Are lefties just nicer?
Ascandal involving a Left-wing political party is always more surprising and outrageous than one relating to a Right-wing party. Hence the allegations of sexual assault at a recent Young Labour camp seem all the more appalling because, well, according to the stereotype, politically Left-wing people are supposed to be better than that. And the fact Labour officials didn’t tell anyone about the incidents – for the sake of the victims of course – has only made things worse.
I’m not sure where I got this idea that politically Left-wing people are more virtuous than Right-wingers.
After all some of the most deadly and repressive regimes in the world have been communist, in name anyway.
But it is hard to get away from the feeling that Right-wing people are just not as nice, kind or compassionate as Left-wing people.
Take the New Zealand media, where the Right-wing is led by the flinty broadcaster Mike Hosking and the Left-wing is represented by the RNZ star, John Campbell, whose empathy often gets the better of his formidable journalism skills.
In New Zealand politics, Labour and the Greens seem to be the parties representing the better human qualities.
We assume they are more progressive, tolerant and compassionate and have more of a genuine desire to improve the world. They could also be hopeless economic managers, misguided zealots and dangerous spendthrifts but we don’t think of them as unkind.
One of the best, appealing and most principled human beings in New Zealand politics was Greens leader Rod Donald but he, tragically, died young.
Of course, it is hard to imagine a nicer, kinder current politician than Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and a baby will soon be enhancing those qualities.
National is falling behind in the nice stakes. New National leader Simon Bridges projects as a decent guy, but he appears professionally nice rather than the genuine article. The party also has Crusher Collins, who is probably a lovely person in private, but her image as a one-woman battering ram would not fit into the Left-wing frame.
The worst human beings I have ever met are young Nationals. I sort of assume that young politically active people are idealistic and naive and want to change things. Why, as a youngster, you would want to join a party that stands for not rocking the boat of middle and upper New Zealand is beyond me.
Although I have never met a Young Labour zealot, I picture them as being passionate about poverty and social justice and
But it is hard to get away from the feeling that Rightwing people are just not as nice, kind or compassionate as Left-wing people.
politically adventurous on issues like the legalisation of cannabis.
No doubt you’ve noticed creative people always seem to be Left-wing. You rarely get artists or actors or writers coming out to support a Judith Collins or a John Key. You can’t imagine Bill English being cheered at a rock festival in the same way as British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was at Glastonbury last year.
Gerry Brownlee got some rousing chants at the first Super 12 game in the new AMI stadium in 2012 but that doesn’t quite count.
Academics, the conscience of society, are invariably Left-wing and those that aren’t wouldn’t dare raise their head above the parapet.
As a Right-wing columnist – I prefer to think of myself as an independent thinker – I get a fair amount of abuse from the Leftwing unless I agree with one their causes. Even if their comments are vicious, something tells me their heart must be in the right place even if their brain isn’t.
This prejudice that makes me think Left-wingers and liberals, even when they insult me, might actually be better human beings than hard-hearted, cynical old me, is obviously wrong.
Science suggests that Rightwingers do not suffer from diminished empathy. American political psychologist Stanley Feldman has used a test devised for gauging autism to show self declared conservatives and Rightwingers might be ‘‘self stereotyping’’ if they think they are less caring that others.
The test designed by Cambridge professor Simon Baron Cohen (cousin of Sacha Baron Cohen of Borat fame) gets people to assess the emotional state depicted four sets of eyes. Self-reported conservatives do no worse than political liberals.
The trick for political parties is picking just where the electorate in general is placed on the empathy spectrum at election time.
The worse thing a Left-wing party can do is make Right-wing people feel bad about themselves by suggesting a better person would not be thinking like them.
As we all know from experience Left-wingers certainly don’t have a monopoly on kindness or generosity. Once they suggest they do they are in trouble.