fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

Closeted Tories

The tyranny of British college leftism

In the UK, university students who vote Tory live in a closet, where some of them hate themselves:

Because these young Tories are not out and proud blues – they’re firmly stuck in the political closet.

“I voted Tory but I’m very much keeping it on the down-low,” says a friend who’s so embarrassed by her ballot choice that she wants to remain anonymous.

“I can’t tell anyone because I’m working at a school where everyone thinks they’re elitist t***s.”

More:

These ‘secret Tories’ are scared of rocking the boat, not just out of fear of what their peers will think, but out of a sense of self-respect.

A 21-year-old student at Birmingham University tells me: “As a student, and a quite liberal minded person, I was (and still am) conflicted in casting a Tory vote and did consider spoiling the ballot. But at the end of the day I wanted to have a more concrete say in the governing of my country.”

As a young ‘liberal’ person, she’s terrified of being seen as a close-minded Tory, and she’s not alone.

The problem is that these ‘secret Tories’ are plagued by the deeply-rooted stereotype that all young people are leftie activists, and anyone who isn’t must be a ‘posh racist who hates poor people’.

What kind of twisted, tyrannical political culture demonizes people for voting not for some neo-Nazi party, but for the mainstream Conservatives? And what kind of twisted, tyrannical political culture teaches them to hate themselves for being political dissenters?

Advertisement

Comments

Want to join the conversation?

Subscribe for as little as $5/mo to start commenting on Rod’s blog.

Join Now