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Public support for benefit cap according to Ipsos MORI
“The vast majority (70%) of the public think people affected by the benefit cap should be prepared to find jobs or work more hours and two-thirds (65%) say they should be willing to move to a cheaper property.”
More @ https://www.gov.uk/government/news/public-think-benefit-cap-claimants-should-work-or-move
One of my bugbears is people expecting other people to automatically do what THEY arent prepared to.
Like 30 year olds supporting National service, or 40 year olds supporting Housing benefit restrictions to folk up to 35 years old.
When i hear such nonsense about people on benefits living the life of riley from people I simply ask them why they dont give up their job and live on 71 quid a week then?
The misinformation fed to the public (ref The Suns front page this morning, every Daily mail etc etc) is directly responsible for these attitudes.
Goebbels big lie?
The fact it’s a MORI poll speaks volumes. The fact that we’re even paying for research into perceptions says much about government policy formation; ideology and so on. Effectively this is the government using our money to pay for research into how evil it can be before it becomes unelectable. This is ahead of research into whether the Benefits Cap actually meets its ideological objectives. That’s the real story here once you’ve gotten past the stuff about how appallingly uninformed the public are blah blah blah.
Lots of families with 5 or 6 children will be readily willing and able to up sticks to a smaller property! Work in those situations will of course be readily available and not at all impacted on by the lack of affordable childcare or public transport.
It’s Friday - sigh! I need to take my angry head off and put another one on.
benefitsadviser has it spot on.
This level of support only comes about because of lies, misinformation and stereotyping (same for immigration issues).
It is propogated by virtually everyone with internet access who tend to follow the 11th commandment:
11. Thou shalt believe unreservedly everything thou reads or sees on social networking websites.
Not sure I agree Tony. Lies, misinformation and stereotyping were not invented with the internet and certainly not by social networking. Ironically you may well have just become victim to the very thing you bemoan :)
The net is a means of transmission and is as much a force for good as evil. The key influence on that is what people believe in the first place. Take a look at things like the @EverydayAbleism or @Albinism accounts on Twitter for some great examples of how positive images are spread.
People don’t necessarily believe everything they read. That implies they are somehow passive non-critical consumers of all which passes before them. Rather people are attracted to other people and places who share some commonality and where the debate is often reduced to a nuanced version of how much something may or may not be true.
This could possibly be why we gravitate here for example. We look for help and to share and our disagreements on approach tend to require a high standard of proof. Other places, maybe less so.
So, this is research that doesn’t demonstrate how stupid people are. It demonstrates government using research to capture traditional Tory voters and ensure they don’t waver. The really depressing things are that
a) such research exists and is unchallenged in terms of being entirely political.
b) the uncritical reporting by mainstream media e.g. the BBC. Reporting has become literally repeating back what someone has told you. Critical comment has become reporting back other perspectives without critical analysis.
This is why the global warming debate, absolutely scientifically overwhelmingly pointing only one way, is banally still involving crackpots with a voice and money to burn.
Socrates on Facebook!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/11/writing-wall-social-media-standage-review
“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle” – George Orwell
If we agree with Mike that most ordinary people aren’t stupid, do we agree that it’s likely that most people do support welfare reform (or are the vast majority of the opinion polls, not just from Mori, wrong and it’s all a conspiracy)?
I can’t comment on social media because I don’t and won’t use it. There is an old proverb that can originally be traced back to Virgil which says “a lie is halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on”. The only difference between then and now is the speed of travel. As for human stupidity, it will always exist and will always be used to propagate falsehood on behalf of vested interests as long as there are vested interests. Only the truth will set people free. And not everyone is stupid.