I discovered a blog from the University of Oxford this morning, via, Marginal Revolution. It's called Practical Ethics and the first post I've read is entitled: "If Your a Conservative, I'm Not Your Friend." Written by Rebecca Roache.
I can relate!
Seems they had an election in Britain, and the Conservatives won. And their policies will be promoted - their "Austerity" will make war on the poor and middle class. As Roache puts it:
"to express one’s support for a political party that does these things is as objectionable as expressing racist, sexist, or homophobic views. Racism, sexism, and homophobia are not simply misguided views like any other; views that we can hope to change through reasoned debate (although we can try to do that). They are offensive views. They are views that lose you friends and respect—and the fact that they are socially unacceptable views helps discourage people from holding (or at least expressing) them, even where reasoned debate fails. Sometimes the stick is more effective than the carrot. For these reasons, I’m tired of reasoned debate about politics—at least for a day or two. I don’t want to be friends with racists, sexists, or homophobes. And I don’t want to be friends with Conservatives either."
Yes, Practical Ethics indeed!