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Hello Brexiteer

Earlier today, a person obviously in favour of Brexit wrote a comment on my blog. It read something like this:

Listen good, you stupid c--t. An overwhelming majority of the public voted OUT so we are OUT. You lost. We are OUT. England OUT! England OUT!

Now, the comments on my blog are not pre-moderated, and I don't have a policy of removing messages that do not follow "the party line" (cough, like certain national newspapers). Everybody can leave a comment, and I will only step in and perform moderation if there is a specific pressing reason to do so. In this case, I have removed the obscene word and left enough of it that the intent is clear, while dashing it out because - let's face it, there are some really stupid people who must think that it's amusing to use the one word that still freaks out movie and TV censors, in a public posting, at noon. Whoever you are, give yourselves a pat of the back for total and utter lack of decorum.

Of course, I fully encourage Brexiteers to leave comments here. Why? Because I have yet to hear a logical reason proposed that isn't either parroting something the Leave campaign said, or something that is nothing to do with the EU, or something that is just stupid selfishness (Liz Hurley and your lightbulbs, I'm looking at you). Instead, I seem to be attracting comments such as the above which, well, it pretty much makes my point for me, doesn't it?

Now, let's answer the points rasied in order presented. First up, I'm not a c--t. If I was to wear a dress, buckle-up shoes, and a ribbon in my hair, I'd look seriously weird but it would not make me female. If I was to have "corrective surgery", I would be...god only knows what...but it wouldn't be female. Why? Because I was born with an XY chromosome pairing. Yup, I'm a guy. The "Rick" part of "HeyRick" might have been a clue? As such, I might have times of being stupid but I can never be a c--t. You fail biology 101. Go back to school and get a clue.

Next up, this constant lie about "overwhelming majority of the public". That's as true as the 350 million figure. Complete hogwash. The results of the referendum were 52 to 48 percent. This result was carried by the 17.4 million voters who voted Leave. Out of an electorate of 46 million. Which means that about 37% of the active voters carried Brexit. Now, you can say that those who didn't bother to vote cannot have their voices heard after the referendum. Fair enough, they should have voted. But this does not change in any way the fact that about 37% of the electorate (a little over a third) did vote to leave.
But - wait - this is the electorate. If we add in the ex-pats that were denied a vote (hundreds of thousands), the 16-17 year olds that were denied a vote (about a million and a half), your "overwhelming majority of the public" just keeps getting less and less. Shall we also include the children who are not voters yet, but will grow up in a marginalised isolated Britain? (assuming Britain even remains as it is now - it looks like "remain" is a dirty word, so who knows?). The 2013 estimate for the population of the United Kingdom was 64.1 million. I'll use that figure, in the absence of anything else. If we can count "the public" as meaning the population of the UK, then the "overwhelming majority" would surely need to be something like sixty percent. Say, thirty eight and a half million. That would be a clear and undeniable majority.
It was 17.4 million. Which, against the active voters, is about 37% or a bit over a third. Against the "public" (defined as the population), it is even worse. 27.1 percent. A little over a quarter of the "public". That's your overwhelming majority.

I also would like to refer you to The Mirror where Nigel Farage said, in an interview with the associate editor (before the referendum), and I quote:

In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way. If the remain campaign win two-thirds to one-third that ends it.

Obviously he did not consider 52 to 48 to be any sort of majority at all. And I'm quite sure if the result was 52 in favour of remaining in the EU, you'd all be screaming for another referendum.

Next up - are you actually aware of what "out" means? Or did you fail to see beyond the lies and spin. The "let's take back control". Allow me to enlighten you on two things. Firstly, the government never lost control (what is the point of a powerless government?); and secondly you will never have control. You do not decide policy. You will not negotiate the terms of the separation. The best you will have to do, assuming you're up to the task, is explain why you've messed up the futures of generations of British youngsters. In a few years time, it will start to become very clear what you have said goodbye to. Then let's see how this whole "control" thing is doing.

I'll give you a hint - look at the value of the Sterling every time Theresa May opens her mouth and says nothing at all. Of course, she suggested this very afternoon that the media were responsible for the slump in the value of the pound by wrongly claiming her views about Britain leaving the EU equate to a hard Brexit. Of course, the obvious question is to ask her what her views actually are, but half a year since the referendum and all we know is "Brexit means Brexit" and that she wants "a red, white, and blue Brexit".
On the other side of the Channel, actually, her views (whatever they may be) pretty much do mean a hard Brexit. Why? Because from the European side, there's leaving and there's staying. There's Brexit, or there isn't. This soft and hard thing is a fantasy. The "four freedoms" are the foundation of what the EU is based upon, and to permit three while blocking the freedom of movement one? That's just abhorrent. The option does not exist outside of Westminster. There is no hard or soft Brexit. There is only Brexit.
And it hasn't happened, yet the value of the British currency is weakening day by day. Does that not tell you something?

After that, the delightful statement "You lost". Actually, I didn't. In the wonderful democracy that was the Brexit referendum, overseas citizens who hadn't been active voters in fifteen years didn't get to vote. So, no representation, no voice, but quite possibly going to get quite nicely screwed by the selfishness of the likes of you, dear commenter. Thank you so much. You can take your "democratic will" and shove it up your ass right there beside that crap about "overwhelming majority".

Actually - while I'm here - this whole thing was slanted so much in favour of a Leave win that I'm surprised that Leave only won by such a small margin.

Also... today May talked about bringing to the United Kingdom a new philosophy of fairness and solidarity. Pretty big words considering that the referendum was not even slightly fairly held, was based upon lie upon lie (both sides guilty), with people led by a fervent press who went all out on the ethos of publish or be damned, and the result having caused big divisions in the populace. All this talk about "fairness and solidarity" screams of "GROUP HUG!" after something horrible has happened, but somehow I don't think that's going to be enough to repair the damage that this is going to cause in the long term.

And, finally, we get to my absolute favourite part - the "England OUT!", repeated because once just wasn't good enough. How I hope and wish the Scottish people would man up and decide that losing England is going to be a lot less traumatic than losing the EU. Both will be painful, but one is about inclusion and openness, the other is about selfish xenophobes that refuse to see the mismanagement and mediocrity in front of their eyes, preferring to blame random foreigners for everything that is going wrong. Does that remind you of anything?

Come on Scotland, do you really want to let that sort of mentality and a government that hasn't come up with any concrete plans in over six months dictate how things are going to be? The overwhelming result of Scotland (and this was a big majority) was to remain. But, as the commenter said - "England OUT! England OUT!" - and everybody else is just being dragged along for the ride.
YOU CAN CHANGE THIS. Not Brexit, people such as the commenter and the hysterical pro-Brexit newspapers will make sure that that happens. But your own destinies - for Scotland, for Northern Ireland, for Gibraltar. Three places that overwhelmingly voted in favour of the EU. It's fast approaching time when you'll have to decide, continue with the English, or continue with the EU. It is possible, and the first thing you'll need to do is to learn to ignore Westminster. Learn to ignore the English. If they want Brexit, let them go ahead with it. But if you don't want Brexit, why are you letting them (and the likes of Commenter) decide your future?

 

 

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