Tories? They’re not just wrong, they’re evil

My favourite comment after the 2015 election was from an academic named Rebecca Roache, said Rod Liddle. Viewing the unexpected Tory majority with dismay, she announced that on Facebook, she’d henceforth be defriending anyone who “liked” pro-tory pages, adding that Tory voters were akin to racists, homophobes and sexists. Why? Because she was tired of “reasoned debate”. It’s an odd position for a lecturer in philosophy, but Roache is not alone: “in the bizarre, Manichean world of the liberal Left, politics has become intensely personal”. If you voted Tory because you felt that the Maybot, though “grim and ineffectual”, might just be a safer bet as PM “than a bearded Trot who collects manhole covers”, you’re not just wrong, you’re evil. If you worry about immigration, you’re a racist. If you think we should reduce the public debt, you’re a monster who wants to hack off the limbs of disabled people. Your views are sinful, and they shouldn’t be heard. So we can’t have a debate; there can be no search for common ground, or compromise. We must close the argument down, and take to the streets for a Day of Rage.