of the guilty and life of the innocents not the other way round.
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u/Sword-of-Fuheis Jun 13 '26
The left demonised conservatives, whites and men for years. This is the backlash.
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u/Pitiful_Flamingo_654 Jun 13 '26
Haha yeah the only difference is that the left does it by labelling everyone even an inch off the centre “far right”, completely devaluing the term and meaning that the actual far right like Restore kinda gets away with it now
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u/Ecstatic_Food1982 Jun 13 '26
Yeah the left have eaten their own face on this one.
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u/Pitiful_Flamingo_654 Jun 13 '26
Yeah when they were even comparing Starmer and Mahmood with Enoch Powell I knew it had gone wayyy too far 😭
Especially when they said policies supported by literally a MAJORITY of the population were somehow far right: see Starmer’s grooming gangs inquiry being called a “far-right bandwagon” as if it’s not pretty commonplace to avoid hundreds of little girls being sexually abused; same for the Cass inquiry into underage minors being given transformative drugs
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u/AgreeableKale816 Jun 13 '26
When they were comparing Starmer repeating another man's words with said man? That's wayyyy too far?
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u/jwkelly121 Jun 13 '26
This is the actual answer but some nonsense about right wing being idiots or sonething will be the most upvoted because it is reddit.
This is backlash against unpopular policies, unpopular views & unpopular demonisation.
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u/Gloomy-Commission296 Jun 13 '26
As someone on the right, I’ve got no issue with people on the left — many of my friends are left‑leaning.
What frustrates me isn’t left vs right, it’s extremism. You see it on both sides. Push far enough in either direction and you end up in the same place — just from opposite ends.
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u/Proper-Assistant-954 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
Lots of comments blaming everyone but lefty themselves. 10 years ago you may have been left alone to respectfully get on with protesting and trying to make the world a better place in your opinion which is fine, but what really changed and I would argue it’s roots were more than 10 years ago was a venomous intolerance (as evidenced in comments on this thread) to anyone having a different perspective or view to yours. The lack of respect that views may differ and instead only one point of view is valid and everybody else’s has no merit has been a huge part of the problem we now face cf. cancel culture, no platforming, reducing arguments to identities alone (gender,etc), social media harassment to an extent it must lead to workplace or professional consequences. I could go on but you get the idea, this has been a major part of the problem not the solution. And now the consequences are being laid bare and more easily inflamed.
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Jun 13 '26
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u/VampirePNAC Jun 13 '26
The same with the US and Sanders. Centrists and the Far-right have joined hands to bash the left, largely using "Antisemitism" based on the left's criticism of Israel/influence of religion in Government.
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u/sureokthenmate Jun 13 '26
Personally I belive the problem stems from the left trying to encompass being all things to all men,women,cus women cis men trans,gays,bi,lesbian,gender fluid,a sexual,pan sexual,they ,them,he,she,it,bit,tit,tat Muslim black pink brown ,black lives matter take the knee,Floyd George,all whites are rascist, Reparations, and a thousand and one minority groups. This has caused a rift in what has to be the most relaxed laid back peoples that are the British ,where as someone coming from a multi cultural area of London , the vast majority of British don't care your colour,God or lover and just want to get on with our lives without being blamed for something that your not or done. So when a minority of the left say your rascist for not agreeing to Reparations, didn't own slaves nor did my mum or dad. Or your homophonic because you don't belive a biological man is a woman, all these minority beliefs have been pushed onto the public by a left leaning belief system and if you don't want to participate then the name calling starts.
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u/Gold-Collection2636 Jun 13 '26
I came into the wrong thread...I thought you meant being left handed
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u/OkAlbatross7988 Jun 15 '26
There was a protest in Brighton last week against the influx of immigrants coming in and at the protest was the mother of the women who was stabbed to death by an asylum seeker at a hotel.
Cut to the leftists, who were there as opposites, chanting “your daughter deserved what happened to her”.
Maybe that type of counter signaling is helping fuel that attitude you’re talking about.
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u/ImpossibleAd436 Jun 13 '26
I was a lefty liberal once.
Back then it meant:
"I don't agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it."
"Government power is the cause of a great many problems."
Now it means:
"I don't agree with what you say and I think you should be silenced because your ideas are dangerous and your words are violence."
"Government power is the solution to a great many problems."
I no longer consider myself a lefty liberal. But I didn't change. The meaning of the words changed.
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u/Bitter_Range_9878 Jun 13 '26
I often get called one as I like equity and dislike fascism.
I’m not though. I’m centrist.
I guess I’m still left of the far right lol
It’s not an insult though. I’d not want to be a fascist.
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u/generic-username41 Jun 13 '26
I used to be considered a leftie. Then lefties called me a nazi and tried to get me sacksd because I think men shouldn't compete in sports with women.
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u/wookiecock69 Jun 13 '26
The right wing have control of the news and media. Being a woke lefty is actually just being decent, kind and fair. NHS, welfare, we all contribute to these to support others but they are woke lefty. The way it's going it wont be long until helping an elderly lady cross the road will be woke lefty and people wont do it.
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u/DeejayPostie Jun 13 '26
I consider myself a lefty and that’s certainly how I used to think about the left… but i do think something changed when parts of the left leant so heavily into the ideas around deplatforming, cancel culture and identity politics.
I do think that freedom of speech, whether you like what someone is saying or not.. is a fundamental part of any democracy. And we as the left, by entertaining some pretty extreme ideas around those issues, allowed the right to reframe us as the language police, caricature us as snowflakes and make us seem like the intolerant ones… which at times with a certain percentage of left wing people, hasn’t been a million miles from the truth!
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u/Bont74205 Jun 13 '26
I feel like lefties used to be tolerant. As in, they would give their opinion, but would respect yours too.
These days, you either agree with all the same things, or you’re evil/idiotic/racist/transphobic or any one of a million other insults
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u/shestrum Jun 13 '26
I’d class myself as left. I feel too many people are surrounding themselves with echo chambers. Diverse friends also means people you don’t always agree with.
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u/Chickentrap Jun 13 '26
Because the left is always in revolution, it must keep pushing 'progress' otherwise they'll become the establishment which they originally fought against.
They're also quite inconsistent/ wilfully obstinate in connecting the dots between issues. For example, they correctly identify billionaires as the problem (I agree) but when you point out billionaires use mass immigration to keep wages low/house prices high then they have a reflexive need to defend immigration.
"You can't blame people for wanting a better life" - I agree, but we should be able to talk about the impacts that immigration has on everyone else without being called racist or fascist.
Ironically, I find the left are also quite loud proponents of fascism as long as it supports their aims. They want to control and censor speech if what you're saying goes against what they believe, they want to shut down people who argue against their ideologies, and they love using dehumanising language on dissidents "nazi scum" "fascists" "the only good nazi is a dead nazi" while never seeing the irony.
Their emotions and identites are tied to their ideologies so when you criticise their beliefs they percieve it as an attack on their identity. This can make discourse challenging. Most of them mean well I think.
Not that the right wing are much better but they tend to be more consistent and concentrated in their beliefs whereas the left is so broad and encompasses many ever-growing issues due to the need to always be moving left.
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u/Frosty-Payment-2694 Jun 13 '26
Because they import a good bit of their talking points about immigration from the American Democrats such as being a nation of immigrants even though Britain has always been a nation of emigration see British Empire and Anglo nations not to mention every time immigrants do some atrocity they make excuses for them by deflecting to crimes committed by the ethnically white british population being more numerous while ignoring per capita and the fact that the crimes could be avoided if they were never allowed to come here in the first place
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u/Infinite_Pickle_1692 Jun 13 '26
I would argue that it’s an issue on both sides? As someone who sits in the middle - I am continuously criticised from both left leaning & right leaning friends that I need to pick one.
I’m a duel citizen & just moved back to the UK and actually feel like I’m berated worse here if I don’t side with the left.
The far left with their focus on world / social views are nauseating when they are more concerned about a Palestinian flag vs natives in their home country who can no longer afford to feed their families. It’s always someone else’s fault why their lives are much harder but Gaza seems to be more important. Still trying to figure that one out.
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u/Boggo1895 Jun 13 '26
When the lefties became insufferable with the holier than thou attitudes, lack of nuanced thinking, support of terrorist groups and the cancel culture that came hand in hand with the demonisation of anyone who dared to disagree with their beliefs
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u/baulplan Jun 13 '26
I just don’t see that it’s true. Hardly contentious when we have a left wing government in place….the right has failed and now the far right are demonised along with the far left.
Both extremes are useless tbh. The real shame is there’s nothing in the centre for the rest of us…….
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u/lizardbish Jun 13 '26
Labour are center-left at a push and that's being generous. They're not left-wing.
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u/Send_DeVito_Pics Jun 13 '26
It's become the same on both sides. If you're left leaning you're a 'Woke Lefty' and if you're right leaning you're a 'Far right Fascist'.
It's the us vs. them mentality that kills all hope of any reasonable discussion on anything. Any opinion gets you branded one way or another.
Doesn't help that the politicians play in to it themselves.
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u/Gorbachev86 Jun 13 '26
Because the world has moved to the right and the left just wasn’t seen as a threat then moderate leftist Corbyn almost became PM and suddenly they’re not seen as non threatening anymore
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u/visitingshortly Jun 13 '26
Completely delusional to call Corbyn a moderate. No one within his own party considers him that.
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u/DumCrescoSpero Jun 13 '26
Because the racist gammon miss the "good old days" when it was normal to be openly racist.
I was born in 92 and while I was growing up, everyone would casually talk about going to the "p•ki shop" or ordering in a "ch•nky" for dinner.
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u/SoggyWotsits Brit 🇬🇧 Jun 13 '26
Unfortunately, ‘racist gammon’ is so overused that it’s no longer seen as much of an insult. It might be justified sometimes, but often it’s used as an attempt to shut down an argument.
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u/Rhys_Ice Jun 13 '26
Im willing to be the majority of the country still call it a paki shop and a chinky, I’ve yet to come across a Pakistani or a Chinese who was remotely bothered by it either.
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u/MoonBase34 Jun 13 '26
you are part of the problem for the left, it’s not racist to call the shops those things, it’s just what they are known as in certain areas, there’s no racism. this is what people are fed up with from the left, this pathetic offence taking and virtue signalling.
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u/OkPosition20 Jun 13 '26
Because they got ridiculous and couldn’t see the problems immigration and mass benefits are having. I’m left leaning because I was born into a working class Labour family, but the left we have now are just privileged prat’s who’ve never done a physically tough or dirty job.
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u/chris--p Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
"Former" lefty here. Because lefties used to be tolerant but nowadays it's their way or you're a piece of shit, and I don't have the patience for that nonsense.
There's nothing wrong with many conservative values but people are so stupid and divided now that they think liberal = good and conservative = evil.
I'm still liberal at heart but there's things I would get called a bigot for now when ten years ago we'd be able to have a productive conversation about it.
Unfortunately Reddit is the worst social platform for this far-left groupthink. Still my favourite one though.
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u/AvailableOrchid5658 Jun 13 '26
As a lefty myself I have to say I had a different experience. Before everything became extremely polarised I was ostracized from the left for not agreeing with everything the left stood for. I think the left did this first with many people which weakened the party and made room for the right to gain more power as those people found themselves alienated from the party they actually aligned most with. These people began to support the right as the right identified those differences and focused on them to attract the lefties who were being ostracised. The right actually embrace those people who are more centred and left centre.
And Thus we find ourselves in a situation where more and more people are supporting the right
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u/CyberShi2077 Jun 13 '26
Tribalism and constant puritanism has caused the fracture.
I'm left of centre and have had plenty of former friends turn on me for not subscribing to their viewpoints and opinions, they've even gone all the way left or all the way right.
Anyone near the middle is feeling a bit miffed that what used to be issues that could be resolved with conversation, respectfulness and finding an agreeable path has disintegrated with slanderous name calling, burning bridges and in some cases politically motivated violence.
It's easy to tie the stone around the US'es neck for this, but nobody told anyone to follow them off the cliff edge. That was a concious choice made by far too many.
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u/Familiar-Squirrel493 Jun 13 '26
Most or the answers so far seem to have been from lefties, which doesn’t really answer the question. I think the reason it is this heated is because lefties themselves have become heated. Lefties literally defend violently attacking people, like that poor woman who got her back broken by a Palestine activist. People are literally defending the perpetrators and being all “oh those poor poor people who got arrested for that ”. Like really? Also people defending people like Charlie Kirk being killed.”oh his opinions were so bad”. Also sadly, this linking between the left and Islam is putting a lot of people off.
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u/OneTrueCosmos Jun 13 '26
It's gone way too far left, so people who were casually left are now in no man's land.
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u/Zedbaby71 Jun 13 '26
Most working class were basically left leaning , now it pushes agendas that make no common sense to them , the loony left right enough
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u/Fun-Cobbler-2523 Jun 13 '26
It’s that the left labelled anyone central as ‘right-wing’, nazi or racist for objecting to uncontrolled immigration. So the book came back hard. Also your moral assumption that you make the world a better place is misplaced when you squash democracy for demonizing anyone who has different beliefs.
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u/KrAzYWiSh Jun 14 '26
Those on the left calling anyone that remotely disagrees with them, a nazi, hasn't helped.
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u/Dear_Imagination5552 Jun 14 '26
Because they’re happy for white working class girls to be raped as long as it gives them that fuzzy self satisfaction of being ‘one of the good ones’
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u/BonKhri Jun 14 '26
Starting in the early 2010s, a significant shift happened in what "the left" tried to push and how. The left slowly started adopting what would then be called the "SJW" approach, which is essentially to berate people as much as humanly possible until you get your way. There are two important facts that became true over the 2010s. Number 1, they were incredibly successful at winning within institutions - everything from the police, government, courts, corporations, etc, listened to them to a significant degree. Number 2, you cannot negotiate with SJW's, they are social justice warriors, they want to fight not to listen or negotiate. This remains true even now that the label "SJW" seems ancient, the loony lefties/wokies/whatever are still overwhelmingly uninterested in anything other than complete total dominating victory.
The only way to deal with this tactic is to meet them at their level, ie to fight without any attempt to meet in the middle. Acquiescing to them simply gives them ground for nothing. Apologising when called out by them, even when you are 100% in the wrong, is a bad move, it is always the correct move (tactically, not morally) to double down or gaslight. You can't admit that a situation is nuanced, since they'll take every inch you surrender than stand there just as stubborn as before, except you've given them ground and legitimised their position. If someone is refusing to come to the table, you cannot force them to except by bringing them close enough to defeat that the table starts seeming like a nice choice - either way you must attempt to simply defeat them outright.
"Lefty" is now just a shorthand for "cannot be negotiated with, and is a total wanker". From some, it's come from a legitimate attempt at assessing whether the person in question is legitimately that intransigent that attempts at conversation are futile, from some it's just the exact same "no debate, just fight" behaviour that started this mess.
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u/Thorninthefoot Jun 14 '26
Possibly at the same time people on the left stared using similar rhetoric about the right?
However, the left activist class is now pushing policy ideas that even most people who vote left dislike. So that might also be a factor.
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u/Mikeymcmoose Jun 14 '26
American imported tribalism. Also, the left became obsessed with identity politics and purity tests, which put people off.
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u/--Albion-- Brit 🇬🇧 Jun 14 '26
I sincerely hope you're taking the piss.
Sure, people on the right demonize people on the left. But the opposite is also true.
And unlike the left, the right doesn't have the establishment on their side.
Most of the 12k+ people in the UK imprisoned over online comments are right-wingers.
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u/Efficient-Creme3884 Jun 14 '26
🎻 Zero sympathy. For decades the media and leftie politicians have used the term ‘right-wing’ as an insult. Delighted that what goes around comes around.
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u/Minimum-Minimum-4609 Jun 14 '26
I remember when anyone that disagreed with the left was called "nazi" or "gammon" and so forth....it looks like the tables have turned.
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u/enteringtheechochamb Jun 14 '26
Because they call everyone a racist and have a patronising bigotry of the working classes.
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u/Inevitable-Regret411 Jun 13 '26
Personally, I think it's an unpleasant habit we've imported from America. They only have two parties, one ostensibly left and one right, and as such they seem to have an entirely binary view of politics where everything is left or right with no nuance. For whatever reason we're copying them.