>that makes me think that they think I'm an idiot and that they think they can actually manipulate me with such silliness.
So "Brexit" was made up just to manipulate British people? That's how language evolves, isn't it? New words get coined, some of them stick and stay, some go away. "Dumbocrat" won't stay for long because it carries nothing but insult.
> That kind of dehumanisation and humiliation is exactly what helped create Brexit/Trump.
I hate seeing this, as it's become massively apparent that these political events have given the green flag for racism to decamp from the shadows into public life.
I'm following a pretty funny Twitter account now, that posted exactly what I'm talking about, only a few days ago.[1] I'm 100% fine with conservative/liberal viewpoints, just as long as they're not completely charged with prejudice for another person.
"Fierce austerity is required for our economy, and welfare must be curbed" - fine, I disagree, but absolutely fine.
"We voted for Brexit to get those f*ng foreigners out of our land" - nah, mate.
I never said that. It's all about intellectual honesty.
I know that I'm not qualified for my opinion to matter on the topic (I'm just debunking low quality propaganda here) despite the fact that I did hours of research on it.
We don't ask random people about their opinion on string theory, do we ?
> And yet the country voted for Brexit, mostly without even knowing what they were voting for.
Well obviously enough thought it was the right option.
>I agree with the OP that politics in the UK are toxic. There are only 2 parties that matter, and they are essentially the same, even though they would have you believe differently. The parties never work together, and spend all their time shamelessly sniping at one another and blocking bills based on political points scoring. It doesn't feel like either party wants what is best for the populace.
That how government works. You have the main party in power and the official opposition that tries to block bills it doesn't agree with. It has been like this for centuries.
> Then you have the tabloid media, which constantly fans the flames of hatred and outrage, poisoning the minds of a large part of the populace, essentially able to make them believe almost anything that suits the narrative of the owner's political affiliation.
I agree with you on this I don't think it is a problem unique to the UK. And I think it'll get better because the sales of newspapers is decreasing.
This is tiring to keep seeing this constant smear repeated. Sure immigration was mentioned but having control over immigration isn't the same as xenophobia. I've lived in a few different countries and the UK generally isn't xenophobic.
> I think the common thing about Brexit is that voting to leave is quite likely not based in any actual reason, but is a purely emotional reaction.
Well I would disagree. There are plenty of reasons why (not taking orders from Brussels is a really good reason, especially after Article 11 and 13 were drafted and forced through the Parliament).
"Right now there is this thing called Brexit." I'm British, so I'm all too aware of Brexit. The comment I responded to didn't sound like someone who had legitimate suspicions regarding the state of British politics, it sounded like a fatuous, offhand dismissal of people who were taking a serious interest the effect of social media on democracy. I'm interested in thoughtful criticism of the report, but this wasn't that.
> they're not quite -that- dumb as to out themselves directly
I don't know. Have you heard some brexiteers complaining about brexit. Of course the problem is that Brexit wasn't done 'properly'. 'brexit means brexit' and all that.
> […] they are needlessy hurting people and businesses who had bet on the EU.
They, in this case, being the British government performing the Brexit, not the EU enforcing the agreed-upon rules. The Brexit has consequences, be they negative or positive, that are real and can have a lot of impact on the lives of both British and EU citizens. The British government has accepted these as representatives of their voters.
> I'm from the UK where British politics is dysfunctional and rotten to the core.
Oh God, it’s a disaster to watch. The Tories are repeatedly kicking themselves in the balls publicly and Labour is run by someone who has almost no support from MPs and who comes third after “Don’t know” in the rankings of potential prime ministers.
> The “witch hunt” refers to the actions taken by the incoming Johnson government, who kicked a bunch of generally respected, experienced parliamentarians out of the party because they weren’t “Brexity” enough. We’re not even talking about anti-Brexit people - just the ones that resisted the obviously broken approach that was being taken.
That was half of your comment, the opening part, and in response to my comment, yet somehow, going into detail about
a) why it wasn't a witch hunt, and
b) refuting the premises upon which you relied
is somehow pretty tangential to my point?
> I think it goes to demonstrate quite tidily the utter mind-rot on the part of some people in the UK right now.
Do you always respond to cognitive dissonance with personal slights, and do you know that this is HN and not Twitter?
> I live in the UK. Brexit will only make my life worse. I don't see any upside to it.
Brexit has clearly had a significant detrimental effect on your life, given it happened eleven months ago and you’re still writing about it in the future tense.
> But hey, if they were stupid enough to leave the EU than they're capable of doing anything.
This is quite offensive. Please don't tar the entire country with the same brush.
This was - and still is - a highly controversial & divisive subject. It was only voted in by 51.89% vs 48.11% of the population ...at the time - more recent polling suggests it has flipped (1)
Oh do shut up. What has 'Brexit' got to do with this?
This is the UK equivalent of turning everything into an excuse to bash Trump/Republicans.
> ..That's my reading of that anyway
I am sure it is. It isn't anyone else's I expect
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