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Not Apathetic

Tell the world why you're not voting - don't let your silence go unheard

They're not voting because...

More and more like 1984

With Labour known for lying, breaking promises and wasting taxpayers money, the Tories changing their minds as often as they change their leader, and the Lib Dems and the other parties too far behind to get in, for me there was no point in voting.

I did stay in and watch something relevant to politics though. Appropriately enough, Sky Cinema 1 was showing 1984.

written 6th May 2005

Responses

dcd replies: Hey, wait a minute! New Labour may be known liars, but they don't have 'dibs' (exclusive rights) to that; don't they all lie (and get found out) and don't they all waste taxpayers' money?

And the Conservative & Unionists are not the only ones to keep changing their minds.

Changing leadership is completely irrelevant. Remember the origins of the title, "Prime Minister" was derogatory!

But, foreby all that, I take your point, share you view and say more power to you!

written 7th May 2005

MAdMaN replies: To dcd: I know they're all liars, waste taxpayers money, etc, but I was just mentioning the things the individual groups have become known for since the last election.

written 7th May 2005

dcd replies: Nice one. I am sorry that I didn't pick up on that.

I was thinking though, that yes -- it IS more like 1984, but not so much in the more common sense -- you know, ID cards, Big Brother CCTV and all that.

No, it's getting more like 1984's underlying premise -- that to motivate people, give them a clear purpose, a fake war was invented by the state.

That was the Big Lie of 1984, wasn't it.

Well, look at the world now -- Berlin Wall is down, USSR is RIP and gone the way of the Ottoman, Japanese, British and Austro-Hungarian Empires.

What have all the bad guys gone?

The standard of living here has dramatically changed over time... while there may well be a widening gap between rich and poor, there is also a widening gap between the poor today and the poor of the past. We're all a bit better off these days.

Finally, we are officially in a Post-Christian world. Naming ceremonies are growing as Baptisms are falling. Even Charles and Camilla tied the knot at a Registry Office.

British history is all about Christian versus Christian -- Catholic versus Protestant, look at Northern Ireland, look at the House of Stuart, covenanters, the bishops' wars. People fled Britain to settle in the New World and thes epilgrims formed the USA because of religious tensions. (etc etc)

Yes, there are still problems in Northern Ireland and Sectarianism in Scotland, but certainly not of the scale of that of the past.

Basically, what I am suggesting is that because we do not have major threats looming, because we are post-Christian, because we are better off, there are few issues to get worked up over.

Fox hunting, animal rights, and stuff ike that are today actually considered radical and divisive issues! Honestly!

The politicians are stuff with tinkering to justify their salaries and expenses, fighting for middle-ground insipid issues that we all really do not give a monkeys about at the end of the day.

The war in Iraq, the stirring up of fear in "international terrorism", and even the reintroduction of religious intolerance against Islam, are like 1984 -- invented to give try to keep us interested, motivated and needing a strongly led government to sort it out!

written 7th May 2005

james replies: "Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."

George Orwell, 1984

written 7th May 2005

About Not Apathetic

NotApathetic was built so that people who are planning not to vote in the UK General Election on May 5th can tell the world why. We won't try to persuade you that voting is a good or a bad idea - we're just here to record and share your explanations. Whether ideological, practical or other, any reason will do.

A lot of users would like us to mention that if you spoil your ballot paper, it will be counted. So if you want to record a vote for "none of the above", you can.

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