Things People Believe About Politics That They Shouldn't
Tuesday 12 June 2007 at 10:18 amThe more I read the newspapers and listen to the radio, the more I am opposed to democracy. Why should this be, you ask? Because (let's face it) many of the people who moan their way through radio phone-ins and who clog up the letters pages of national newspapers have no idea what they are talking about. Go and read the letters page in today's Daily Mail or The Sun and you'll see what I mean. In fact I challenge anyone to read the "TXT PAGE" ("letters page") of the Daily Star without wanting to poke at least one of your eyes out and yearn for an end to the free press.
Fortunately democracy doesn't really work, and although the public are entitled to celebrate and display their ignorance about almost everything in a wide variety of formats, real power and decision-making is still concentrated in the hands of the wealthy and educated, and long may it continue.
One of my particular public opinion bugbears are the oft-quoted "facts" about politics and history in the UK which are now so often repeated that they are usually taken to be gospel truth though they often have little basis in fact. Here are a few oft-quoted myths that need to be firmly busted:
Myth 1. More people vote on Big Brother eviction night or for Pop Idol than voted in elections.
No. Voter turnout at local and national elections may have been lower in recent years and the viewers of MORON-TV may be on the increase, but there is one major difference between a general election and a TV phone vote to an 0900 number, the major difference being that in a general election you can only vote ONCE whereas people will vote to evict their least favourite deviant from the Big Brother dozens of times simply by pressing the redial button on their mobile phone (whilst paying £1.50 for the privilege each time).
Even if this was not the case and everyone who voted for Big Brother only voted once, there is still not a shred of evidence to suggest that more people in a TV reality show than voted in a General Election. Consider these figures from the last UK election in 2005:
Votes cast in 2005 General Election: 27,128,130
Votes cast for Big Brother in 2005: 6,363,325
So the next time someone tells you that politics is in crisis because more people vote in TV phone ins than in elections, ask them to bend over, point their bum towards you and say "thanks, now I can hear you more clearly."
Myth #2: Participation in politics is declining
Wrong again. This is often linked to myth #1, but is also quite far from the truth. What is declining is membership of the mainstream political parties and turnout in recent elections - but that would mean that political apathy was growing only if party membership and elections were the only means of participating in politics.
What has changed is the way in which people participate in politics. Membership of cause groups and single-issue groups (e.g. Stop the War coalition, Greenpeace, Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament etc) is at an all-time high and much higher than membership figures of the mainstream parties. People have not stopped caring about politics, it is the means by which they become politically active that has changed. Next.
Myth #3 "You have to vote - people fought and died in wars so that you could vote!"
Aaagh. Aaagh. Next time someone says this to me, I will ask them to recount the details of the war that their ancestors fought in to secure their right to vote. They'll probably say World War Two, but this is far from the truth. The right to vote in the UK was secured not by a war, either foreign or civil, but through mainstream parliamentary processes. The Great Reform Acts of 1832 and 1867 together secured the right of all males to vote un parliamentary elections, and women were given equal voting rights finally in 1928, again through an act of Parliament. (You could, I suppose, argue that the suffragette struggle was a kind of "war" but not in the sense that people usually mean.)
The right that I and every other UK citizen over the age of 18 has to vote was secured not by foreign or civil wars, but by due political processes. But what of the wars Britain has fought in? What impact have they had on our right to vote (or indeed to not vote?). Let's see:
World War One: Britain fights Germany as part of a treaty by which Britain had guaranteed to defend Belgium if it was ever invaded. Belgium invaded by Germany in 1914, Britain declared war on Germany. Millions slaughtered before end of war in 1918. Right to vote had existed before the war, and continued afterwards. Women over 30 allowed to vote from 1918 onwards.
Iraqi War 1918-1932: (How many people know about this one?) Britain occupies former Ottoman Empire territory at end of WW1. In a policy that now looks more than embarrassing given recent history, the British occupying forces become the first people to use chemical weapons on Iraq (at the behest of Winston Churchill) to control "uncivilised tribes." Lots of Iraqis die, British right to vote not effected.
World War Two: Britain declares war on Germany following the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Six years later, 50 million people are dead and Europe is in ruins. Right to vote continues in UK as secure as it had been in 1939. Defeated Germany emerges as a successful democracy, the victorious USSR (which suffered the most casualties of any nation in WW2, in excess of 20 million) remains an authoritarian dictatorship.Go figure.
Korean War (1950-53): Britain fights as part of UN force when North Korea invades South Korea. War ends in stalemate in 1953. Right to vote unaffected.
Aden Emergency (1963-67): Uprising in British colony. British forces leave in 1967, right to vote unaffected.
Falklands War (1982): Argentina invades Falkland Islands, defeated by Britain in June 1982, just under 1000 killed on both sides. Right to vote in UK unaffected. Governor of Falkland Islands appointed directly by the Queen, Falkland Islanders elect a 10-seat legislative assembly every four years.
Gulf Wars (1991 and 2003-): War with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, for various reasons, many of them dubious. Thousands of people killed. To date 150 British soldiers have been killed, and 47 were killed in 1991, right to vote unaffected.
So next time someone attempts to guilt trip you about people fighting in wars so that you could vote, remind them that in fact none of the wars Britain has fought in the last 100 years secured the your right to vote for the party of your choice, and that with the possible exception of WW2, the right to vote was never even under threat. There seems to be no link whatsoever between people being killed in wars and the right to vote in the UK.
Myth #4 "If you don't vote, extremists will get in - that's what happened with the Nazis!"
Again, this is far from the truth. Britain is in the unique position in Europe of having never had either an extreme left or right wing government, a major revolution, or even a remotely successful extreme right/left party (and don't mention the BNP either - there are 22,000 council seats in Britain, they currently hold just 46 of them.) There are several possible reasons for this, but mostly I suspect that British people are just too conservative (with a small 'c') to entertain extremists governments.
Anyway, that's not the point. My irritation here is that people appeal to the spectre of Hitler or the Nazis to conjure up all kinds of stupid fears and paradigms e.g. Hitler wanted a united Europe (not strictly true), and therefore the EU is evil etc etc.
"Vote, or the extremists will get in!" people urge - but if no one votes, how exactly are they going to "get in"? I suppose they could always have a violent revolution, in which case whether you vote or not is irrelevant.
People would have you believe that it was voter apathy that put the Nazis into power, but this could not be further from the truth. Here's a brief history lesson:
Early 1920s: Massive inflation and unmployment in Germany, resentment at defeat in WW1 and harsh terms of Versailles treaty. National Socialist party led by Hitler becomes popular, attempted coup fails in 1923. Hitler imprisoned.
Mid 1920s: German economy begins to stabilise, support for Nazis declines.
1929: Wall Street Crash, Germany collapses economically and support for extreme left and extreme right parties grows. Nazis and Communists become very powerful. Rich industrialists and middle classes fear spread of communism and thus transfer support to the Nazi party, Nazis and Hitler elected to power in 1933 (though only with approx 25% of the vote). Communists allegedly burn down German parliament, Hitler uses this as pretext to ban communist party. Eventually dissolves Parliament and becomes sole dictator of Germany in 1933.
Note: Nazis did not come into power as a result of voter apathy, they came into power as a result of voter support and a middle class fear of communism. In fact as far as I am aware, there has never been a case of an extremist party coming to power in a democracy because other people couldn't be bothered to vote. Economic and social instability brings extremists into power, not low electoral turnout.
Next: Things People Believe About History That They Shouldn't