In politics the "tough and uncompromising" position is often adopted during campaigning, where it appears to strike a chord and appears to be useful for stirring people up. It is also very likely to be used in situations where there is political polarisation - witness that the kippers have to a certain extent forced other political parties to adopt more hard line and bone-headed attitudes because of this. That much of the kippers rhetoric on immigration bears little scrutiny is of no consequence, people are attracted to this sort of bombastic attitude and the other parties, to their discredit, adopt their own variations of this mindlessness.
On the other side of the fence, that of the voter, there is also a hint of lack of compromise. To para-phrase and generalise, the words often spoken are “None of the parties support my particular set of interest areas.” Which is pretty likely, none of them align with mine either, and where there is a policy or position held that has more significant overlap in appeal (to me personally) there is little chance of that candidate being successful or their party taking control. It’s not easy to palate but we have to give ground.
From the point of the politicians. Once the electoral process is over they should drop the tough and uncompromising stance as soon as possible if they have any sense - note, David Cameron uses the phrase “tough and uncompromising” as a condiment sprinkled over almost everything he says. Perhaps we should ask Nick Clegg what he thinks about compromise. He seems to be the expert in demonstrating the opposite end of the scale and the damage that can do too. Since he palled up with the Tories at the last election he seems to have compromised on almost every point his party supported. Surely to retain any credibility that he had any principles he ought to have tried a damn sight harder than he appears to in pushing his original agenda. However with the growing mound of electoral tat he posts through my door he appears unable to defend a single action, there isn’t any example in any of the printed material that celebrates a success of his party or demonstrates any sign of remaining scruples.
I don’t want to dig at Clegg (much), though he is a fine example of someone that appears to want power at any expense even if that expense is his own credibility. I want to have a dig at the unrealistic, simplistic, stupid way that political campaigns are run, and having a dig at the lack of education we have had to enable picking apart political arguments that are presented. And I want to dig at the way the media (and many politicians) turn the process into a mess of name-calling and gutter journalism.
There’s more to it. Perhaps I’m expecting more, my view is almost certainly naive given my lack of political knowledge and nous in that area. But surely we should expect more than the closing down of debate with little room for negotiation and no time for analysis. We should be treated with much more respect even if we haven’t invested the time or don’t fully understand the details of the issues, there should be better discussion rather than the scripted bear fights that we end up with.
Tough and uncompromising doesn’t make any of the nuance or complexity of arguments visible and we end up with a veneer of knowledge that bears no semblance to reality. Tough and uncompromising stands in the way of progress and makes expectations unrealistic. Tough and uncompromising is posturing, muscle flexing, and meat-headed, look out for it.
On the other side of the fence, that of the voter, there is also a hint of lack of compromise. To para-phrase and generalise, the words often spoken are “None of the parties support my particular set of interest areas.” Which is pretty likely, none of them align with mine either, and where there is a policy or position held that has more significant overlap in appeal (to me personally) there is little chance of that candidate being successful or their party taking control. It’s not easy to palate but we have to give ground.
From the point of the politicians. Once the electoral process is over they should drop the tough and uncompromising stance as soon as possible if they have any sense - note, David Cameron uses the phrase “tough and uncompromising” as a condiment sprinkled over almost everything he says. Perhaps we should ask Nick Clegg what he thinks about compromise. He seems to be the expert in demonstrating the opposite end of the scale and the damage that can do too. Since he palled up with the Tories at the last election he seems to have compromised on almost every point his party supported. Surely to retain any credibility that he had any principles he ought to have tried a damn sight harder than he appears to in pushing his original agenda. However with the growing mound of electoral tat he posts through my door he appears unable to defend a single action, there isn’t any example in any of the printed material that celebrates a success of his party or demonstrates any sign of remaining scruples.
I don’t want to dig at Clegg (much), though he is a fine example of someone that appears to want power at any expense even if that expense is his own credibility. I want to have a dig at the unrealistic, simplistic, stupid way that political campaigns are run, and having a dig at the lack of education we have had to enable picking apart political arguments that are presented. And I want to dig at the way the media (and many politicians) turn the process into a mess of name-calling and gutter journalism.
There’s more to it. Perhaps I’m expecting more, my view is almost certainly naive given my lack of political knowledge and nous in that area. But surely we should expect more than the closing down of debate with little room for negotiation and no time for analysis. We should be treated with much more respect even if we haven’t invested the time or don’t fully understand the details of the issues, there should be better discussion rather than the scripted bear fights that we end up with.
Tough and uncompromising doesn’t make any of the nuance or complexity of arguments visible and we end up with a veneer of knowledge that bears no semblance to reality. Tough and uncompromising stands in the way of progress and makes expectations unrealistic. Tough and uncompromising is posturing, muscle flexing, and meat-headed, look out for it.
Tough, uncompromising, unwelcoming
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