I’m fed up with those who believe in democracy until they lose. It reminds me of one of the sayings of Snoopy, “It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose . . . until you lose”. What a misuse of a word to call a political party ‘Democrats’ when all we are getting now, 24 hours after a defeat, is the deafening bleating that the voters got it wrong. Here is another saying, “there are only two ways of doing things – my way and the wrong way!”
I’m fed up with celebrities who think we should listen to them in things that matter. They sing, act, dance etc. wonderfully, and we love and admire them for it, but that has no bearing at all on political opinion. Katy Perry, the latest tweeter over Trump, has no more and no less political knowledge than me or you. So why on earth do the media take notice of her and not us? Good job we don’t listen to celebrities over advice in our relationships or we really will be descending into a bigger mess.
I’m fed up with experts who know nothing. I love science and maths and the accuracy of it all. But political punditry and polls are not science, they are just educated guesses as to what may or may not happen. My guess is as good as the next person’s, but often it is not educated. Rather it is biased towards what I want to happen. I know that you can construct a questionnaire to get the answers you want. The cynic in me thinks that the experts are ‘using’ educated guesses to help promote what they want. They seem, far too often, to be out of touch with people on the ground so they are bound to get it wrong. And wrong they were – TWICE – over Brexit and Trump. ‘One up’ for the people I say.
I’m fed up with people trying to put words in my mouth. One election I was telephoned by a pollster wanting to know which party I was going to vote for. I tried to tell them I no longer believe in party politics so I do not vote for parties. “Oh” said the voice on the other end, “you are undecided”. “No, No, No!” I responded, “I know exactly who I’m going to vote for, Charlotte Leslie”. “So you are conservative?” came the voice again. “No!” I said, “if David Cameron was standing here I would not be voting for him”. There was no room on the form they had in front of them to accurately enter my viewpoint. I have no idea what they actually did put but whatever it was, it was misleading. To prove a point, we were at the same time voting in local elections, I voted for Jenny Smith, Labour.
Is there an answer to being fed up? Thankfully yes there is – get involved. Tonight, I’m going to a meeting of the Southmead Neighbourhood Forum. At least my voice is heard there and listened to.