Put your political opinions aside, the online abuse the UoL Young Conservatives receive is not okay

The University of Liverpool's Young Conservatives received a torrent of horrible comments when they posted a picture of their Christmas Party on Twitter last month. They responded to comments (quoting Maggie Thatcher which didn't go down too well) and the original post was deleted. But a throwback picture has since been posted which has also received hundreds of abusive comments.

Although most people would have thought the comments were funny, it's also online bullying when comments refer to the appearance of people and how they should suffer simply because they are a Tory. Conservatives in Liverpool are a minority, but that does not excuse the comments the group has had to deal with in the past month. Examples of some comments to pictures of members of the society were "I hope they get polio" and "The Undateables Christmas reunion".

Some online users commented about how society members looked, saying "Why do they always look like that?" and one responded "They only have a couple of different moulds". One twitter user even went as far as comparing the Young Conservatives to a "self harm support group". People may find it funny to comment on appearance but comparing the group to self harmers is unacceptable to both the Young Conservatives, who are being ostracised because they hold an opinion that differs from the majority, and young people that are recovering from self harm and don't appreciate such an important issue being brought up in a trivial context.

Some may find this funny but commenting on people's appearance and assigning stereotypes to them over social media is an example of online abuse. We wouldn't accept these comments if they were directed towards people who identify as ethnic minorities, women or men, so why do we encourage it when it comes to being a Tory?

We all have, or know someone who has, experienced online abuse in the past and we know how damaging it can be to a person's self esteem. So why do we find it funny and acceptable to post hateful comments on people's social media when they hold a different opinion to others? Whether you're a Labour supporter or a Conservative, you should not be targeted because of it, especially when you post something as harmless as a photo of a Christmas party.

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