A Reflective Essay: How I View Tories
University has been the converging point of a multitude of ideas for me - culturally, politically, socially, and economically. Being apolitical in today’s political age isn’t an affordable stance anymore. I have had my fair share of political arguments that ended with neither side ‘winning’ but which piqued my interest. I often felt compelled to explore both sides of the argument despite how much I might disagree with one of them. My degree, incidentally, has challenged me to go further and include, in each side of the argument, an opposing view thus opening me up to critical thinking. As I grapple with this challenge, I have learned to open up - both socially and culturally which is ultimately the purpose of Politics.
As a child, I grew up in a conservative family - not in the British sense, but the Indian sense. In India, the political spectrum is not always definable but currently, it’s safe to say that the most right-leaning party in the country is the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). They serve the interests of the Hindu right-wing population of the country - incidentally, they readily served the interests of my family. However right-wing the rest of my family, my mother always tried her best to help me engage with the liberal view. She tried to tell me things as objectively as she could so I was able to grip and analyse opinions. As a result, I readily identified as left-leaning. Having only been exposed to one ‘kind’ of right-wing politics, I was not ready to face what I saw at university.
Frankly speaking, I was simply not aware that I would ever have to meet anyone with a conservative outlook. Any peer I had around me had almost always shared my political ideas. I usually never heard the other side of the opinion or decided to entirely alienate myself from them.
In the first few weeks of my university life, I met a couple of Marxists, leftists and a few other like-minded people. It was only when I started really started getting to know my fellow Early Modern Britain seminar cohort that I met people of the exact opposite opinions. At first incredulous, I remember asking, my now best friend and then acquaintance, if he was being serious to his vehement support of Brexit. Until this point, I had only heard anti-Brexit arguments and surrounded myself with people who were argued the same. The only pro-Brexit arguments I heard were on the news, radio and very occasionally - Twitter.
Having had such isolated encounters with pro-Brexiteers, I wasn’t ready to welcome any into my personal circle (yet!). I didn’t realise at the time, that constructed ideas of a specific community or a group didn’t necessarily reflect the reason and opinions of an individual that identifies with that group. In simple terms, I had deeply embedded and pre-set notions about how Tories functioned. I was very happy to discover that the Tories that I did meet, however, were not the same as the conservatives I grew up around.
Yet, to limit extreme stereotypes to Tories wouldn’t be fair. Both sides of the argument have extremes that adhere to stereotypes. Fortunately, I was able to meet people that didn’t stick to them. I listened to their arguments, respectfully, and they listened to mine. I wasn’t shut down by loud voices, unlike my well-meaning teachers, uncles on the street or caps locked tweets from pro-BJP accounts on Twitter. With explanations and opinions, I saw myself warming up to the interpersonal relations and healthy debates with someone who didn’t necessarily share the same opinion as me.
In hindsight, this article might seem a naive account accepting that other people might not have the same opinion as me. But to me, it means so much more than just acknowledging the other side of the argument. Even though I grew up in a city in India, the city has always felt like a safe bubble - I was able to mingle with like-minded people. I stayed in safe boundaries and didn’t try to venture beyond my comfort zone, handpicked my company, and continued to stay in my bubble because it was the safest thing to do. University changed all that. I have met so many different people - people that come from different backgrounds, cultures and most importantly, political spectrums. I think accepting that came as a natural process however, acknowledging this acceptance took a whole year.
This reflection comes on the back of a Tweet I saw moments before this idea took upon my brain. The tweet followed by a morning seminar. A peer expressed an opinion that wasn’t representative of my own and my first thought was, “Must be a Tory.” After careful evaluation, I approached the esteemed Editor-In-Chief, Mr. Nathwani, who was more than obliging of my request to write this piece of self-reflection. This writing is an attempt on my behalf to change the way I view Tories and anyone who’s not of the same opinion as me. As proved by this seminar, I’m not there yet. My bias against the right seems to creep up on me unknowingly. I plan to change this by widening my acquaintances and do the same think my mum tried to do for me - engage with the Tory argument.
Written by Sayali Marathe
A Second Year History Student at KCL