Reply To: Why did the public vote for Brexit?

[Gurnelista]

Hah, why did the UK leave the EU? They were afraid because they were told the country was run by Brussels, when really the country was run by the Tories. Amid a deep, badly managed recession, a lie was put about – that leaving the EU would get rid of foreigners/brown/black people, provide more money for hospitals, and somehow turn back the clock to the good old days of yore.

But, think for a moment. EU membership had never been seriously questioned before, except by a fringe group of political eccentrics, because everyone could see the benefits far outweighed the deficiencies. Corruption, waste, democracy? There’s lots of corruption, waste and a democratic deficit in the British parliament. But the Brexiters ignored all that, and suddenly made the EU a scapegoat for all the UK’s ills. It wasn’t just a political issue, it was moral one, the campaigners told us from the barricades, and something just had to be done.

The leave campaign was dominated by racism. It was given a seal of approval by so-called ‘respectable’ members of the community; men in power, men in suits, even men of the cloth. On Bru, there was Lesgeo, broadcasting about his experience in the school, court and even the church, building up moral credibility before putting about some of the most egregious and un-Christian lies ever seen on here, and even encouraging others to share them.

Those stories? Haha! Remember that one about frightening the public with “research” predicting that 12 million Turks were likely to come? Remember too, the connection with those loony, far-right, so-called Christian web sites in the US? Populist, weapons-grade lies and nonsense to terrorise the gullible, from someone clearly unsuitable for public office. Neither must we forget pugilist jonnie ‘Or-not’ who used Bru to threaten to punch Andy Burnham’s lights out… clearly a democratic deficit there!

Elsewhere in the country it got worse. The Tories had their ‘climate of hostility’ policies, the Kippers had their ‘breaking point’ posters, and together with the right-wing media they conjured an ugly national mood, one in which people were looking sideways at anyone who looked or spoke ‘foreign’ – in supermarkets, buses, pubs, clubs – while in homes around the country arguments were breaking out among families, friends, neighbours… arguments between those who could see through the bullshit, and those who just wanted to believe.

Nobody was immune, and through manipulation in politics, mass and social media, Facebook, Twitter, plus the use of algorithms to target those who don’t seek out reliable news, the country was pushed into a position of calamitous and epic stupidity, like arguing about the existence of gravity.

It was complete and utter madness. Every living PM, along with prize-winning scientists, people who understood things – experts – all said ‘remain’, and have since been proved correct. Yet, amid the emotion of cheap shoes, fish and blue passports, the believers still followed Leadsom and Farage into the abyss, winning by the narrowest of margins. But just what exactly did they win? Precisely nothing.

Lies have consequences, and now we are reaping what others have sown. The country is sicker, weaker, poorer, and there’s unfinished business. No wonder the Brexiters and their towering hubris want to move on and let it drop.

As for Lesgeo’s belated U-Turn above, dad and the jonnies should come on here to apologise for all the guff they posted in the past about an ‘evil empire’ etc; guff which misled, stirred up hatred, and contributed to the creation of a climate in which it was ok to hate Muslims and immigrants, as well as OK to leave the EU without any sort of plan whatsoever.

But, in the Christian spirit which has long since characterised many of our band of Bru-ers, let there be compassion for the conned, and utter contempt for the conmen. Let us pray for them all – you know who you are.