I always try to listen to alternative points of view of mine. As long as they are not inciting violence or doing sick stuff to children I'm fairly open minded like that.
I do feel like a lot of blame needs to be laid at the feet of those that lost the referendum.
Do you think when Johnson gets defeated in the house people are just going to forget all this and give up?
I think it is going to get worse and worse and more extreme.
Yep, usually I'm like that as well. People who know me well say it is almost impossible to upset me and I think that is justified.
But I look at what this country has voted for and what it has become in the last 3 years and I am genuinely disgusted. Some of the discussions I've had with patients, colleagues and friends have left me baffled and at times a bit appalled to be honest.
There is an unbelievable amount of hypocrisy going on here. An unelected PM, selected by a tiny percentage of the country's population, proroguing parliament, a tactic widely denounced literally weeks ago by almost all Tories, after a rallying cry of the referendum being 'taking back control and making laws in our parliament etc'....would just crack me up if the whole thing wasn't directly affecting the country I live in.
I've seen this line of argument before (including from you when I shared the story of the racism at work) and I let it slide then but its fair to say I completely and utterly disagree. I think it is a major cop out and a failure to acknowledge an aspect of the leave campaign (an aspect, not the entire thing) that has been there from the very beginning. From the Farage posters of refugee waves to the UK, to Boris' lies about Turkey and the EU, there has been an element of that for some in the campaign from the beginning. And from the beginning, some have been treating the referendum as a winner takes all campaign, rather than acknowledging that it was a razor thin victory, in a highly emotive issue and that perhaps a less aggressive approach may have been better.
The funny thing is, despite being a strong remainer, a generally big fan of the EU and as someone who, if I'm honest, feels more in common with a lot of mainland Europeans than most of the Brits I've met who voted leave (and this is certainly even more true for my kids), I've maintained from the beginning that there was no point overturning the referendum result or trying to. Not because I think Brexit will be good for the country (unsurprisingly, I don't) but because I agree that it wouldn't be good for our democracy (kind of like an unelected PM making drastic parliamentary decisions but ah well). That doesn't mean that I think it should be remain or no deal. I think that is a fool's errand and I fear that the people who will most suffer from this are the ones who have the least ability to cope.
Quick side point, I don't know why people get offended when they say some people on the leave side were misled. Of course they fudging were. Even bloody Farage was talking about how we'd come away with a great deal. No deal was not on anyone's minds or lips when the campaign was being fought. In hindsight, it was an absolute masterclass. What was mostly promised was an absolute utopia, where we'd keep all the positives of being in the EU, none of the negatives and we'd walk away with a great deal. As time has gone on, this whole process has been hijacked by the Tory far right who I'm sure will do very well in a no deal Brexit.
It is exhausting and I genuinely feel neither welcome in this country anymore nor am I particularly sure I want to be here with my family. And not because of any overblown fear about violence or being thrown out. I know neither will happen. Because I know that once I leave my little bubble in London, I'm surrounded by people who hold diametrically opposite views and views which I consider to be damaging to this country.
C'est la vie I guess.
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