Political ads have rarely been subtle in the past, but this current slew could insult the intelligence of a silverfish. It's not so much that they think we're stupid, but that their attempts to appeal to that perceived stupidity are so stupid in themselves; they've created a sort of self-perpetuating stupidity whirlpool.One influence on my opinion to date has been the insulting behaviour of the 'Yes' campaigners - both personally insulting and insulting my intelligence with strawman arguments. But now the 'No' campaign have started insulting my intelligence as well. I am being insulted by the people I was inclined to vote for!
At the weekend we had a large family get-together. There is disagreement amongst us on the AV issue, and it was good to hear respectful and measured discussion. Furthermore, after a lot of essays which in my opinion were biased and dishonest,
nwhyte has linked to this article on the pros and cons of AV from the Political Studies Association, which is also respectful and measured. There's no swearing at anyone, no 'it's simple', no 'only an ignorant bitch could fail to agree with me' or anything like that.Anyway, despite having found some intellectual high ground I am coming round to the idea of abstaining, because either result will be presented as some kind of gutter endorsement by horrible people who I do not want to be associated with.