Why I Hate Leaflet Delivery

[miss_s_b]

So, this morning I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed at stupid o'clock, even though I will be working till midnight tonight, so I could go and participate in what is laughingly referred to as an Action Day. For those of you who are not politically active, an Action Day is when a whole bunch of activists get together to deliver leaflets to a given area. After about an hour or so of having my knuckles scraped by ridiculously snappy letterboxes, and falling over on uneven paths, and generally feeling pretty battered and bruised and grumpy, I got to a house where a skinhead with no shirt on and a BNP tattoo set his dog on me.

I haven't been bitten because I vaulted his garden gate. I'm glad I am pretty physically strong and have good reaction times. It might possibly have helped if my hands weren't already bleeding from booby-trapped letterboxes, but it might not. I've come home now so that I can have a panic attack in peace.

I do not ever want to deliver leaflets ever again. Ever.

I suspect that this is a big part of the reason political parties are haemorrhaging membership. The expectation that people risk their own personal safety for nothing on a regular basis is not a rewarding experience for the activist. Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to have a bath. Shaking, sweating, and vomiting is not good preparation for an eight hour shift at work.

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Comments

[telegramsam]

Well of course everyone thinks they are at least mostly right. People don't generally hold onto beliefs they think are patently false (well most people don't).

But most people also don't enjoy being talked down to, or be called stupid, or worse, evil, however obliquely. It's one thing to say "I believe X is right and Y is wrong and here are my reasons why" and quite another saying "X is definitely right, Y is defintely wrong, and here are the reasons you're a complete jackass and/or evil for believing Y."

It gets even nastier, really, if you want to bring religion into the mix. There's nothing I hate more than someone telling someone else "you're going to hell" like they have any damn proof where anybody's going.

It's not differing opinions in general I get upset with, it's when people bring arrogance and bloated egos into it. I wouldn't even mind the leaflets so much if the leaflet writers could leave the adjectives and emotions out of it and state their case rationally, but most of them (at least here in the states) are full of cheap shots at the opponent, whatever it happens to be, and blatant scare mongering. And I don't just mean the Republicans/looney conservatives. The other end of the spectrum can be just as bad even though they like to pretend they're more sophisticated. :\