Re: Jesus I despise Brexit. | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

nigelswift Oct 22, 2018 14:38:50

Replying to grufty jim

I think your explanation/criticism is valid for some of the British, like that lunk head who, I swear, would start going on about Brexit being a way to get rid of the Pakis the moment the camera was switched off.

But I think a lot of the British are two generations away from those who had delusions of Empire - and are liberal, outward looking and internationalist to a degree that exceeds a lot of other nations. I was quite proud of us till this once in a hundred years fucking disaster happened as so many Americans were of themselves until they had theirs.

nigelswift Oct 22, 2018 14:52:47

Replying to nigelswift

And isn't it the case that delusions echo down lots of generations with bad results? Won't the lunkhead's grandchildren be talking the same imperialist talk and isn't the love of guns for some in the States a race memory that the British are coming? ;)

grufty jim Oct 22, 2018 15:09:58

Replying to nigelswift

I'm not talking about individuals. I'm talking about what's happening in British culture right now on a collective level.

If enough people think there's "Reds Under The Beds" you get a witch-hunt, you get a nation going mad. And it doesn't even need to be a majority. The British media has been filled with lies and nonsense and criminal disinformation about the EU for so long that collectively the nation is acting as though it is being somehow oppressed by a totalitarian Europe even though (a) nothing of the kind is going on, and (b) many individual British people are aware of the absurdity.

EDIT: 52% of British people voted for brexit. But even if that's changed, it's not really the point. It only takes 20% of the people in a crowd to panic and you have a stampede on your hands. When I say "Britain is going mad", that's not a comment about any single individual. It's not even a comment about most British people. It's about how collectively the nation is acting. And that takes us back to the "stampede" analogy.