We all know about denial. If you don't, then you're lying. Denial has been the key sub-dermal issue scratching at our consciousnesses for eighteen months. A lot of people who voted Leave were voting for something not really offered by anyone and unknown to the two sides putting their arguments across.
I've listened to a lot of Leave voters in the last 18 months; some of them are genuinely decent people, with genuine concerns (unrelated to immigration) that were never properly addressed in the Referendum Spectacular. They probably were, but unless you really wanted to understand what you were voting against, most of them listened to their guts; their friends - who were also possibly listening to their guts or someone else's and the outright lies proffered by Boris, Gove, Howey and co did nothing to settle their grumbling stomachs. Gut feelings and a sense of nationalistic pride were the key factors for lots of people; many of who don't bother to vote in a General Election, because, you know, it's politics.
I've hypothesised about why people are being so resolute about leaving despite the fact everything really does seem to be some 1970s sitcom at the moment, but with a tragic twist. It is a matter of principal; it is a strongly held belief that whatever the cost it will be better for us; it is about immigration; its about isolationism; it's about not feeling like we're being ruled by faceless unelected burEaUcrats; it's about saving between £50 and £350million a week; it's about being able to negotiate our own trade deals with other countries and not be restricted by the EU; it's about having everything we've got now, but not having to bow down to anyone else and becoming a world leader again... You tell a rabid Leaver something good the EU does and he'll come up with a reason how they haven't helped him or someone he knows despite him not wanting their interference - reality is that warped at the moment.
Apart from immigration, how are any of those other things going to change the day-to-day lives of 99.9% of the population? The problem with immigration is ignorance that has been allowed to fester into xenophobia by a rabid right wing press; an older generation who spent their formative years being told not to trust foreigners and a Conservative party who, first and foremost, look to see how they can benefit themselves financially before doing anything to address the issue. The issue being education, except it isn't...
My experience of young people, of which I have a bit even if I have none of my own, is that they're extremely tolerant, don't really tolerate things such as racism, homophobia, sexism or anything the 40-70 age range has running through it like letters in a stick of rock. Anyone growing up in the 60s and 70s will have been subjected to everything that most feel is wrong in today's society - racism, sexism, homophobia... Hey, a well known 'comedian' of the era was known for getting a laugh with 'flid' jokes (and if you have no idea what that is I'm not going to tell you, it's simply offensive in the worst kind of way - the current President made one during his campaign to be elected, showing how much affect the lack of funding for education has idiotised America).
So, why hasn't this current debacle with David Davis and his impact assessments that did exist, don't exist, have been redacted and have never existed not been scrutinised by the press more than just in moderate newspapers? Denial. The right wing press do not want to speculate on the possibility that Brexit might be a disaster, because they're worried they won't be able to sell that to readers who they've radicalised for the opposite. I'm not convinced for all his bluff and PM-in-Waiting shtick that Jeremy Corbyn and his team really want this responsibility and it feels like everything really is in denial at the moment. Whenever someone is off doing something that ordinarily would result in their immediate dismissal but gets overlooked because the current government is now more than a joke, you have to know that something is wrong. It's a free-for-all jolly with free porn on your laptops!
I mean, do they really want this to happen or are they obfuscating like buffoons waiting for the long line of independent impact studies to come out, or another scandal to break or someone else in the EU to say something we can react to putting more time on the process? Anyone who wants to do their own research into the Leave/Remain situation in terms of what we can/can't/might get and how little evidence there is to suggest we'll get any kind of deal better or even comparable to what we have and the confidence that we'll be able to get the rest of the world to change their rules to suit us appears to be simply shouting 'We're British' at them until they acquiesce. That doesn't work and it's being played out publicly, even if the newspaper or news channel you read or watch isn't telling you this.
The politicians must be hoping something can happen to indefinitely put the process off; eventually even Jacob Rees Mogg will realise there'll be no one left to wipe his arse if the plebs start dying of starvation or worse still they start revolting. Of course, if the peasants had a revolt in 2018 you can bet your life history will be debating in 1000 years about why they did it and reaching the conclusion - 'cos, innit'.
The common sense appears to be go to the country and tell them, in no uncertain terms, that leaving the EU will be a very bad thing. To be able to do this she would need to threaten or coerce the right wing media to get on her side and she would need to tell the Eurosceptics in her party to go and join Nigel in the UKIPs and she'd select new candidates for their seats.
I am currently watching an army of pigs fly across the sky.
No comments:
Post a Comment